Sand as a substrate

[Tango374]

Sand works great...fish love it. Try not to go deeper than 1.5'' with it but I have a few spots in my tank that are closer to 4'' deep. Just got to make sure you aggitate or stir it around once or twice a month like stated before. I've also been told to cover my intake with sponge or foam to prevent the sand from going in...also like stated before, I never did that. Made sure that the intake was closer to the mid-way point of the tank and not at the bottum near the sand, shut off the filter when cleaning...that's important. I've never had my filters seize up.
Also important, when you're cleaning the glass, make sure you don't get any sand granuals in the scraper or sponge when near the bottum or it will scratch the hell out of you're glass.

 

[salsa]

It doesnt stop mechanical filtration, It actually helps it, because there is more media to filter the water.

 

[rmcder]

If you wash the sand out properly, you'll remove the small stuff that gets suspended easily and gets into your impellor. I have no problems with the sand in my tanks and my Aquaclears.

 

[nuth88]

Ive heard of putting pantyhose on ur intakes to block the sand but then it stops the mechanical filtration so i never understood that. I just raise my intakes atleast 6 inches offf the bottome of the tank

But bigger fish will stir up shiz and the particles float too much, is the sand blast or pool filter sand larger particles that do not float as much??

 

[rmcder]

The pool filter sand is pretty coarse, but you have to wash out the lighter stuff. What's left will fall straight down to the bottom quickly if you pick it up.

 

[JeffC]

Thanks folks....you have given me the courage to try sand on my next aquarium. We'll see how it works out.

 

[fishingaddict]

sand is great, i like the look. but somehow i always seem to get sand in my cansiters. i even raise put the intake about two inches from the water line, yet somehow sand still gets in it. i recently switched to gravel.

 

[JeffC]

I use decor sand sold at Home depot it's also called sandblasting sand. White as snow looks great. Never had any problems. put a prefilter on all your filters because sometimes sand can go into your impeller. If you have large cichlids they will most likely move the sand all over the place for you, so don't worry about stirring. Everytime I do water change I just put the sand back to all flat, and they move it all around again so the sand is always moving. I have never had the sand get hard like someone said earlier. I have never even had the slightest hardening problem.

Excellent, I was thinking about sandblasting sand. I want to paint the back of the tank black and think the white sand would look very cool. I am going to use a penguin filter. How do you do the prefilter on this?

 

[JeffC]

sand is great, i like the look. but somehow i always seem to get sand in my cansiters. i even raise put the intake about two inches from the water line, yet somehow sand still gets in it. i recently switched to gravel.

What kind of sand were you using?

 

[balton777]

I'll never go back to gravel. Gravel sucks balls. Sand is awesome...easy to clean, never compacts and looks sooooo much better and my cichlids love it. You have to get the right kind of sand though. Don't use Home Depot playsand, I used that first and had to take it all out and start over. I use 20-grade pool filter silica sand from Leslie's Pool Supply and it rocks. (figuratively speaking) It's heavy enough to fall back down when stirred up and not float into the filter intakes. Plus cleaning is a breeze because the debris sits on the top and not all mixed in like with gravel. It's $11.99 per 50/lb. bag but well worth the extra coin.