Sand

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Vitaliy

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Dec 17, 2004
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I might be getting a good deal on a 180 gallon fish tank, even though I can not think of where I am going to put it at this point I simply can not pass on a deal like.. if it works out that is. I am such a psycho I am already thinking of what to put in it..

so I was wondering how would sand do in Freshwater?
and how would I go about cleaning it, would a pleco handle it?
... how much the whole sand deal will cost me for a 180 gallon?! :eek:
 
It's easy to clean as the waste sits on top.
Large fish will move all the sand in your tank simply by the thrusting power of their tails
I just did a sand substrate in my 210g tank for $20. (Lee's Pool Filter Sand).
 
I use sand on one tank, its great, though under gravel filters are reccomened, and i wouldnt reccoment a pleco in there as he likes to suck on stones to get algai, if you have a large peice of bog wood and some flat stone surfaces he may be ok.
 
I suggest a really thin layer of sand.. if you go planted, i'd go at most an inch.
I had 3 inches of sand in a 55g.
True that debris does sit at the top, but those are only the large chunks of crap.
The sand below does get pretty dirty and does require sand vacing every week. If you don't you'll get a build up of dirty sand, leading to other problems.
IMO, it requires the same amount of maintenance as gravel.
 
i have sand in my 18, and it looks awesome... banjo cats work well to stir up the sand, as they bury themselves. also, my lobster does an awesome job too... dependong on what fish you are going to keep in there, i know eels bury themselves. I had a peackock eel and it did an excellent job. it was picked on too much, do i had to move it into the 29.
just speaking from my own experiance here.
 
I use sand in my 29 gallon freshawater set up. It works great! I also use Pool Filter Sand that I bought in 50 pound bags at Home Depot for like $5.27 a bag. The initial rinse will save you a lot of trouble down the line. I divided the sand in half into a 5 gallon bucket, then, using a hose outside I filled up the bucket and then let it overflow, taking the lighter dust and such with it. Then, I'd use the hose to stir up the sand again and repeated the overflow. I did this several times until I felt confident that the sand was clean and no longer going to cloud my tank.

I agree, that some of the waste can get under the top layer of sand. I have coryadoras catfish that make sure of this, as they "snuffle" through the sand, pushing it on top of other sand and waste to get at food or what not. It's easy with a Python, just suck up the top layer of sand, then pull and push the Pyhton side to side to expose a little more of the lighter debris. Then, lift the Python. The sand should then settle while the waste gets ported away to your sink or yard, where ever you leave the other end of the Python.

As for Sand and undergravel filters, I suppose one could try it, but all you'll end up doing is packing the plastic grid of the filter between two layers of sand. UGFs work on the principle that the substrate remains over the grate, allowing space at the bottom for waste to collect to be broken down by the bio-filter. As no sand I know of is coarse enough to not pile right through the grate, this makes it rather hard.

Also, for sand depth, I have a planted tank so have a nice layer of about 2 inches all along the bottom. It also varies in depth. I've found sand can retain dunes and slopes better than regular gravel. If you'd like a picture of my tank, please check out the link in my sig to see what you think of sand in action.
 
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