Coral Sand

[snotirl]

I have a cold water fish tank as it says in my signature. but i want to change the stones to coral sand. First question How long does it take after putting the sand in for it to settle? Can i had the fish straight way then? Is it easy to clean? And would u see all the fish poo in it? And is it expensive?

 

[devinf]

Coral sand is used mostly in marine tanks and will increase the pH levels in your tank, possibly to harmful levels. There are a number of other sand choices available (at the LFS, etc.) that might be better for your fishies. I believe there are a few other threads going on that are dealing with switching substrate from gravel to sand.

You will still need to clean the sand regularly and might want to construct a filter for your hose to keep excess sand from getting sucked up (an old fishnet can work).

Devin

 

[snotirl]

mm.. ok anyone else have a comment? 8)

 

[AquaNut]

Devinf is correct. Coral sand would not be appropriate for your cold water tank as it would raise the pH too much. You want silicate sand.

 

[Alien Anna]

Apparently children's play sand is good because its not too fine and its sterilised. I'm thinking of trying it some time in my mollie tank so I'll tell you how it goes.

 

[flyhockey1037]

i just put sand into my aquarium yesterday. what perfect timing u have. lol. i filled a bucket with tank water and temporarily moved all my fish and plants to there, then i drained the rest of the tank and gave it a good scrubbing (a shop vac works great for getting the water out quick, if u cant dump it). Then i dumped in my sand. Then, added water. DO NOT DO THAT!!!!! Add the water, then add your sand. Don't fill the water up all the way, so that u can reach your arm in to reinsert your plants and decorations. Go to a hardware store and buy a funnel with a tube attached to the bottom, and put that into the aquarium so that the tube is at the bottom where the sand should go and the funnel part is not submerged, then take cupfuls of sand, and dump it into the funnel, the sand should fall into place just fine. If you add the sand first and then the water, you will have massive amounts of sand clinging to air bubbles floating all over your aquarium messing up your filters big time. Believe me, i lost a filter yesterday to this. Luckily it was my old one and not my spiffy new biowheel jobby. then reinsert your fish ASAP, the sand does not need to be completely settled b4 the fish go back in. if you have any airlstones or anything you will need to wait a day for the sand to settle before u can put it in or else sand will cling to your air bubbles and fudge up the works. it really kind of cleans itself, all you need to do is swoosh the water above the sand and the debris stirs up and gets sucked into the filter. i am going to purchase the smallest gravel vac i can find so i can clean it easy. someone should invent an itty bitty underwater vacuum so i can clean this stuff easy. i hear that after a little while, the sand settles in so good that u can use a gravel vac and it will suck up the debris and not any sand, i guess u gotta wait for the "slime" to grow over the sand. i am very pleased with my new setup and im sure you will be too. phew, i think that covered everything.......o yeah...

anyone have a spare impeller for an HOB "second nature whisper power filter". It says E economy model filters up to 85 gallons per hour, 10 gallon special. its pretty old. if anyone has a spare i will pay for whatever shipping you will need. you can probably just send it in a padded envelope no problem tho. its replacement part number 69850 if thats relevant to anyone...

i thought way to much for that phew

 

[thebulk]

Coral Sand is more designed for marine tanks, as the others said it will increase the Ph levels in your cold water tank, as for cleaning it, it is slightly easier than gravel and can look better, personally i wouldnt bother as it could do more harm than good!

 

[flyhockey1037]

yes u should only use silicate or quartz sand, nothing else for a freshwater tank....

any word on that spare impeller yet? lol.....