Changing To Sand

[chickennuggets123]

Im changing to sand, from gravel.
Im just wondering, is children's play sand safe?
I know you have to wash it a lot.
Ive noticed that if they add 'aquarium' to the start of 'sand', they add an extra £4 on.
Its a lot cheaper, and Im wondering is it as good as aquarium sand?

 

[njstockley]

yes play sand is absolutely fine - ive used it and know a lot of others on here do too.
you really do have to give it a thorough wash though before you put it in the tank though..!

anything "specifically" made for aquarium use comes with a hefty premium attached. always a good idea to run alternatives past the folks on here who will be more than happy to advise.

nick

 

[tropicaltime]

yes play sand is absolutely fine - ive used it and know a lot of others on here do too.
you really do have to give it a thorough wash though before you put it in the tank though..!

anything "specifically" made for aquarium use comes with a hefty premium attached. always a good idea to run alternatives past the folks on here who will be more than happy to advise.

nick

+1 Ive used play sand, looks absolutely stunning but yes you have to give it a good rinse or else your tank will be cloudy.

 

[mike455555]

i just washed my play sand today (first time using it ) it took about 30 mins to wash 15kg of it using 2 buckets. it now settles within 8 secs

 

[MrBThatsMe]

Do you have any pictures? I have a bag of play sand and didn't think it would be suitable for use in an aquarium do to the colour and the cloudyness. How exactly do you wash it also? Thanks

 

[friendlyfishy777]

I had originally brought fine black gravel from Pets at Home but then I read Corys prefer proper sand (and of a light colour makes them feel safe), so about three days before getting my fish I rushed out and brought play sand from Argos. My fish are loving the play sand and it looks really nice too. Please remember to clean it before putting it in the tank. What I did was put sand in a small fishing net and wash it under the tap, you loss some sand but you are sure of wonderfully clean sand at the end of the process. It took me about an hour to do the 15kg bag. Have a bucket handy to put the newly washed sand in.

 

[mike455555]

if its argos play sand then its fine just fill a bucket half full of sand and then add water wait afew mins pore water off then repeat untill the sand settles quicekley

 

[MrBThatsMe]

I may do that then. I currently have blue gravel in there but would prefer sand I think.

 

[mattyd1701]

YES YES YES

Make sure you wash it through first though to get rid of the really fine grains of sand
take a look at my thread from when i swapped to sand from gravel i used Argos Play Sand £2.99 for 15kg bag

My Thread
(there's a picture of my tank after the swap near the bottom)

And a nice little video to show you what's probably the best way to go about cleaning it

YouTube Vid