Sand as a Substrate
- Thread starter Jon M
- Start date
i use sand blasting sand in my tanks and couldn't be happier with it. Settles very quick, but gets stirred up easy if a fish takes off or what not....filters do not like it.
yea sand is 10X easier to maintain and looks so much better than gravel IMO.. the debris sits ontop of it where gravel it falls through and breaks down to nitrates, so its better!
I have sand in my tank and use to use gravel. I prefer the sand over the gravel but find it slightly harder to clean. I shows junk on the bottom a whole lot easier than gravel does, so if you are a stickler for aesthetics you have to be on top of the cleaning. Other then that I enjoy sand much more. The fish really seem to like it as well.
I have used (and currently use) both playsand and filter sand in my setups and I first take the bag outside and empty it into a pillow case and then hose it off thoroughly letting all the finest silt drain out.
This saves you from a few hours of cloudy tank after your first fill up.
This saves you from a few hours of cloudy tank after your first fill up.
Sounds good. Thanks for the tips and feedback. I'm looking forward to switching to sand. I am a stickler with my aesthetics as well as my cleaning so it won't be a problem. 
+1 on using sand. Like a lot of people said, I started with gravel but now all my tanks have sand. Just do daily siphons and your tank will look fine.
For the inital cleaning of the sand, I just pour a bunch in a bucket then stick a hose in it till the water flowing out is clear.
For the inital cleaning of the sand, I just pour a bunch in a bucket then stick a hose in it till the water flowing out is clear.
AOmonsta;4743470; said:
Sounds pretty easy unfortunately I have no hose or yard being in an apartment BUT I do have free water! So I'm thinkin' bucket, in the tub, run faucet over bucket until clear comes out.
Jon M;4743651; said:Sounds pretty easy unfortunately I have no hose or yard being in an apartment BUT I do have free water! So I'm thinkin' bucket, in the tub, run faucet over bucket until clear comes out.
I would recommend putting the bucket in a plastic tub. It will catch most of the sand before it goes down the drain - a trap full of sand will plug things up.
