good idea epond, thx a lot everyone for the help. I am moving into a bigger place in 5 days, and I cant wait to set up my aquariums, and I plan on devoting a large spot of the basement for a HUGE one, (as soon as I can afford it lol) . This 75 will be for cichlids and catfish, and I think I'm gonna go the aragonite method, since I need the ph buffer for the african cichlids.. ughh or do I want texas or oscars. hmm soo many choices
sand for freshwater tank
- Thread starter Luxauterna
- Start date
Soooo, I got quikrete, premium play sand, (said it was washed, screened, and dried), cuz it was 6$ for 100 lbs, as opposed to the fancy sand at the lfs for 67$ for 60lbs, annnnd I put about 75 lbs of it into my 75 gal.. and it is ridiculously cloudy. I expected it to be cloudy and take a bit to settle, but I was wondering how long should really expect, cuz its bad.
Thanks
Thanks
I really shouldnt have gone cheap on this.. I have a bad feeling its going to be murky for a long time, if not indefinitely.. I was really hoping to find that lapis lustre sand, but couldnt find it anywhere around here, and I didnt want bright white sand
Play sand is pretty fine for most manufacturers so that doesn't suprise me at all. Start doing a few WC's. From the sounds of it you didn't wash it before adding it to the tank because it said pre-washed? If that's the case dig your phython in the sand really well to pull out some of the smaller particles. The more you get out, the sooner the water column will clear up. I always wash the sand really welll despite what the manufacturer says.
Next time you should try pre-rinsing it in a bucket. Took me 20-25 washes before I felt comfortable putting it in my tank, but it's a one time wash and is well worth the effort 
yea... i really shouldve.. Ive been moving these last two days and have been trying to do it all at once, so the fish I have wouldnt have to stay in the smaller tank for too long.. looks like I learned this lesson :/
You could put some sort of polishing/fine mesh pad in your filter and change it out when the flow drops (probably pretty quickly) to help get the fine particles out.
And of coarse water changes will help.
And of coarse water changes will help.
I drained my tank, clearing the sand out.. and going to put something different in. I still don't know if I want to buy the sand from the lfs, or if I should try something else that you guys have mentioned like pool filter sand or silica.
I'm about to go to the store, should I get the lfs sand.. or should I go to home depot and get some pool filter sand or silica??? I'm pretty sure its gonna be cloudy either way right? just hopefully not as bad and will settle quicker?
