My tanks

[the loach]

Might be cheap, but not so simple, it sure looks different in color and structure from any play sand I've seen.

 

[NoodleCats]

This is the sand I use

All Treat Farms® - Walker Industries

All Treat Farms® premium lawn care and garden soil amendments from compost and organics. Contact All Treat Farms®.

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The colour seems different depending on the tank, the blackwater has tannins so that affects colour appearances too.
But you can see the sand up close in these photos

 

[the loach]

Very different from the play sand I mean when I advise against it, this seems more like a mixed fine river gravel. But I am not surprised they would sell whatever is the cheapest local alternative as 'play sand'

 

[NoodleCats]

Super fine, like a powder at times.

 

[the loach]

Like a powder, that is also how I would describe play sand. But that is not what I am seeing here, look under the kuhli for example. Did you mix that in?

 

[NoodleCats]

Like a powder, that is also how I would describe play sand. But that is not what I am seeing here, look under the kuhli for example. Did you mix that in?

The fine stones? No thats part of the sand.

The round gravel in some photos I mixed.

Took some of the sand out of my kids sand box lol same stuff in the tanks.

 

[the loach]

That's mixed allright, that's nice as a substrate. I like the different sizes and colors. When I talk about play sand I mean the all powdered stuff. It is terrible as a substrate for tanks...

 

[NoodleCats]

This here just has to be stirred every few weeks to keep it from compacting on plant roots or get trumpet snails for it. But its best for the small catfish and loaches as they sift it through their gills when feeding. Fine enough it doesn't damage anything.

Downside is you have to rinse to high heaven its sooooo dusty. But its been my go-to substrate for all my tanks.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

When I began looking for the sand I finally settled on I experimented. I found if the grain size got below a certain point, I was vaccuming up sand trying to suck up heavier poop and debris. If I reduced the siphon size to slow the flow so the sand would not be sucked up, I could not suck up the poop etc.

Does this happen with the sand you use?

I ended up using the CaribSea Torpedo Beach sand. I was led to it by the Admin. of the Finarama site for wild angels. I was getting into keeping Altums and he had been to most of the rivers where Altums are found. He said the Torpedo beach in tanks look the most like what he had seen in the wild. Years back DrsFosterSmith (now LiveAquaria) had summer sales with free shipping and they allowed heavy weight items to be included, Over two or three summers I bought a lot of this sand for really good prices delivered. Back then online sales did not charge sales tax.

 

[NoodleCats]

When I began looking for the sand I finally settled on I experimented. I found if the grain size got below a certain point, I was vaccuming up sand trying to suck up heavier poop and debris. If I reduced the siphon size to slow the flow so the sand would not be sucked up, I could not suck up the poop etc.

Does this happen with the sand you use?

I ended up using the CaribSea Torpedo Beach sand. I was led to it by the Admin. of the Finarama site for wild angels. I was getting into keeping Altums and he had been to most of the rivers where Altums are found. He said the Torpedo beach in tanks look the most like what he had seen in the wild. Years back DrsFosterSmith (now LiveAquaria) had summer sales with free shipping and they allowed heavy weight items to be included, Over two or three summers I bought a lot of this sand for really good prices delivered. Back then online sales did not charge sales tax.

Siphoning isn't bad, I hover the hose over top and usually just loose debris gets sucked up.

Sand is left alone.