New to Rope Fish - help on set up

[bottomdweller72]

You are all cracking me up... lynch mob hahaha

I honestly have no idea what caused my sand to turn to sludge and stink worse than a sewage plant in just 4 weeks... The speculation on that was the wrong type of sand, too fine of a sand and too thick of a layer. I did vacuum weekly during water changes, by week 3, I was vacuuming 2-3 times a week and week 4, I had to break the whole tank down. 4 hours and 2 people start to finish. I want to try sand again, but in the 10g, it's a lot easier to break that down than a 75g lol it was a bear with 30g, i cant imagine going through that with anything bigger.

I'll check with my lfs to see if they have any of those snails. I'm sure if they don't, they would get some.

 

[bottomdweller72]

Looking good! Any deep sand will get problems, I keep mine under an inch and usually stir it up before WC to get all the debris in the water to be sucked out

Stirring wasn't an option for me, it would have looked like a sand storm in the middle of a desert because I didn't know to clean it before putting it in the tank

 

[bottomdweller72]

If you don't get any burrowing fish or Malaysian Trumpet snails as suggested just use your gravel vac it may take a little practice but is very effective as stated also. I personally have PFS and Play sand in a couple of aquariums and use my gravel vac on 2 of them.

My corys sifted constantly (3 mottled and 2 delphax), the bn sifted a lot too, and the pompon beast was constantly siphoning and spitting sand as well as digging into it by sliding sideways across it. But I don't think any of them got more than 1/4" deep.

 

[Hendre]

Stirring wasn't an option for me, it would have looked like a sand storm in the middle of a desert because I didn't know to clean it before putting it in the tank

I use heavier blasting sand, it sits very well from the start

Some sands will go a bit nuts when you stir

 

[twentyleagues]

Yeah like I said pfs is awesome because it's so clean. BUT it is light, it's a little harder to vacuum but if it gets weird just vacuum the weird out and add some more. It's like $9 for a 50lb bag. I used 1 in my 75g. In my 180 I mixed it with black diamond blasting sand I used I think I went 1 pfs and 2 or was it 2.5 black diamond. The blasting sand is cheap too around $7 it's a bigger pain to clean and it's heavier too.

 

[Mighty Wizard]

I use sand from the local beach. It's effective and looks great.

 

[bottomdweller72]

I use sand from the local beach. It's effective and looks great.

What about the salt and stuff? I live 15 min from the gulf in Florida.

 

[bottomdweller72]

Yeah like I said pfs is awesome because it's so clean. BUT it is light, it's a little harder to vacuum but if it gets weird just vacuum the weird out and add some more. It's like $9 for a 50lb bag. I used 1 in my 75g. In my 180 I mixed it with black diamond blasting sand I used I think I went 1 pfs and 2 or was it 2.5 black diamond. The blasting sand is cheap too around $7 it's a bigger pain to clean and it's heavier too.

Well dang those are cheap. I spent I spent 25.00 on I think 5 or 10 lbs? Now it's just laying in my garden my plants really enjoyed that nasty tank water though lol

 

[Mighty Wizard]

What about the salt and stuff? I live 15 min from the gulf in Florida.

As long as you collect the sand from a healthy looking place and wash it before use, you're fine. Beach sand contains tons of healthy nutrients and minerals. The crushed shells present in the sand will help maintain a stable ph, and the minuscule amount of salt that remains after washing is only healthy. Remember that salt occur almost everywhere in nature, in very small amounts. Beach sand is also especially effective if you have plants. Best to collect dry sand.

 

[jaws7777]

The crushed shells in beach sand may have a negative impact on your tank. Depending on what your tap water is and how much of a swing you get inbetween wc's. Even though i read that the ph swing thing is more of a myth than fact. I would still be leary of bringing sand home from a beach.

I'd play it safe and pick up some pfs or blasting sand like the black stuff or garnet sand