how to safely put sand in freshwater tanks?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
flowerhornfishman

flowerhornfishman

Piranha
MFK Member
Sep 16, 2013
2,075
187
81
Malaysia
i see tht many people use sand in their freshwater tanks. but i dont really know how they safely put it there without affecting the fish (not saying about the sand sold in most lfs). one guy in youtube said tht he picked up his sand from the beach. doesnt tht cause saltiness to the water? if it does, how do they distillate it or remove the salt?
 
flowerhornfishman said:
i see tht many people use sand in their freshwater tanks. but i dont really know how they safely put it there without affecting the fish (not saying about the sand sold in most lfs). one guy in youtube said tht he picked up his sand from the beach. doesnt tht cause saltiness to the water? if it does, how do they distillate it or remove the salt?
Click to expand...

What fish do you have in the tank? You can use a plate and slowly place them but I would personally remove the fish first to minimize stress that may lead to possible casualty. High PH (salinity) sometimes would benefit the fish it depends though what fish you have.
 
I had the same question, well I still have it.. I just ended up buying pool filter sand just to be on the safe side.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 
Pfs is awesome and widely used throughout the hobby. Its good cuz its a heavier/larger grain which means it wont enter intakes and stir around a lot and it wont let debris enter the sand bed, all the crap will stay on top or better yet into your filters given good flow/circulation.

Just place it in a 5gal bucket or similiar container, then put a hose at the bottom and rinse it till it runs clear. Then use a cup and scoop it out one scoop at a time to avoid cloudyness in your water.

When removing old substrate such as gravel ONLY do have the tank at a time or one side cuz the sub may contain beneficial bacteria and your tank has a chance of crashing if it is taken out at once. A large square aquarium net works great at removing gravel.

Cheers.


×Go S Vettel #1 Infiniti Redbull! 3x WDC!!!×
__________________________________________________________________

Cheap way to decrease nitrates and keep your fish healthy: http://monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=504763
 
i would put the sand first and then put the water. :) btw, how do u know until the sand is clean and ready to use? does the saltiness of the sand affect the fish?
 
flowerhornfishman said:
i would put the sand first and then put the water. :) btw, how do u know until the sand is clean and ready to use? does the saltiness of the sand affect the fish?
Click to expand...

F1 VET said:
Just place it in a 5gal bucket or similiar container, then put a hose at the bottom and rinse it till it runs clear. Then use a cup and scoop it out one scoop at a time to avoid cloudyness in your water.
Click to expand...

Most of your fish love tannic/acidic water so adding sand that is high in salinity will not benefit them, what you can do is to add PFS then some driftwoods then rock. HTH :)
 
flowerhornfishman said:
i have a red devil, an albino oscar and a silver snakehead. :) now i put rocks in my current tank? which is better u think?
Click to expand...
a bit off topic, but depending on what you mean by silver snakehead, it will kill everything, and the devil will probably kill the Oscar.
 
I actually ran fine coral sand in my freshwater tank for few years before I switched to some natural gravel. The tank was a salt tank before and I just kept the sand in there when I went back to fresh.. I never had a problem with the fish. I only switched cause the fish would kick up the sand and make the water very turbid all the time
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom