What's a good sand?

[Hondacrx2]

I have a freshwater tank what's a good sand for in it? And is it harder to clean the tank with sand? Also how much would I need to do a 75gallon tank?

 

[johno27]

I would say it depends on the stock

For rays I would go with either pool filter sand (cheap) or any of the carib sea stuff (expensive)

For fish that don't have a soft belly you have a lot more options. But a lot of people still use pool filter sand for other fish too

 

[Hondacrx2]

I have catfish if that helps.

 

[SCGeordie]

For a 48"x18"x20" tank you'd need about 85lbs of sand to give a 2" layer, pool filter sand is probably the cheapest way to go, or you could mix pool filter sand and caribsea substrate if you're going to have plants.

 

[Embittered]

Id go with pool filter sand, its only like $6 for a 50lb bag.

 

[NCStateFisher]

+1 to pool filter sand, really cheap, looks nice - can't really beat it

just make sure to rinse it REEEEEEEEALLY well with a bucket or something before adding it to your tank, or else you're gonna be trying to look through orange water to find your fish lol

 

[Spiritofthesoul]

I'll say u only need about 1 inch of sand on the bottom if you are having fish-only tank and the fishes are not burrowers. Else pocket of anaerobic bacteria could form and produce H2S.

Cleaning the sand would require practise but it would be easy once u get used to it. Just siphon near the sand to remove the gunk ontop of it.

 

[Madding]

I like the Caribsea Naturals. I mixed sunset gold and the black moon in buckets before adding it to my tank and its a nice combo.