Adding pool sand to aquarium

[antimony]

I want to make the conversion, but I won't be moving my fish out. I was wondering if pool filter sand (leslie's in particular) will cloud the tank when put in the tank with water. Will cloudiness cause gill damage?

 

[sma]

did you go to the leslies i told you to? It will definitely cloud your water once you put it in. The sand is really really dirty and even if you wash it many times it will still cloud. Im not sure of the damage it will cause to your fish though

 

[aussiei]

What I did was fill 5 gal. buckets about half full and just let the water from a hose run through it for a while about 30 Mins each still had some cloudiness but settled down pretty quick.

 

[antimony]

did you go to the leslies i told you to? It will definitely cloud your water once you put it in. The sand is really really dirty and even if you wash it many times it will still cloud. Im not sure of the damage it will cause to your fish though

I hjavent bought the sand yet, but i am sure they have it. if not, i'll get it elsewhere. i don't like the sound of the tank getting cloudy though. how long did it take for yours to settle?

 

[aussiei]

Less then an hour with all the small particles gone it settles out quickly

 

[hillbilly]

An easy way to add sand without removing the fish, is get yourself a piece of 2" or 3" pvc pipe long enough to reach the bottom with the other end above the water line. Slowly pour the sand down the pipe, moving it around for even coverage. May require 2 people, but it really saves time and mess.

 

[antimony]

Do you guys know if the suspended sand particles will cause gill damage?

 

[ThePBM]

put sand in bag, put bag in tank, empty bag on bottom

 

[Bsixxx]

yeah that crap is dirty

it took me about 3.5 hours to clean about 100 pounds of it non stop with non stop syphoning and water running through then once the water was clear after i waved my hands through the sand i put it in my tank but it was still cloudy so i did about three 35% water changes to help a little then i replaced the filters to clear it up, then repeated the whole process with another75 pounds of it, then i gravel vack the sand to get the rest of the settled dirt out from the bottom of the sand in the tank, now i have no dirt under neath the sand and water is back to crytal clear



hope that helps

 

[rallysman]

The pool filter sand that I use can be poured right in and will barely cloud the water. After and hour you can't tell. Aquaquartz is really clean stuff.