Sand Question

[Fintastic!]

I think I read somewhere here that children's playsand from Argos is ideal for aquariums, is this right? Does it need to be treated/washed before it goes in? I'd like to switch from gravel for my corys.

 

[Westwood]

A lot of people use play sand, as it is cheap and is already mostly washed. But if you do switch to play sand still give it a good wash until the water is clear. That is all, no need to add anything.

Westwood

 

[Aqua Tom]

Playsand is an ideal substrate, its cheap & looks great.


Tom

 

[Doogz]

Good old Argos play sand. As others have said, give it a thorough cleaning. Lots of silt and bits of wood etc. I ended up losing around a third of the bag just through cleaning, but I may have gone a bit OTT.

 

[Aqua Tom]

Good old Argos play sand. As others have said, give it a thorough cleaning. Lots of silt and bits of wood etc. I ended up losing around a third of the bag just through cleaning, but I may have gone a bit OTT.

A third? Blimey, OCD?

 

[Rickzayne]

Lol that must be some though cleaning!

I love how mine looks with sand!

 

[Fintastic!]

Thanks for that guys. I'm thinking of upgrading over the next couple of weeks so think I'll wait and add sand to my new tank. Is it ok to wash it in tap water?

 

[fluttermoth]

Yes, as long as you add some dechlor (I'd warm it up with some hot water too; sand can be very cold) to the bucket before you actually put it in the tank.

 

[Hermithall]

I started out one of my tanks with Argos play sand and it caused no ill effects to my fish whatsoever, when I eventually added them. I had probs with cloudy water probably through inadequate rinsing but a couple of very large water changes sorted it. In the end though I switched to gravel because the sand was going straight up my siphon vacumn during cleaning.

 

[fluttermoth]

You should hold the end of the syphon above the sand; as sand is so dense, mulm doean't get trapped in it, it sits on the surface, so there's no need to dig into the sand as you do with gravel.

Any small amounts of sand that I syphon up just get rinsed and tipped back in the tank.

 

[Fintastic!]

Stupid question? What's mulm?

 

[fluttermoth]

The crud that collects on the floor of the tank

 

[Aqua Tom]

The crud that collects on the floor of the tank

Yup, Mulm = Mess

 

[Fintastic!]

Thanks guys.

 

[Doogz]

A third? Blimey, OCD?

Very!

I started out one of my tanks with Argos play sand and it caused no ill effects to my fish whatsoever, when I eventually added them. I had probs with cloudy water probably through inadequate rinsing but a couple of very large water changes sorted it. In the end though I switched to gravel because the sand was going straight up my siphon vacumn during cleaning.

Although I lost a fair amount of sand, the fish kick up a lot of sand and it settles again instantly, so I think it was worth it

To the OP, when you do come to add sand, if you're adding it to a tank already filled, I used a jug, filled with sand the carefully lowered into the tank and then poured near the bottom, zero cloudiness.