I want to put sand in my new 55 gal tank I know I can use play sand that you use for a sand box. But the question is how do I clean it? and How often. If you use a gravel vac you are going to suck up the sand and how would you replace it with fish in the tank? Thanks for the help!
Sand in Freshwater 55 gallon Tank
- Thread starter mansfieldartguy
- Start date
You can still vac, just don't put the vac all the way down onto the sand like you would with gravel; instead swirl the water around gently near the bottom to lift the debris into the water column, then suck it up with the vac. Schedule just like for gravel or as needed; sand is a liitle easier to keep clean, but it shows the dirt more.
i just did my 50g with sand last week. so far no issues. i washed the sand out for what seemed like forever and i didn't even take my fish out when i added the sand. i added it with a bucket and was careful not to stir it up to much. it did not cloud the water or anything. fyi, i got 2 18kg bags of playsand and did my 50g and my 30g with them. it took me about 4 hours(maybe a bit more) to get it all rinsed out using my hose on full blast. i poured one bag at a time into a lg rubbermaid container and proped one end up with a bucket so it was angled. this seemed to work best for me.
You also need to stir the sand to prevent the formation of anaerobic gas pockets. You can attach chop sticks to the end of the vac to do this during weekly maintenance or consider sand sifting snails like malaysian trumpet snails.
if you are heading to home depot or lowes check out the pool filter sand they carry in the outdoor section. the play sand is varied in size down to dust and requires more cleaning before use. the pool filter sand is more consistent in size and i only needed one bag for a 55g.
DAVIDFBT
Extinct? Since when?
I was never able to find Pool Filter sand at Lowe's, try a pool supply store if you can't find it. I also heard that ACE has it.
It can effect your bacteria colony, yes. Often its recommended to hang some of the established substrate in a media bag in teh discharge flow of the filter. The helps the bacteria to colonize the new substrate. It would not cause a complete new cycle by replacing the substrate, but could cause a spike in parameters or a mini-cycle. Utilizing the old decoratoin, as well as the filter media being intact helps to minimize this as well.