sand

[nightlife20]

didnt kow where to put this topic so i put it in here


im havin sand in me new tank....

how do i go about cleanin it? also is it true u have to run a chopstick/stick through it to stop the deadzones apearing?

im having my loaches in this tank along with other fish..... will they help to stop the dead zones?

any info realy needed as iv never had a sand setup before

also the cycling time for sand... is it the same as cycling with gravel?


cheers

 

[Eelzor]

The loaches somtimes borrow a little which is good. Mine do that. Eels can help it too. to clean it you just put it in a separate bucket and constantly clean it until the water is clear, then it can be put in the main tank. You vacuum bits o' poo off the top to rid of them. Cycling is the same too.

HTH

 

[nightlife20]

the sand im havin i from the lfs... didnt say what sand it was (bummer) what i need to kow is will it pack down the smae as normal sand does when wet? if so how do i help it to stay loose?....


has anyone got in pic's links to some close ups of a sand tank??

cheers

 

[Eelzor]

run chopstix thru the sand maybe once a week. I never do it much though because my clown loaches are constantly hard @ work doing it for me.

 

[Lateral Line]

The amount of raking is determined by the type of sand. Ordinary silver sand/building sand packs down quite hard very quickly, and so prodding around with a chopstick is a frequent activity. For the last 10 years, I have used swimming pool filter sand which packs down very slowly and then, not that hard.

Malaysian trumpet snails that burow in the sand can help keep it open without damaging plants. Manys loaches and Corys will keep the surface turned over. Spiny Eels even more so, but they tend to wreak havoc in a planted tank, always uprooting things.

Crud does not sink into sand like it does in gravel, it is thus easier to clean because everything is lying on the surface. You do not need to go mad with a vacuum with sand.

It goes without saying you should not use coral sand or any other calcareous material - I assume you know that though!

 

[nightlife20]

yup i know not to use the other sand the lfs sell 'red sea'? cause its for marine tanks, i did say tropical setup so unless they are realy thick (wich glovers aint btw) then there shouldnt be a mix up... and i can always take it back for full refund if it hasnt been opened.

 

[thecichlidaddict]

Anaerobic pockets take a long time to appear, if at all. I hear many horror stories about it, but they are what we call urban legend I believe, or something to that effect. I've never actually known anyone to have this problem with sand.

It's a good idea to turn over the sand everyonce in a while to prevent algae buildup on it, but otherwise you have nothing to worry about. Snails are a great way to naturally turn over the sand.

 

[rain-]

has anyone got in pic's links to some close ups of a sand tank??
cheers

It was quite hard to find pictures of sand actually showing, because my tanks usually have so much plants that the sand is almost non-visible.

Like in this thread: http/fish.orbust.net/forums/index.php?sh...showtopic=25228

But there were some pictures of my previous tank. Picture 1, Picture 2 and Picture 3.

 

[nightlife20]

wow them are realy nice lookin tanks rain ty for sharing



thanks for the info tca