Sand Substrate

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Alright, so $8.99 for 25lbs. of sand. I'm getting it this weekend.

I will use a pipe to put the sand down, as I need it to settle quickly. My fish will be kept in a bucket during this change of substrate, so I don't have time to let it settle. I'm taking out all of the gravel, but will not change all of the water, as I need biological support, particularly for the fish I have. Speaking of the fish I have, 12 neon tetras, 2 otocincli, a plecosaurus (erm, pleco), and 3 kuhlii loaches will do good with sand, right? I'm doing it for the loaches, mainly.

Weekly, I change water and "rake" the sand to release trapped gases, then do round 2 of cleaning.

Does all of this sound good? Any advice? Thanks.
 
better than sand use 3m quartz aggregate. its quartz coated with ceramic. wont bleed or fade. looks better than tahitian moon sand. as far as the loaches ...i have some and i use 2" black mexican beach pebbles. they dont mind at all swim right through the cracks/nooks. the big one moves the stones as he is under them. lol like watching smaller scale version of tremors :naughty: good luck. oh use the t grade its heavier and wont suck up.;)
 
I used 2 50lb bags of sand for my 125g so one bag should be fine to get the depth.

Also, for the siphon the shaking thing you refer to was a crappy instruction. Just makes it for those squirmy people that don't want to suck on the other end.

All I do was put a piece of tubing in the water of my 5 gal tank and suck on the other end. When the water gets over the tank lip and close to my mouth I drop it down into a bucket. As long as the end is below the tank the suction should start. The tube has to be in the water first though and you have to suck the water up into the tubing. If it fails to start and just runs back in the tank, you need to suck the water up higher and drop it faster.

I only use my Python suction thing on my bigger tanks.
 
Kuhlii can dig in the depth, right? That's what I'm aiming for.

With the large diameter tube, it says to shake it up and down in the water to get suction going.
 
Pool filter sand is an excellent choice as it is heavy enough to prevent being waterborne and de-stroy-ing your filter impeller.Oh,and when your plec gets big enough it will burrow after swimming and kick up a mean cloud right into your intakes.That white carib-sea "sand" is too fine and never stays down.I wonder (besides me) how many other peoples filter fell to fate because of that synthetic,whispy Carib-sea "sand"?
 
Also, is crushed coral good? My kuhlii loaches need something light and smooth to burrow in.

I really need to get opinions and stuff because tomorrow afternoon I go out to get it. I'll ask about PFS at fish stores.
 
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