Sand....

[mike45]

I just got black sand for my 10 gallon. I rinsed it in water, then I put it in my tank. There are a bunch of sand particles on the surface of the water, what should I do about those, will they settle? And when I was making the sand even it seemed like some more floated to the top, is that going to happen every time?
And, I have a Whisper 50 filter, will that mess up my sand?

 

[kitties1]

the sand should eventually settle, or you can siphon it off with some sterile gauze. as far as the filter is concerned, i have heard that the whisper filters have problems with sand becuase of the type of impellar that they use, but i have had no personal expereince with this.

 

[KnuckleHead]

It will eventually settle. I use black sand in alot of my tanks and have never had a problem

 

[Sky042]

What brand of sand? If it's estes marine sand you're in for a minor nightmare but if you let the sand sit on the top for a few days it eventually sinks. But You won't be able to run the filter during that time

 

[smithrc]

did you wash it first??

 

[mike45]

Ok, Its been a day, the sand still hasnt settled, and it is the marine sand. So the whisper filter will mess up? or is there anything I can do?
I washed the sand, and I haven't put the filter in yet because of the sand that is on the surface.

 

[kitties1]

Okay this is what I have heard about the whisper filters... if the sand gets kicked up into the intake and gets into the impellar it will grnd up the impellar and cause it to eventually cease function. to prevent this you have to figure out a way to set up the filter so that it does not have the ability to suck up sand, my only suggestion would be to keep the intake high enough from the ground. as far as the rest i am at a loss. hopefully someone more experienced can help more.