Sand In A Tropical Tank

[barker_23]

Hi

I am pretty new to the tropical fish world.

I was wondering if it is possible if you can use sand at the bottom of a tropical tank. I think this looks so much better than gravel or pebbles.

Any feedback would be much appreciated

Thanks

 

[rfisher]

Hi,

Yes you can use sand there are planty of people on the forum who do. Hopefully one of them will respond to let you know exactly what to do.

Rich

 

[carrera]

hiya, i use sand in my largest tank, it does look nicer than gravel, when its clean

thing is, the poop stays on the top and while this helps when cleaning, it looks quite unattractive, if i were to start again, i would use a more expensive, colored, probably black, aquarium sand.

at the moment i am just using play sand, the stuff you use for childs sandpits, from B&Q for only a few pound. be sure to wash it by the bucket

 

[BigIan]

i have sand in my aquarium....

it does look much better, and is easy enough to look after....

currently in the process of a substrate clean at the moment,

i used play sand its much cheper and looks more natural than the coloured stuff...
to use it you first need to wash the sand in a bucket:

fill the bucket 1 third full of sand then set a hose running it it and keep stirig the sand, when the water reached the top tip the water out with all the crud out of the sand suspened in it... keep doing this untill the sand settles and the water clears withing 4 or 5 seconds of stiring the sand....

keep doing this untill you have enough sand to fill the tank...

and i suggest you read the topics in this thread...

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=141592

 

[max11180]

i have sand in 3 of my tanks, normal common sand in 2, and black in the 3rd. The black sand is by far the most realistic, and it shows of the colours in the fish much better than anything else i've used. Im tempted to go black sand in my 4ft now. It only cost £22 for a 25kg bag (normal was £18 for 25kg), so it's still relatively cheap.

Although sand shows dirt up more, as has been stated, it also has added benefit of supporting more beneficial bacteria, due to the smaller grain size. This will help the bioload on your filter, and generally make life even better for your fish If you read the PFK website, they reckon that the grain sizes of your substrate make a difference to the stocking levels of your tank, which i suppose does make sense if they support more bacteria, but it will only work for smaller fish - tank size remains the same obviously

 

[samyboy]

i use sand, argos sand £2.49 for 15kg's just wash it thoughrly in a bucket first otherwise you will have cloudy water for weeks