In your experience, has artificial turf hurt your fish?

[thebiggerthebetter]

Seems controversial from online reading. If you have firsthand experience with long term usage of artificial turf (made for outdoor, sport, or lawn use, not specifically for fish tanks), please share. I've read Rodders02 and Justarn (why can't I tag them?) used it but their threads do not present long term picture:

Endlicheri spawned!

Does the spawning have anything to do with that grass carpet? Yes that and the ideal water parameters.

www.monsterfishkeepers.com

fake football pitch grass in my tank?

astro turf test! hey all, ive done a bit of a google search on astroturf in the fishtank and come to the conclusion im gonna test some in my 5 gallon... i ordered a enough for my 150g cichlid community too, if all goes well! i know everyone says its gonna leak this an that and do...

www.monsterfishkeepers.com

A good example of the turf is this kind: https://expressgrass.us/california-...Tp5xwzEe4yvBR4JDmUXDBG8K-45TF0UBoCADwQAvD_BwE

Under More Information tab in that link above it says:

Yarn Material	Polypropylene & Polyethylene - the perfect mixture of durability and comfort whilst maintaining a fantastic appearance.
Backing	Weed Resistant Black PP (TBTB: must be polypropylene)
Warranty	10 Years
UV Resistance	Every range has excellent UV Properties, all covered under a manufactures Warranty
Fire Rating	Efl
Child Friendly	Yes. All of our ranges are perfect to use for play and activity areas.
Pet Friendly	Yes. All of our ranges are great for your pets at home.

So the materials must be pretty inert and benign - PE and PP.
Weed-resistant backing = a herbicide of sort is embedded or does it simply not let weeds grow through it by physical blocking? It does have holes for water drainage.
UV treatment = chemicals mixed into the plastics but usually these are quite benign to aquatics (I use a lot of UV-treated plastics in my biofilter for instance, like shade cloth, insect screening, etc.).
Fire Rating of Efl = normally flammable floor covering. So it is al least not made of asbestos

 

[Davisfamily2018]

I haven't used astroturf, but the chemicals involved look like chemicals that are, probably, already in your tank water unless you are using an RO system. Phthalates and the like are everywhere. I would assume getting gunk and food under the mat would be far worse than anything they would leech.

 

[jjohnwm]

Not with fish, but I and many other reptile keepers used this stuff extensively as a substrate for years without any issues. In a couple of enclosures, part of the turf was continuously under water; it served to provide traction for the animals to move into and out of the water easily rather than just slipping and sliding on bare glass. And in at least one of those enclosures, a colony of guppies lived, bred and frolicked for years without problems. They endured water changes that were probably 99.9% of the volume, actually flopping around on the turf for a few seconds after the draining ended and before the new water was dumped in.

Not exactly a natural look, but much nicer than a bare floor, and easily removed and cleaned.

 

[FINWIN]

What you want is the grass pads from craft stores that are all plastic. NO UV inhibitors or rubberized foam backings as they can leach over time. For a more natural appearance you can cut irregular shapes from the aquares and lightly spray with black/dark green krylon for a natural looking green.

You can also get silk plants from craft stores as long as there's no glitter, glue, felt or exposed metal stems. Michael's Craft Stores are good.

 

[jjohnwm]

I dunno...something tells me that Viktor is looking for sizes and quantities that aren't really practical to buy at a craft store.

Maybe more likely at Stadiums R Us....

 

[FINWIN]

LOL. The squares are interlocking so you can make 'em as big as you want.

The turf works for snakes and reptiles in a semi dry environment. When I worked in animal care the pads were cleaned every 1-2 days with a mild bleach solution and rinsed. They had to be rotated so there was always a clean one to pop in. Another thing to consider is the adhesives used on the backing are also not good for aquarium use.

Samples of the 'safe' pads. Most of these are around 9-12" depending on the brand.





These are larger size

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Thank you all very much. I am mulling over an experiment where I could pull off outfitting the 10K gal (18ft x 16ft x 5.5ft) with biofiltration in-situ, no separate filter, toward which purpose I'd need to provide a lot of surface area inside the 10K (need robust materials at the same time too) and good stirring for high oxygenation.

