Yea I was going to go that route but didnt wanna spend the extra money, now I'm wishing I did. It costs sooo much more, the places that did have it, they wanted like 30 bucks for 20lbs. compared to 5 bucks for 50 for what I got lol...DJ BIG T said:
regretting using sand
- Thread starter socalsurfer
- Start date
well I'm going to give it more time I suppose b4 i do something crazy and take it all out and put new sand in. Just really drives me nuts to see it clouding up.
If you decide to remove the sand, dont take the fish out, just get a 1 inch hose and siphon it out into a bucket. Thats what I did when I took out my gravel and put in sand. I used 320 pounds of carib sea black sand. No problems at all.
TankBuster said:
thank you. That is something I will really consider. When you put the sand in did you drian alot of the water 1st?
All sand contains debris; fine mineral particles including silica, dust (not silica or mineral), wood and other foreign material. I always wash small quantities, about 2-3 gallons at a time in a 5 gallon bucket. It takes a lot of time and energy to wash sand; I rinse each bucket thoroughly 8-10 or more times.
Sand which I avoid, play ground sand and Home Depot sand for making cement. This is too fine and full of mineral dust; if you wash it 20 times you will never be rid of the dust. When agitated this fine grade sand goes into suspension and clouds aquarium water, clogs the fish tank filters and damages submersible aquarium water pumps by causing excessive abrasion.
Monterey Beach Sand is what I use when I can get it. Yes this was pre-washed but it took all day to rinse.
Some sand comes with the label pre-washed which generally means some of the fine dust has been removed. This is a better choice if available. There is lots of information on the web about various types of sand including: mineral sand created when rocks breakdown, silica sand also used to make computer chips and coral sand.
I live in the Seattle Washington area and purchase my sand from:
1215 Monster Rd. S.W.
Renton, WA, 98055-2962
Address Map
Phone: 425-228-2120
FAX: 425-228-2199
E-Mail: mineralco@aol.com
Business Activity: Manufacturer / Distributor / Exporter
Products Description:
Dolomite, limestone, marble, silica, whiting, filter media
Locally Monterey beach sand runs $ 8.00 +/- in 50 pound bags, a little less per pound in 100 pound bags.
Sand which I avoid, play ground sand and Home Depot sand for making cement. This is too fine and full of mineral dust; if you wash it 20 times you will never be rid of the dust. When agitated this fine grade sand goes into suspension and clouds aquarium water, clogs the fish tank filters and damages submersible aquarium water pumps by causing excessive abrasion.
Monterey Beach Sand is what I use when I can get it. Yes this was pre-washed but it took all day to rinse.
Some sand comes with the label pre-washed which generally means some of the fine dust has been removed. This is a better choice if available. There is lots of information on the web about various types of sand including: mineral sand created when rocks breakdown, silica sand also used to make computer chips and coral sand.
I live in the Seattle Washington area and purchase my sand from:
1215 Monster Rd. S.W.
Renton, WA, 98055-2962
Address Map
Phone: 425-228-2120
FAX: 425-228-2199
E-Mail: mineralco@aol.com
Business Activity: Manufacturer / Distributor / Exporter
Products Description:
Dolomite, limestone, marble, silica, whiting, filter media
Locally Monterey beach sand runs $ 8.00 +/- in 50 pound bags, a little less per pound in 100 pound bags.
good info anythingfish. I did buy the pre-washed stuff. And yes I think that is the problem with my sand is, that the fish stir it up causing the clouds. I have added filter floss to all my filters and they do asorb alot of it, just not all of it. In my HOB filter I took off both pads and just used the plastic thing and placed the floss behind that. my other two filters I left alone, but just added floss to spots where I could. I will give this more time. I hope eventually this will go away. I will give it another week. I'm thinking of getting rid of the Marineland Hob and adding another aquaclear. Leaving me with 2 AQ110s and rena xp3. I think the AQ does better filtering anyway.
will carbon break down the small particals? I'm thinking of adding some just to clear up the water then take it out. As of now I have chemi-pure. But I'm thikning of adding some carbon just for a lil while, maybe a week or less.
Carbon can change the water chemistry over time but will not likely breakdown silica or mineral dust. The small dust particles will eventually wedge into the small openings between the charcoal granules as they would in any mechanical filter. This process can take many weeks and when the charcoal is eventually clogged completely the filter action stops. I have found that a settling chamber such as a sump under a wet-dry bio filter will accumulate virtually all of the suspended mineral particles over time, without clogging, so long as the water is slow moving. The sump can be easily drained or siphoned out any time.socalsurfer said:
A point of interest: I put in 1 ton of well washed playground sand in my 2400 gallon outdoor aquarium. The sand was stirred up by the fish from time to time and went into suspension. The fine sand clogged my 4 square foot fiber filters daily; but for a few hours the water in my big aquarium full of monster orphaned fish was crystal clear due to the increased filtration caused by the sand in combination with my fiber screens...
socalsurfer said:
It's not "dirty", I'd say it's full of great nutrients for healthy plant growth
Have you tried to clean it with a gravel vacuum? I am not familiar with sandblasting sand, but maybe the grain size is smaller than playsand or pool filter sand?!
HarleyK
