Sandy Tank Idea for Fire Eel

[APAC]

So I have a 72 gallon tank for my foot long fire eel and all of the substrate is gravel with one tube and several rocks for the fire eel to hide under. I have noticed that the fire eel started burying himself under the gravel after the first week that I had bought him and I read that they can get abrasions from the sharp edges of the rocks which can cause diseases. I bought a bag of sand and im trying to decide exactly how to go about setting my tank up to have a half gravel and have sand mixture.

 

[jm1212]

it would probably be a better idea just to switch all of the substrate to sand. the sand and gravel will mix together eventually anyway.

 

[beblondie]

removr the gravel and replace it with sand its not hard to do-Anne

 

[evelyn80]

wash the sand really really well! i just finished cleaning like 2 pounds of sand and it took 20 minutes to get it clean! good luck though

 

[APAC]

would the sand be a good substrate to keep my fire eel, senegal bichir, and black ghost knife fish in. my only worry is how expensive the sand will be and how to gravel vac it with out sucking up all of the sand. ive heard of people using playground sand and silica sand and I found fine sand at a local pet shop but it was $16 per 30lbs. What should I use?

 

[thebrandon]

Play sand is very diry(it's what I have in my 125) but I got it for about 1.30 or so a bag at walmart. Once you clean it though it's really nice. The fish you mentioned will love you for putting sand in the tank.

Vacuuming isn't too bad, you just have to hover the vacuum over the sand and all the debris will get sucked up and not the sand.

 

[Mindcrime121]

:lol: What he said.

 

[7itanium]

better of to spend the money and get aragonite sand.. it looks better and its much cleaner and less abrasive

as far as gravel vac... just hover the vac about an inch above the sand.. the debree gets sucked out and the clean sand stays

dont stick it down into the sand like you would with gravel

 

[serissime]

my pool filter sand....
$15 for 50lb
Honestly I didn't wash it, to no ill effect, and it's heavy enough that it doesn't swirl up when i vacuum (unlike my play sand tanks)

definitely my first choice (ease and cost coming before pure aesthetics)

 

[Rbishop]

I use Quik Crete play sand....$4 for 50 pounds..no washing...