I am setting up my 125 gallon tank and want to have a sand substrate. I have a couple of general questions about sand. First the only sand at petsmart is 24 bucks for 20 pounds, rather exspensive if you ask me. Anyone know where i can get some cheaper sand? Also how do you clean the tank with a sandsubstrate? Wouldnt it get sucked into the hose during cleaning?
Tank sand
- Thread starter timbo08
- Start date
I use pool filter sand because its clean, coarse, and doesnt get sucked up in a gravel vac too easily. I've got it in a couple tanks and I like it.
You can also use play sand, but you'll need to rinse it big time and its very fine. Its harder to clean IME.
Some love one, others love the other. Either one should be rinsed (play sand needs rinsed more) and you can get either for $5 at a hardware store.
You can also use play sand, but you'll need to rinse it big time and its very fine. Its harder to clean IME.
Some love one, others love the other. Either one should be rinsed (play sand needs rinsed more) and you can get either for $5 at a hardware store.
i have sand in my tank but its rounded sand, with larger parts of around 1-2 mm. it works perfectly well and ofcourse sometimes the sand gets sucked into a filter or cleaning hose but that doesnt really matter. i do find $24 for 10kg a bit expensive. the rounded i use was around 1 euro per kg. regular sand can be bought cheaper though. a friend of mine just got himself some sand from a sand shipping company. it was free but you must really really clean it well. boiling is preffered too.
so would i get this sand at a pool store? Also when you fill the tank up does the sand cloud the water for a long while?
if you want some colored sand, i highly recommend 3m color quartz. it comes in 2 grades. the S grade is pretty fine and the T grade is a little bigger but still small. you can contact 3m from their website to get a sample sent to you with the colors and grades. i bought mine from National Pool and Tile. 50 pound bags cost me $16.49. many people use the S grade black as an alternative for the expensive tahitian moon sand. some people buy multiple colors for the more natural look. the possibilties are endless 
i bought 100 pounds of red and 100 pounds of white to mix for my new bichir tank i should be recieving next week.
here are pics of the samples and this is the website that has some pics of the mixes you can try: http://www.calidadllc.com/colorquartz.htm
i bought 100 pounds of red and 100 pounds of white to mix for my new bichir tank i should be recieving next week.here are pics of the samples and this is the website that has some pics of the mixes you can try: http://www.calidadllc.com/colorquartz.htm
i have used cichlid sand 20 pound bag for $17, and really like eco-complete gravel looks real natural but a 20pound bag cast about $25-30, so the choice is yours but i might try the colored sands 
because that would look awesome with a group of bichirs
because that would look awesome with a group of bichirsi have play sand in mine and it works perfectly fine. just takes a lil effort in cleaning before puttin it in the tank. $4 for a 50lb bag i believe.
play sand works great i actually like it alot in my tank, it adds to the look and it gives my eels (peacock) a place to hide when the enlichiri is around, i also notice that george likes the play in the play sand more then the pool filter snad that i had his previous tank
After you syphoon the tank and clean it how do you get the sand back in? Also what is the best way to clean the sand?