Sand, Which One And How To Prepare For Tank

[Nick Bramley]

im very sorry as im sure this has been asked plenty of times befor but would you mind helping me with a few things,

which particular type of sand should i buy? probably will go B&Q

what should i do to prepare the sand for my tank as i assume i cant just put it strait in?

what maintenance schedule do people use for sand substrate?

thank you for any help

Also,

i want to get rid of my ugf in my 30l tank, what would be the best filter to replace it with?

Nick

 

[Torrean]

1. I'd go with pool filter sand or play sand/silver sand

2. you can put it straight in but it will cloud the water terribly. you need to rinse it. i do this by (quote from a previous post) Put a 1-2" layer in a bucket (5 gallon tanks work well) and fill with water stirring the sand with the current from your hose. When the bucket is full dump out all the water leaving only the heavy sand in the bottom. Repeat this until the water clears in 10-20 seconds. repeat until you have enough sand to put a 1/2-2" layer on the bottom of your main tank.

EDIT:The depth of the layer of sand depends on what critters you are keeping. If you don't mind malaysian trumpet snails then 2" is fine. If you don't want MTS snails then it's best to keep it to a thin layer. Then again there are lot's of critters (such as the lamprologus occelotus *spelling*) which stir up sand like crazy and actually require a fairly deep sand bed. Maybe it'll be easier if I explain why. See there are aerobic (oxygen) and anaerobic (no oxygen) bacteria. aerobic are good and help eliminate ammonia and nitrite from your tank. anaerobic are generally considered to be bad. They produce poisonous gases that some say can harm your fish. anaerobic bacteria will colonize deep sand beds if the sand is not stirred regularly by something (your hand, a fish, or mts snails) the anaerobic bacteria will release stinky bubbles of poisonous gas,

3. maintenance. get a gravel vac and hover about 1/2" over the sand to suck up the poo once a week (ofcourse perform water change at the same time)

hope that helps.

 

[Nick Bramley]

Thank you very much. il probably stick to about 2" of sand then.

can you buy malaysian trumpet snails from most fish stores? what are they like, will they ravage my plants or are they generally ok?

Nick

 

[thegnu]

hi,
the Malaysian trumpet snails are quite small (about half an inch) and look something like an ice cream cone