Sand Substrate

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J

Johnny Zhivago

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 26, 2010
54
0
6
Virginia
I apologize as I am sure this has been asked before...

I just filled one of my tanks (30g) with sand substrate. After filling the tank, despite cleaning the sand first and using a plate to pour the water in, there is still quite a bit of sand floating at the top of the tank. How do I get it to settle? Will it just sink on its own?

I don't want to filter it out as I've heard it will tear it up. Also, as I have limited means, I won't be able to buy a 90 or 100 gallon filter and will be using two filters (30g and 20g) to cycle the tank.

Please let me know what I should do on this subject, and as I am a complete beginner with sand substrate, if you have any general advice on the subject (pitfalls, things that worked for you) it would be much appreciated.

Thanks!
 
I used old floss in my filter when it was all cloudy so I didn't waste new material. My water pretty much cleared up in a day, and didn't seem to hurt my filter any. I cleaned it real well afterward anyway though. Malaysian trumpet snails work really well to stop gas pockets from forming in the sand and haven't affected my plants in a bad way either. You can usually get these for free at the fish store if you buy something from them. Sand is a good cost effective choice for a substrate, and I like the look a lot better than the gravel myself. If it wasn't such a pain to tear everything down I would change all of my tanks over to sand.
 
Thanks for the advice--I set up the filter with an unused sponge inside of it. Seems to be working great, the surface has gotten much clearer. The best part is that the filter pushed most of the sand to the bottom rather than sucking it all up :)

I'll definitely look into the snails and I couldn't agree with you more regarding the look of the sand. As much as I'd love to get a ray or puffer that require sand, I have neither the time nor the money for those, so my choice of sand is purely aesthetic--and I love the look of the sand.
 
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