Rocket's Redecorated Pad....

[corey01]

looks real nice...i was thinking of getting a sand substrate- but how do you clean it can you use a gravel cleaner-if you have to remove it to clean it then that would be really annoing!

 

[MaddieJ]

Looks much better indeed

 

[faithless1294]

Looks amazing

 

[mandiemoo]

I've just got a new tank and it's pretty much the same volume as yours and I was thinking of using sand, so it's nice to see it in that size tank!

So how do you know the sand is clean before you put it in the tank?

Also what sand did you use? Just the play sand?

 

[Glod]

I've just got a new tank and it's pretty much the same volume as yours and I was thinking of using sand, so it's nice to see it in that size tank!

So how do you know the sand is clean before you put it in the tank?

Also what sand did you use? Just the play sand?

Stick the sand in a bucket, run water through it until the water runs clear, mixing the sand with your hand as you do. When you get no residue it's clean

I used silica sand from a pet shop which as you can see is kind of tan coloured rather than white/golden. A lot of people have used pool filter sand or play sand to similar effect. Basically if you are sure the sand has no additives (such as lime used in builders sand) and it's not sharp (run your hand through it, if it's abrasive don't use it) then as long as you clean it well it should be fine.

 

[Glod]

looks real nice...i was thinking of getting a sand substrate- but how do you clean it can you use a gravel cleaner-if you have to remove it to clean it then that would be really annoing!

Well that tank is now a lot more heavily planted and to be honest I don't clean the substrate at all, just do water changes. Then again there is maybe 5-10% of the substrate that is visible and it's clean The plants deal with a lot of the waste by themselves.

If there is waste on the sand you can use a gravel cleaner to suck it up, just don't plunge it into the sand, rather use a figure of eight motion a little above the sand so the vaccuum effect disturbs only the surface and you suck up the waste but not the sand. You're always going to lose a little sand, but at the end of the day you can always add more when you have to. I think when I was

 

[corey01]

cool thanks i might give that ago

 

[mandiemoo]

I've just got a new tank and it's pretty much the same volume as yours and I was thinking of using sand, so it's nice to see it in that size tank!

So how do you know the sand is clean before you put it in the tank?

Also what sand did you use? Just the play sand?

Stick the sand in a bucket, run water through it until the water runs clear, mixing the sand with your hand as you do. When you get no residue it's clean

I used silica sand from a pet shop which as you can see is kind of tan coloured rather than white/golden. A lot of people have used pool filter sand or play sand to similar effect. Basically if you are sure the sand has no additives (such as lime used in builders sand) and it's not sharp (run your hand through it, if it's abrasive don't use it) then as long as you clean it well it should be fine.

I admit the cleaning question was pretty dumb, but then I didn't think sand would be that dirty - I suppose I have to be wrong at some point in my life!