Sand For My Khulis?

[nano55]

Hey guys, I'm new here. Had my 55litre aquarium set up for about 2weeks now, I've kept an eye on my water quality the whole time and after deciding my aquarium was ready for its first inhabitants I went to my lfs. Now silly me for listening to the guy in the shop, I ended up bringing home 4 khuli loach as I was told they are easy to keep and will live happily in my densely planted tank. Now on further research I find that khulis MUST have sand substrate as they feed via sifting the sand, not ideal for the 4mm black gravel I have!!


I much prefer sand to gravel and the only reason I have gravel is because I couldnt find black sand in any local shops! Now I l
ove my little khulis already and I want them to have the best home possible.





So heres my question.


What sand do I use?? I've been searching the web for hours now and I'm stumped! Limpopo gravel is not black so thats out. Then I was seconds away from ordering Tahitian moon sand and then I read that it wasnt suited to sand sifters!

Somebody please help me!

I want black sand suitable for my khulis and also the future addition of corys. Anyone have any suggestions??

All help much appreciated

 

[LucyB]

Well I, and many many others on this forum have used argos 'playsand' at £2.99 for 15 kilos... But it's not black

 

[nano55]

Ive had pale sand in an old tank years ago and although it looked smart, I find the colours of the fish are enhanced by the black. My future plans for this tank are neon tetras and gardneri killifish so their bright colours wont be fully noticeable against the pale sand...

 

[Crossfire]

I have a fine, black sand in my 5g. It is a fine sand, and will be perfect for your kuhlis. It's from a company called Stoney River Premium Aquarium Sand by Este's. I have their white silica sand in my 20g, which has bigger grain than the black. And the kuhlis have no problem with it. Since the black sand is finer, I see no problem with it.

Depending on where you are, this should be available at most specialty fish shops or pet supply outlets. I've tried looking online, but I've only found the white sand I have. You might need to a to a little digging.
Here's what it looks like:
(not my pic, found it on google)

 

[phantomlink]

I have a mix, my large community tank has alot of playsand ( takes ALOT of washing ) and I bought a bag or two of the fine black sand to put on top so It looks like my tank is all black sand, but overtime the play sand mixes in so now my tank is all scattered but it looks nice. I picked up the same sand, but in their white version and like Crossfire said, its line fine gravel, smaller then gravel but bigger then the black sand. I picked up two bags ( good for 40 gallons ) to put into the 35 gallon oscar tank and will see when I fill it up just how high it will really do it. The brand is different then what Crossfire took a picture of, but I found I only had to do two washes before putting it in my tank compared to playsand's 15-20 washes

 

[nano55]

Argh i realy wish you hadnt shown me that!! it looks like great stuff but i just cant find it anywhere in the UK!! and postage from the US is around the 80gbp mark!

so i think as the sand is best for the fish and i cant seem to source good black sand il just go for the argos play sand. at the end of the day the point of an aquarium is to create a natural habitat for the fish not an ornament for humans. and the back of my tank is black so that will help enhance fish colours. so thats my shopping list for tomorow

 

[nano55]

ok finaly.

seeing as though my khulis have only been in their new house for a day and theyre nowhere near settled yet, im worried about stressing them out too much. so whats the best way to do the switch?

given the speed of the loaches im prety sure i have no chance of catching them!! so my plan is this

clean the new sand, remove 25% of the water into an empty bucket, remove live plants, rocks, teracotta pots etc from the tank into the bucket with tank water leaving only gravel and khulis in the tank, carefuly remove as much of the gravel as i can without the khulis, and then very very carefuly put the new sand in being careful not to cover the khulis,then replaceplants etc and finaly replace water.

anyone spot any problems with my plan?

 

[phantomlink]

What about this stuff? Its what I bought today. I only put the first bag into my tank, it claims its enough for 20 gallons, but this tank is 36x12x18 ( 35g ) and it filled it to an inch or so which is enough really, I'll save the rest for a rainy day.

^ Substrate

^ What it looks like, fine gravel but not soft like sand, I think this might work but they black sand is finer I guess its made from something different

^ How much it filled a 36x12 floor on the tank

 

[snazy]

I bought black sand from JBL recently to rescape one of my tanks. I haven't used it yet but it's written it's recommended for bottom dwellers(fine rounded black sand from volcanic origin)

It's this stuff below.

http/www.aquaristi...sibar-Black.htm

 

[nano55]

thanks for your hekp guys. snazy, that black sand looks good. but ive just been watching my khulis and seen them all trying to bury themselves in the gravel but unable to do so. im scared they're going to hurt themselves. so ive decided im going to get the play sand tomorow and get them off the gravel asap. however much id like the black sand, i just cant risk waiting for the international shipping on the black sand. id rather have healthy fish on pale sand than injured fish on black sand.

anyone have any oppinions on how i should go about the switch?

 

[snazy]

The JBL stuff is sold locally too, I got mine from the fish shop. I just picked a random website to show the specifications.
Well I am switching to sand as well in the last non-sand tank and I am getting a big plastic container from the local hardware store(they've got quite large ones) and I'll setup the filters and put everything else inside it including the fish and heater, with water from the tank too, and then I can work on the main tank as long as I want. Once done, I'll put the water, fish and filters back in and top up with more water if needed.
But there are youtube videos showing how you can switch to sand with the fish still inside the tank, have a look.

 

[NewBea]

I'm sure you googled all sorts of black sand but there are a few available that I could see that are available to buy in the UK:

https/www.google.co.uk/#q=black+sand&hl=en&safe=off&tbo=u&source=univ&tbm=shop&sa=X&ei=crqoUM-UJaGr0AX7uYCIDA&ved=0CDkQrQQ&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=a16d527cfb28ea92&bpcl=38625945&biw=1525&bih=716

 

[nano55]

ok so thought id do a little update. despite eventualy finding black sand in a not so local fish shop, i decided that i prefered the look of the natural looking 'beach' type sand.

so the switch has been done, the water is unbeleavably cloudy but im assuming that will settle in a couple of hours.

within the first half an hour id say the khulis are happier, theyre all rumaging in the sand and flicking it around

 

[nano55]

 

[snazy]

They are gonna love it

Well done.