Sand Questions

[Thomas 2507]

Okay, so while rescaping my tanks i thought it would be a good time to switch to sand. a few questions:

i plan to buy argos 'children's play sand' - is this okay for my tanks?
should i just wash it just like gravel?

thanks

 

[shroob]

Okay, so while rescaping my tanks i thought it would be a good time to switch to sand. a few questions:

i plan to buy argos 'children's play sand' - is this okay for my tanks?
should i just wash it just like gravel?

thanks

Play sand is fine for aquariums, I use it in 4/5 tanks (and plan to convert the other sometime). Make sure you wash it thoroughly though, well worth spending the time doing this right than having a cloudy aquarium for ages. There is a fear that because playsand compacts easily, that pockets of harmful gas can form and be potentially dangerous to fish. I don't know how true this is, some believe it some don't, people say the way to prevent this is to stir the sand every so often. I prefer to err on the side of caution and give sand a quick run through with my fingers or a stick if I can't reach the bottom of some of my tanks.

 

[JenCliBee]

yep as shroob says just throughly wash it and it will be fine and looks really nice 2

 

[shelaghfishface]

its really really nice but HAS to be washed lots and lots of times, for your sake as you will be gutted if it turns out cloudy when you put it in the tank,if i was u i would wash less than half a bucket at atime,for about 15 mins, swirrling it then letting it settle and repeat etc, its hard work, but results can be stunning, have you seen doresys signiture tanks? they are argos play sand so are mine and looks fab , stir it when doing water changes, shouldnt be any probs, this desperses the air pockets which can trap air that is toxic to fish
anyway post some pics up when youve done, love to see how it looks, and if you have to pst pics, you will HAVE to wash it properly

shelagh xxx

 

[FiSh123FiSh]

I have had an awful time with sand. It made my aquarium look nasty and brown. It is true about gases building up in sand but its alright if you use you hand to airate it. I've seen lots of tanks with sand in but I think it was silver sand. I have also heard of people putting play sand in there tank and it was fine.

 

[5teady_2012]

I have play sand from argos in most of my tanks now and its great, just be sure to wash it properly.

It may be a good idea to get some trumpet snails to turn the sand over, this will stop gasses building up and trumpet snails spend most of the time in the sand eating unwanted crap.