Sand

[emmuscat]

Hello i have posted this question a few days ago but i cannot find it ,so my question was is the sand found near the beaches is good for a malawi tank ,since i cannot find any sand in my counry from our few probaly 3 life fish shops . Since i live in Malta if you go around with the car every 15 minutes you come across a sandy beach .


Is the sand good after rinsing it

Thanks in advance

Emmanuel;

 

[Rooster]

Do you have any toy shops ? Play sand is a safe and cheap alternative - I would not use beach sand...

 

[2day]

If your really keen on using the sand from the beach, make sure you wash it THOROUGHLY and PROPERLY, to avoid any inconveniences. I got my river sand from a river, it took 8 hours to wash, but i finally got it clean, and it looks amazing. Just make sure you wash it really really really really well. I think you now get the point lol... Just be careful. Let the sand sit in the tank with water, and then do a few more water changes.

 

[emmuscat]

Thanks for the help ,we have hundreds of toy shops but they do not sell playsand , because we are a small country surrounded by sea so evreyone take children to play by the sea .

Thanks
Emmanuel

 

[Rooster]

... anyone have swimming pools ? Pool filter sand is another popular alternative.

If you can put me up for a week, I could smuggle you a bag of playsand ? LOL

 

[joecoral]

but if it's for keeping malawi's then surely playsand wouldnt buffer the pH up, would coral sand not be a better option (i know it's much more expensive however)

 

[emmuscat]

It could be Coral sand would be the option but still i can not find it , i will check about Pool filter sand .

Thanks

 

[darkwolf29a]

Good luck with the sand. I was using sandblasting sand in my tanks. It began to get very smelly, and started to darken in color, no matter how much time I took to clean or stir it up. I ended up not liking the end result. I went out replaced it with regular gravel and am much happier. And the fish don't seem to care at all. LOL