I did this same process with Play Sand from HD for less than $5 per 50 lbs. I went with 1 lb per gallon and I am happy with it. Took me about an hour to do 3 bags. I did about half a bag/25 lbs each bucket and rinsed until the water was almost completely clear. I turned over the water in each bucket about 6-7 times and my tank was crystal clear in 72 hours. I didn't run the FX5 for the first few hours and then cleaned it out a week after putting in the sand. IMO this is way better than paying 2-3 $/lb at the LFS.
Sand as a Substrate
- Thread starter Jon M
- Start date
Yeah it worked out okay and my tank is pretty clear but my fish aren't doing too good from the move. 
I only did 50lb for 125 gallons.
I only did 50lb for 125 gallons.I like sand because the waste sits on top, so you don't have to go nuts with the vacuum, but it's not as good supporting a good bacteria community as gravel, so make sure you go overkill on biological filtration.
I have 3 chambers full of pot scrubbies so I think my biological filtration is covered pretty well.
