can i put sand in a tropical fish tank?

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missladycroft

Registered Member
Feb 11, 2005
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can i put sand in a tropical fish tank? :confused: if so what sand should i get/use? :rolleyes:

is this a UK site? :bowing: the boy in the pet shop said i should use bird sand? the aviary pack cage proud one? :eek:
 
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The boy in the shop sounds like an idiot.

Go to your local aquatics and check out there tanks, 90% will probably have sand in, its getting more and more common now as its easier to clean, and stays cleaner than gravel, you can get aquarium sand, or silica sand, what size is your tank?
 
If your hardware stores sell something liek Playsand (meant for snadboxes) then that should be fine for most freshwater tanks.
 
Major fish i thought the gravel is better as it has all that good bacteria. :confused:
 
Sand actually will have more surface area that gravel. So just as much bacteria will grow in the tank. The problem with sand is that since the waste doesn't have a chance to sink into the cracks the surface of the sand will get dirty quicker and require more frequent cleaning to look good.

That doesn't mean gravel doesn't need cleaning, just that it doesn't "look" as dirty as fast.
 
I use sand as well. I wouldn't know anything about vaary sand. Does it have additives? If so, avoid it like the plague for a tropical fish tank. If you choose to go with sand, as suggested, play sand works well. I use something called Pool Filter Sand. It comes in 50 pound bags for about $5.00 US. It is generally cleaner than Play Sand and doesn;t require as much rinsing before adding it to a tank. If you click the link in my signature, you can see how it looks.
 
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