Best Cheapest Sand?

[Chrisplosion]

I'll have to check home depot later to see what they have. So silica, pool filter, and blasting sand is all the same sand? Whats the easiest way to clean, with a pillow case?

 

[Gruff Master]

Home depot supposedly carries it as well (in some locations, not in Reno). Quikrete brand "Filter Sand". I'm not sure how it compares to Leslie's, but I've seen people say it's around $6/50lb

I agree. In my area Pool Filter Sand (PFS) is about $10/50lb at Home Depot. It works far better than play sand. It doesn't compact nearly as much. It is also heavy enough to not be sucked into pythons duirng wc. Fish sift through it with no problems. Just make sure that you rinse well before adding to your tank. You don't want sand in your filters.

 

[Chrisplosion]

You don't want sand in your filters.

I know, my old turtle/flowerhorn tank had play sand it was really dirty and always ended up in the filters.

 

[NCStateFisher]

I'll have to check home depot later to see what they have. So silica, pool filter, and blasting sand is all the same sand? Whats the easiest way to clean, with a pillow case?

i just put half the bag into the bucket, put the bucket under the bathtub faucet filled it mixed it with my hand poured the excess water out and repeated until it was clear - then did the other half of the bag

 

[Chrisplosion]

i just put half the bag into the bucket, put the bucket under the bathtub faucet filled it mixed it with my hand poured the excess water out and repeated until it was clear - then did the other half of the bag

Thats what I did last times and it didn't do the job very well.

 

[mkalski]

If you rinse playsand, really good, then hold down a large ziplock bag with some rocks and gently fill the tank it works great. Been doing this for years with my African cichlids.
*Be careful if you use playsand from HD, it lowered my pH to under 5,0.

 

[Brian_Indiana]

I'll have to check home depot later to see what they have. So silica, pool filter, and blasting sand is all the same sand? Whats the easiest way to clean, with a pillow case?

I cleaned my with a 5 gallon bucket and water hose. Just put about 20 lbs in the bucket, fill bucket with water, throughly stir, pour out water, repeat until the water on top of the sand is clear.

Presto...

 

[Chrisplosion]

I would love black sand but I think it would be too pricey for this big a tank

 

[Dark Jester]

I'll have to check home depot later to see what they have. So silica, pool filter, and blasting sand is all the same sand? Whats the easiest way to clean, with a pillow case?

Blasting sand is a bit bigger grained than PFS if I remember right, but yeah, they're all silica based usually. If not they will probably say so on the bag.

 

[Dark Jester]

I would love black sand but I think it would be too pricey for this big a tank

Yeah, $1/lb is a bit spendy. Especially if you'd need 100+ pounds of it.

I just looked at it like it's just a 1-time cost though. You spend that much or a lot more on a decent canister filter that you don't even look at. Had the initial PFS I bought been white, I'd probably still be using that, but I'm glad I made the switch to black over tan. Colors pop a lot more on darker substrate.