More Sand Questions?

Anybody know what kinda sand this is? Is this silica sand?

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Its pretty large particles, its heavy enough to where it doesnt get sucked up in the vac (YAY), but feels nice. I got it at my petsmart cheap...like $14 for the whole 55. The only fish are piranhas so I can not get a bottom scavenger to take advantage of it, and my petsmart hasnt had it in stock since. Im really close to downsizing the tank size for the piranhas, so I can have a community in the 55, with the sand :]
I love it, but I wish it came in black... :[
 
heres some more shots of it.......
it looks like little rocks but its not, it feels nothing like gravel, I really like the look of it but I would like it darker.

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I'm not sure I would even consider pool filter sand to be a "sand" per se even though the definition is that the grain size can be up to two millimeters. In an aquarium, pool filter sand acts more like a very fine gravel and can be treated as such.

You could also try Quikrete Medium Sand if it's available in your area. That has a slightly smaller grain than the pool filter stuff and has a slightly tan/light brown color. Very natural looking.


I'm not sure about the filtration thing, as I am only about to try the really fine play sand/repti sand mix in a few days. I'm going on a theory however that if I turn off my filters during vacuuming (which I tend to do anyway) then by the time I get them back on, any potentially damaging particles would have settled back down again. I wouldn't think any of the really fine dust-like particles would do any damage to a canister filter. I don't know this for sure; I just don't see how it would.

People have suggested keeping Malaysian trumpet snails in sandy tanks because their burrowing will keep the sand bed consistently churned for you. Plus I am of the opinion that snails are beneficial in a tank if you don't overfeed the fish and keep their populations under control.

Live plants should do great in the pool filter sand or medium sand. I grew crypts nicely in medium sand. Time will tell if root plants do well for me in the play sand/repti sand mixture. My guess is that they will - most of these plants come from areas that have fine, sandy substrates. Thus I disagree with the general conception that plants do better in more specialized "plant" substrates. From my experience it's a lot more about providing the proper light and nutrients. And for heavy root plants, there is nothing quite so effective as root tablets. I found that out when I placed one under a crypt that I have which never seemed to grow more than a few leaves before it melted off back to nothing every few weeks. Placed one broken off piece of a root tab under it and now it hasn't melted since a few months ago and has a good twenty leaves or so. So much for Flourite.

On a final note - the reptile sand is completely inert pure quartz if it's Zoo Med Repti Sand. Here is the email I got in response to inquiring with Zoo Med about that:

Thank you for contacting us. Repti-sand is a natural product with no
additives. It should be fine in use in an aquatic tank.

Please let me know if you have further questions or comments.

Regards,

Rita Zarate
Dir. Customer Service

Zoo Med Laboratories, Inc.
3650 Sacramento Drive
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
Toll Free 888-496-6633
Direct 805-542-9988
Fax 805-542-9295
www.zoomed.com
 
el wadd said:
1. anyone on here run into problems with cannister filters and sand substrate? one would think even a few particles getting up into the inner workings of a cannister filter could do some damage.

2. i read somewhere that besides skimming the surface with every water change, every so often you should "turn the sand"...meaning you actually churn up the sand. this can't be good, can it? seems to me the fish would NOT like that.

3. seems like everyone on here agrees that pool filter sand is the way to go. why is that?


5. should I lay down a bottom layer of something else before the sand?

6. i have an acrylic tank. never had one before, and hear they scratch pretty easily...is it worth the risk?
Click to expand...


1, I have a Fluval 205 canister filter running my tank with sand on the bottom. The intake pipe is set approx 3-4" from the substrate. The filter works fine.
The canister filter should be ok because it filters the water BEFORE it gets to the pump, reducing the chance of getting anything into the impellor.

2, When I do a water change (part) I hoover the bottom which stirrs up the sand anyway. The sand soon settles after a few seconds and the fish love it because it must unearth uneaten food.

3, I bought a big bag of sand from my LFS which was packed/branded for fish and reptiles. It has no additives in it like Calci-sand which is used for reptiles, this has Calcium in it as the name suggests.

5, I have just sand. Its up to you if you want something under it.

6, An acrylic tank will scratch very easily. Dont use antyhing abrasive to clean the tank. Sand will scratch acrylic.

Hope this helps and doesnt put you off too much.
I will not use gravel again. It looks better with sand imo, although my catfish finds it necessary to dig up my plants!

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Nice tank leesst. That sand looks so beautifully natural.

I forgot to include that I have a little trick I use which allows you to go with less substrate - buy insulation styrofoam sheets at Lowe's or Home Despot and cut them to fit the bottom of the tank. I've found many benefits to this - you get the look of a thicker substrate for less money. You relieve sharp pressure points from rocks, driftwood, etc on the bottom glass both by the redistribution of the weight, and also because the stuff is so buoyant that it literally reduces the weight of the substrate. It insulates the tank a little which is of course beneficial for temperature control. You could also cut some pieces off another sheet and glue them to the bottom sheet to assist in creating terrace effects and simulate that rock formations are deeper than they appear.

One thing though - remember this stuff is seriously buoyant. You will have to have it weighed down with your rocks and sand before filling the tank or it will float right up and cause a big mess.
 
it's in....about an inch thick.
 
echoofformless said:
On a final note - the reptile sand is completely inert pure quartz if it's Zoo Med Repti Sand. Here is the email I got in response to inquiring with Zoo Med about that:

Thank you for contacting us. Repti-sand is a natural product with no
additives. It should be fine in use in an aquatic tank.
Click to expand...


Zoo med has that repti sand in a very nice red I can imagine it being gorgeous in a aquarium, anybody know some chemistry on wether pure quartz is intert? :]
 
Look what I found online -- maybe repti sand would work?

Again, despite its color or form, (crystal, microcrystalline,
massive,nodular ) its still primarily silica. This will not alter the water
chemistry of your aquarium. Quartz can appear in rocks or Geodes where other
minerals such as Calcite are present, which will alter the pH in water.
Calcite consists of Calcium carbonate, commonly with some impurities of
either iron, magnesium, manganese, and occasionally with zinc and cobalt.
Calicte reacts to acid, so to test for it, simply apply drops of muratic
acid on it and if the rock fizzes, then Calcite is present. Rocks sold as
quartz or black onyx, or crystals ordinarily are pure quartz mineral, not
rock.
 
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