Sand

[OoHeatheroO]

What sand do you use that doesnt take hours to clean?

 

[houndour]

I used play sand. If I'm totally honest I didn't rinse my sand very well. Sorry! But I must have been lucky and my sand settled really quickly and I havent had probs since.

But I would still recommend washing THOROUGHLY I will next time.

I would think play sand would need to relatively 'clean' as it needs to be safe for kids.

 

[Annastasia]

I've used three types of sand. I think the easiest one to clean was the play sand from my local nursery. I cleaned it for about 20 minutes, then put it in....the tank was clear within a day.

 

[Opcn]

Sand is inherently dusty, whenever its shipped it grinds itself up, Pool filter sand doesn't seem that bad to me though.

 

[Bloo]

For my one my one tank has sand, I took the really easy option and bought pre-washed sand at the lfs I just gave it a quick rinse (2 minutes) and put it in the tank. I added the water and within minutes it was all lovely and clear. It cost me £8 to cover a 19Gallon - which yes is expensive but I honestly did not want to sit in the bath with a bucket, cleaning sand (in a fairly small flat with no garden).

 

[OoHeatheroO]

For my one my one tank has sand, I took the really easy option and bought pre-washed sand at the lfs I just gave it a quick rinse (2 minutes) and put it in the tank. I added the water and within minutes it was all lovely and clear. It cost me £8 to cover a 19Gallon - which yes is expensive but I honestly did not want to sit in the bath with a bucket, cleaning sand (in a fairly small flat with no garden).

Thats a great idea.

 

[Teelie]

I have pool filter sand and tahitian black moon sand that I haven't used yet but my pool sand was easy to clean. Washed thoroughly, put it in and it clears up quickly if it clouded at all.

 

[OoHeatheroO]

I have pool filter sand and tahitian black moon sand that I haven't used yet but my pool sand was easy to clean. Washed thoroughly, put it in and it clears up quickly if it clouded at all.

where do you get that from?

 

[Teelie]

Pool supply stores are the easiest places but if you don't have one in your area then you might try Do-it-yourself places like Home Depot, Lowes, etc. The sand I got was packaged by Regal.

 

[LoachLover]

I use play sand or black sand. Both work very good

 

[jflowers]

Play sand here, long as its rinsed well, seems to get a scum on the top if its not rinsed well (got it from homebase).

Jon

 

[Inchworm]

Hi OoHeatheroO

Whatever sand you select, be certain that it has no rough or sharp edges that could injure delicate barbels, or you will not be able to safely keep any fish that has them.

Play sand, being safe for the delicate skins of toddlers, is safe for fish, but does require a bit of washing to remove the finest particles. In the long run, however, the trouble will be worth it because it will cut down greatly in the amount of time it takes to clean your tank.

Switching some of my tanks to sand was one of the best things I ever did and it's only a matter of time until I change the rest of them too.

 

[LoachLover]

By the way, I got the play sand at Home Depot and Jerry's

 

[jflowers]

Switching some of my tanks to sand was one of the best things I ever did and it's only a matter of time until I change the rest of them too.

Best thing I ever did too, you can see that the fish are happier. Just set up my 7th tank (my sons birthday present actually, yes he did want one, a bigger one actually, he already has a 5 gal, new one is a 21imp Gallon ), with play pit sand, would never use anything else.

Jon

 

[LoachLover]

Yeah best thing I've ever done too. My first few years of keeping fish I used gravel but once I tried sand I've always used sand in my tanks.