Play Sand Acceptable?

[aquariagirl1976]

I was sure I read on here that play sand is acceptable in a cory tank. I put sand in the tank today, and all I have is a brown mud. I washed the sand (and broke the tank in the process...) No one is answering my question in the emergency section, can someone tell me if play sand is acceptable? Please answer quick, my corys are all in a pail...

 

[idlefingers]

play sand is fine. How did you wash it? It shouldn't be like mud. How did you break the tank?

 

[aquariagirl1976]

I washed in the bathtub, rinsing and mixing with my hand until it is clear (inside the tank of course). I broke the top corner of the tank by holding on to it there.

Thanks for the fast reply!

 

[idlefingers]

Next time use a bucket. Put small amounts in at a time and keep filling/emptying the water until it's clear. Then you won't damage your tank.

 

[aquariagirl1976]

How clear should i expect the water to get? It is still cloudy...

 

[Maxta]

The cloudiness of my water went after a couple of hours after adding play sand. And my cory's love it

Mine doesnt look like mud though I rinsed mine three times before adding, basically until the water in the bowl i was rinsing stopped going cloudy/brown.

Edit: Heres a pic of mine. Just added a new light (power glo) and hidey hole ornament specifically in mind for my corys. Also added more plants and background yesterday, looks alot better:

Still cant get any half decent pics of the corys though

 

[Coryman]

Play sand is idea, but it is almost impossible to get it perfectly clean. However after a couple of days of filtration it will clear. I would recommend using a bucket to clean sand or gravel in.

Ian

 

[Luniz]

I changed my gravel to argos play sand a few days ago. It is pretty hard to clean. The tank will get cloudy until you cant see your fish. Leave it to settle overnight. And you will wake up in the morning to a crystal clear tank.

 

[roseykat5]

QUESTION.......is it easy to keep clean or harder ... i was thinking of doing that ...

 

[Maxta]

Harder to clean. But worth it.

 

[tuskancharger]

i use sand as my media and all the fish seem to enjoy as for cleaning i find every thing stays on top then all you havr to do is cause a slight eddy and syphon off the 'crap'

 

[saphphx]

I changed my gravel to argos play sand a few days ago. It is pretty hard to clean. The tank will get cloudy until you cant see your fish. Leave it to settle overnight. And you will wake up in the morning to a crystal clear tank.

its funny, everone says that but I have gone through 7 bags of play sand from argos and never had any problems with cloudyness, but probably washed away half of the lighter sand when rinsing.

Anyway, its easy to clean, turn off filter, swish sand, use the tube on the syphon, not the whole thing, just the tube about 2cm or so off the top and suck up the crap, swish and repeat til your happy I think it stays cleaner then gravel to be honest.

 

[roseykat5]

thanks .. that really answered my q ... i will get one ... play sand ,do i have to b careful of additive as im in canada

 

[saphphx]

thanks .. that really answered my q ... i will get one ... play sand ,do i have to b careful of additive as im in canada

No idea. They shouldn't have additives, though I did see one advertised as anti-bacterial, though most will have no additives due to the amount of sand children will eat

 

[roseykat5]

thx