Questions about sand.

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Fire Eel
MFK Member
Mar 2, 2008
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Thailand
I changed from small stones the sand with help from MFK posters so thanks first off.
The sand i bought is off white and really fine. It kicks up a lot when the fish dart about.
Is that a problem for fish, like Arowana or my Dats?
I now can't clean to surface of the sand with my gravel vac because the sand is so fine it gets sucked out.
Any tips on how to clean it other than with a net?
Is it normal for sand to kick up so much? to the point that pretty much everything has a light dusting of sand on it?
Thanks any help or ideas are appreciated.
 
No it's not. Its very soft to the touch and ultra fine. Like dust almost.
 
Hello; I did this with gravel, but it may work with sand. I made a tiered arrangment in a tank that resulted in three levels. I planted the deeper levels toward the back and left the lowest front level bare of plants. During a water change I siphoned out gravel from the lower level along with the water. I kept an amount of cleaned gravel on hand which I put back into the tank at that time. I cleaned the gravel removed from the tank at some point so it would be ready to put back into the tank. If you do not have plants, then the entire tank can be siphoned, you could also siphon from between plants.

With your fine sand there will likely be a large cloud of fine sand suspended for a time if you do this. What I do with sand is to get a lot of relatively cheap construction sand and dry sift it thru a screen or colander and discard the fine material. The size of the stuff you want to keep will depend on the hole sizes in the screen. You could over time replace the very fine sand with larger stuff. When siphoned from the tank the fine stuff can be washed away and the larger stuff will remain to be put back into the tank. I clean sand or gravel by putting it into a bucket with water and stiring briskly then pour off the suspended material quickly. The fine stuff and detritus will leave and the heavier stuff remains. Takes some practice, but not much.

you are dealing with one of the problems of sand, especially the fine stuff, ther will be others. It is likely that the internal parts of your filters will wear out sooner due to the abrasive material running thru.
 
Depending on how you siphon it if you use a bucket the sand should be left in the bucket or if you use one of them water changing sink setups just put a bowl under where the water drains and sand should collect in there. The bowl has to be big enough so the water won't make the sand splash out.
 
if its become a hassle, then you should switch back; or put a micro net on your sand so when cleaning time comes all you have to do is take the net out and its pretty much done.
 
I have very fine sand in my tank as well, when it comes to cleaning, i honestly just syphon the sand out with the gunk... then take the bucket with sand and water to the bathroom, swirl it around a bit to remove the gunk that maybe trapped in the sand and dump the water into the toilet... from there its another quick rinse with tank water and then back into the tank...

I know it sounds like a P.I.T.A, but at least you don't waste too much sand, plus then all you need to do is syphon the water out into a drain and your set...
 
Fat Homer said:
I have very fine sand in my tank as well, when it comes to cleaning, i honestly just syphon the sand out with the gunk... then take the bucket with sand and water to the bathroom, swirl it around a bit to remove the gunk that maybe trapped in the sand and dump the water into the toilet... from there its another quick rinse with tank water and then back into the tank...

I know it sounds like a P.I.T.A, but at least you don't waste too much sand, plus then all you need to do is syphon the water out into a drain and your set...
Click to expand...

Hello; I avoid putting stuff like this into my toilet as I have a septic tank. I will use the old tank water on house plants or shrubs around the house.
 
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