Need help with sand

koltsix said:

I do the same, pool filter sand is pretty affordable and looks just as good as the Caribsea sand I used to use at less than half the price.


Once sand has settled it doesn't move so easily. The Aro would have to freak out right on top of it and even then it wouldn't really get tossed up into the water column like when you first intro sand. I've personally kept Silver Aro's with a sand substrate and never had a problem with them tossing it or a problem with ammonia spikes and I've been using sand for at least 3 years now.


Only black sand I know of is Caribsea Taihitian Moon Sand and it's expensive using that stuff in a large tank, 20 pound bags go for about $19.

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koltsix said:

I'm a bad one to ask as I take risks when it comes to stuff like that because I'm impatient like that, but I'll still tell you how I would, just take it with a grain of salt. I wouldn't empty the tank, just move the fish. Remove the old substrate and then rinse the sand several times in a bucket till the water more or less looks clear. Then I take the bucket and all and submerge it slowly so the water doesn't rush in and stir the sand unnecessarily. Then pour it slowly out keeping the bucket lip as close to the bottom as possible again so the sand doesn't stir too much. Then run the tank for an hour or two and replace the fish. Actually I've been lucky(knock on wood) and my tank never looks bad as I've seen others after adding sand. I've seen people wait days or longer for their tank to clear from the sand thrown into the water column. My tank usually gets crystal clear again within hours(again knock on wood).

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