Cichlid Sand

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R

rugbyflanker

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 23, 2012
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Canada
Hey guys I was just wondering if you could tell me anything I should need to know about Cichlid Sand. Im a conventional gravel user and was thinking of switching to cichlid sand as my cichlids have been making efforts to dig some pretty cool hideouts and i want to help them out. How well do plants grow in the sand? and does anyone ever have large nitrogen pockets?

Thanks for your help!
 
Your cheapest option would be pool filter sand. You can get it cheap at any Home Depot or Lowes. You could get aquarium specific sand, but i wouldn't guess that it would make much of a difference other than maybe the color looking more natural. Plants work great in sand. Do not know about Nitrogen pockets. I dont think you should have a problem with that if your not overstocked or anything. If its a smaller tank you can get a bag of black or natural sand at any LFS, but for larger ones your cheapest most efficient option in my opinion, would be Pool Filter Sand.
 
I have alwaysbhad sand in my tanks and I used to be into chiclids till I found this site.

Anyways, you do have to stir the sand every once in a while to release the gasses that can build up in sand over time other wise it collects and if released all at once can turn your water toxic very quickly

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iv had the cichlid sand in my tank for over a year now and haven't had any problems, but i tend to stir it up from time to time, plus i think my guys keep it moved around enough for nothing bad to happen lol they love moving it around making new hide outs....here is a pic of mine sorry bout the crappy pic just fed lol
20121117_173539-1.jpg
 
keep in mind that it is way harder to clean due to not being able to just shove the siphon hose down into the bottom but i wouldn't have gone any other way with my tank
 
i use the african rift sand found at my lfs. it keeps my water parameters on point plus sooo much more surface area for bacteria. most african cichlids are sand sifters and digging is what they do lol. i agree with the others, i run my fingers through it to level it out to prevent the gas pockets from forming but imo you only should get that with a dsb otherwise water flow prevents any toxic gases from forming in 3 inches of sand
 
I personally prefer black sand. It makes the colors pop if its a show tank or you just want it to look nice and have depth. Other than that, I would go with a mixture of different grain sizes like a half and half mix of coarse and fine like a 3mm with plays as mix, it adds texture to the smoothness of the play sand


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For black sand I would suggest getting black blast sand from Menards. It's $7.50 for a 50lb bag and it only took me 1 rinse to get rid of everything. The only downside is that after about 5 minutes an oily film will cover the top but you can just skim it out with your fish net and your fish should be fine because mine are. But for natural colored sand, go with pool filtration sand. Should only take one rinse as well but it will still cloud up a little but that's no problem. It also has a nice texture because its more coarse than fine and has nice weight to it for plants and it's also good to grow plants in because its never very compact.


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