The turf would not be on the bottom, I'd not want for detritus to accumulate in or under the turf and then having to vacuum. I don't vacuum any of our tanks. I vacuum our 4 sump filters only once in 1-2 years. Except for the 25K, which has a mat on top of the shower tower filter that needs regular vacuuming. Even that got very old, I'd rather wallow in fish feces and vacuum a sump for one day in 1-2 years than vacuum this shower tower mat every 1-3 days. In other words, it might be nice to hook up the 25K to the 15K sump, the option I decided to pass on, back when I worked on the 25K.

I'd still need to remove the accumulating waste from the 10K and plan to arrange the current such that the waste collects in one spot, where a pump can be placed so that the waste could be filtered out and the water would get well oxygenated and returned to the tank.

On the bare bottom it is planned to have about 100 big boulders, about 1.5-2ft in diameter, not round but approx. This is for looks, additional surface area (the surface of the boulders is somewhat porous), and perhaps for small fish to avoid big predators.

I am mulling to try to have smaller frequently-breeding fish in the tank for large predators and to have safe(r) places for them to hide away and to breed / grow up. Toward that some artificial fish habitats can be home-built or purchased, e.g.:

Porcupine Fish Attractor Spheres - 3 Pack

Build a fish habitat with Porcupine fish attractor spheres, which allow fish to hide within and spawn. Buy fish attractor spheres & other pond supplies!

www.thepondguy.com

Pond King Honey Hole Brush

Pond King Honey Hole Brush is a self-righting, quick deploying complex artificial habitat that provides an instant brush-like environment to attract fish.

www.thepondguy.com

, to which I might attach the turf, as well as some strips of turf can be hung here and there hanging from the tank's cover, like so

Pond King Honey Hole Dock Dropper

Dock Droppers at The Pond Guy imitates vertical aquatic vegetation to attract fish near piers and floating docks without snagging your line.

www.thepondguy.com

and/or along the walls, not too wide strips, so the current and fish could easily access the space between the grass and the wall, but the big fish couldn't hide there.

Couple of constricting issues:
[1] the astroturf in the OP above is $1.68/sq ft, roughly 3x-4x cheaper than the grass squares made specifically for fish tanks, plus
[2] I've had these latter squares and the plastic blades / bunches can be relatively easily pulled out of the holding mesh, they are made with small(er) fish in mind, so the large 3ft-5ft fish may destroy them by accident or by simply swimming and brushing up against them often and when hunting around them. I don't know but I guess that the astroturf is made stronger and handle full human weight, cleats, etc., after all humans have to walk, run, engage in sports on the turf.

My plan is to not have a separate biofilter and, as far as the maintenance, to only wipe the front glass and filter out mechanical waste. But then again, we are back to having to vacuum the mechanical filter mat every so often, so maybe I should simply hook up the 10K to the 15K sump, as hard and as as much work as it would be... But then again, I am mulling over making the 10K our first brackish tank (plenty of cheap brackish well water), so that would exclude using the 15K sump, which is being used for 3 f/w tanks.

 

[FINWIN]

The pads make a great background and look even better with a bit of algae on them. If you're making a build you can silicone them to the back glass.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

A sister thread on the PCF. Some great info in there and a confirmation that the artificial turf CAN be benign to fish.

In your experience, has artificial turf hurt your fish? - PlanetCatfish.com

Images are copyright and may not be reproduced without permission of the copyright holder.

www.planetcatfish.com

The pads make a great background and look even better with a bit of algae on them. If you're making a build you can silicone them to the back glass.

Thank you. Do you mean the pads you posted about? If so, as stated I cannot use them because they are delicate and made for small fish, not compatible with our behemoths that destroy everything, not only delicate but even strong.

 

[Trouser Bark]

That concept of wading through a sump and vacuuming it out every couple years seems pretty harsh. Your situation may lend itself to installing a sand filter for your tanks rather than a sump. I use one and it works phenomenally well. Traps solids and eats them, sprays effluent on some hanging mats that accelerate bacterial growth and it's like an outdoor buried canister filter that works really well.

Mine has processed 20 years of human waste and hasn't been pumped out in years. Strikingly effective.

Do people use sand filters where you live? Mine's made by Orenco and sold under the AdvanTex name.

My apologies for the side track. I appreciate the effort you put into thinking outside the box.