put the discharge end of your vacuum in a bucket and all the sand you suck up will end up there, rinse when your done and return the sand back to tank.
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- Thread starter eball2k
- Start date
Dislike : Medium and small gravel. Why? Traps a lot of muck.
Like: Barebottom, large gravel (for specific setups like shrimp breeding, etc) and starting to like sand for the same reason as barebottom. Mulm sits on top and can easily be pulled off with a siphon.
Like: Barebottom, large gravel (for specific setups like shrimp breeding, etc) and starting to like sand for the same reason as barebottom. Mulm sits on top and can easily be pulled off with a siphon.
I actually just picked up 3 bags of the High Desert play sand from Home Depot and put it in last night.
I rinsed it twice before puting it in but the tank is still super cloudy, the fish are a little tweaked. Im gonna try to do a WC tonight if I get a chance and hopefully it will be a little more clear when I get home. My first time using sand not in a SW tank, we'll see how it goes.
I rinsed it twice before puting it in but the tank is still super cloudy, the fish are a little tweaked. Im gonna try to do a WC tonight if I get a chance and hopefully it will be a little more clear when I get home. My first time using sand not in a SW tank, we'll see how it goes.
I love sand and have been converting all my tanks to sand(one by one)
I have done these al ready
1-55 gallon homedepot play sand(sand alittle fine but if you raise your intakes not a problem with sand in your filters)
1-75 gallon pool filter sand(little heavier than play sand but not much difference)
1-125 gallon 3m colour quartz(love this stuff wish i could find more,i can vacuum it,stir it up,etc and it acts like gravel but looks 100x better.
First pic is the 75 with pool filter sand,second is 125 with 3m colorquartz.
I have done these al ready
1-55 gallon homedepot play sand(sand alittle fine but if you raise your intakes not a problem with sand in your filters)
1-75 gallon pool filter sand(little heavier than play sand but not much difference)
1-125 gallon 3m colour quartz(love this stuff wish i could find more,i can vacuum it,stir it up,etc and it acts like gravel but looks 100x better.
First pic is the 75 with pool filter sand,second is 125 with 3m colorquartz.
eball2k;4584507; said:
Yea you have to rinse that stuff a TON. 2 times is not nearly enough. I took one of those home depot buckets filled about 1/3 with sand and rinsed that much sand AT LEAST 15-20 times (by rinse i mean fill the bucket with water, churn it around, then empty completely and repeat). You have to stir it up with your hands a lot and dont stop rinsing until the water is clear in the bucket within seconds or your tank will be cloudy for a Long time.
Sounds like im gonna have to take as much out as I can and rinse a few more times then do the WC.
Do you think the cloudiness will hurt the fish?
Do you think the cloudiness will hurt the fish?
I really don't want to stress them out more than I have to, so I'm debating whether or not to take out the sand and rinse it more or just do a decent size WC. Several of the fish are new to the tank and havent really settled in yet.
You can try but I really don't think it'll do much of anything. I got mine to the point where if you stir up the whole bottom of the tank itll be crystal clear within about 5 seconds.
I did it with buckets though, churning up the sand then quickly pouring out the water before the smaller particles could really settle at all. From the way it behaved it seems to me itd be hard to get it very clear with water changes unless you do a huge number of them.
How big is your tank? i'm making mine sound like a tough process but thats because I have a 125 gallon with 4 50lb bags.
If I were you I'd definitely empty the whole thing and rinse in buckets.
I did it with buckets though, churning up the sand then quickly pouring out the water before the smaller particles could really settle at all. From the way it behaved it seems to me itd be hard to get it very clear with water changes unless you do a huge number of them.
How big is your tank? i'm making mine sound like a tough process but thats because I have a 125 gallon with 4 50lb bags.
If I were you I'd definitely empty the whole thing and rinse in buckets.
I am a fan of Flourite, some say its sharp, but I have never been cut by it and my Midas digs all the time and shows no signs of discomfort or damage (he digs all day long and loves it) I used to do planted tanks and invested heavily in the stuff (I have about 80lbs of it) and the colors are very pleasing to me. The beneficial side to it is that being so porous, it seems to hold BB nicely. I never have issues with bad water. Thats my 2 cents.
