Sandy Substraite

[redraven]

Hi, Im planing on doing a sand like or very fine gravel substraite. Ive been looking around and have checked alot of sourses for what kind to use. Ive talked to a number of people who use sand and everyones said diff things. Some said the tahitian moon sand is good, others say no thats bad use this or that. I douno what to use. Some say estes sand or monteray sand others recomend stuff thats very jaged and pionty like black beauty, ? I dont want to use that. I want a nice dark sand to bring out color and I want something soft for loaches. Anyone have any recomendations?

 

[Teelie]

Never, ever use a sand that is jagged or rough. The smoother, the better, even if you have no bottom dwellers. Tahitian moon sand is great IMO though it's a lighter grain than pool filter sand and can be disturbed fairly easily. I have some white moonlight sand that's even more tempermental though but it's silky smooth and great for my shelldwellers.

If you need to go cheap, go with Pool Filter Sand or Play Sand. If you don't mind paying extra for a better quality/looking sand, go with Estes or Tropic Isle who make the black moon sand and the white moonlight sand amongst others.

 

[redraven]

this is not my first atempt at sand. I tried with a 14 gal a few months back. I used pool filter sand and had massive probs with it, even though I wqashed it reallly really well. I think it some how was contaminated since i restarted twice. I dont wana use anything jaggid or sharp....... I just cant decide what to use though. I dont mind paying the extra few bucks. I was thinking of using the tmoon sand but ive been getting 55/50 on it from people. What kinda filter do u use? Im gona use a rena filstar xp1 I dont want my filter to suck it all up, and ive never used that sand so I just want to know what people use and what they like

What is the estes sand like? Someone recomended that to but others said its just a brand... The Tropic Isle Ive never really heard of. whatdo you recoment over brand? Should I go with the tmoon? Or something ellse. I want a dark sand to bring out the color of the rainbows I want

 

[madmom]

I used play sand that I got from my local garden center. It was pretty cheap 1.00 a gallon byo bucket. I rinsed it really well; mix and rinsed several times till it ran clear. I added it a scoop at a time to my tank while the fish were still there. there was very little cloudy water and mostly from the sand itself and settled withn 10 minutes. I have an external filter and so far no problems. When I vac the tank as long as I don't touch the sand with the vac it's pretty easy to clean.

 

[Sibelius]

I've never used a sandy substrate, but I'm thinking of using it in a planted nano (my AquaCube from PFK, whenever it arrives!) Should I put some sort of loamy fertiliser stuff? or a clay based substrate first? or nothing at all beneath the sand. I'm not really sure!

 

[Squid]

I've never used a sandy substrate, but I'm thinking of using it in a planted nano (my AquaCube from PFK, whenever it arrives!) Should I put some sort of loamy fertiliser stuff? or a clay based substrate first? or nothing at all beneath the sand. I'm not really sure!

Sielius: I put laterite (clay) beneath my sand..

RedRaven: don't use argos playsand if you want a dark sand... its the colour in my sig below.. too light for what your looking for.

Squid

 

[Teelie]

this is not my first atempt at sand. I tried with a 14 gal a few months back. I used pool filter sand and had massive probs with it, even though I wqashed it reallly really well. I think it some how was contaminated since i restarted twice. I dont wana use anything jaggid or sharp....... I just cant decide what to use though. I dont mind paying the extra few bucks. I was thinking of using the tmoon sand but ive been getting 55/50 on it from people. What kinda filter do u use? Im gona use a rena filstar xp1 I dont want my filter to suck it all up, and ive never used that sand so I just want to know what people use and what they like

What is the estes sand like? Someone recomended that to but others said its just a brand... The Tropic Isle Ive never really heard of. whatdo you recoment over brand? Should I go with the tmoon? Or something ellse. I want a dark sand to bring out the color of the rainbows I want

I have pool filter in 4 of my 6 tanks with no problems. Not sure what happened with yours. On all my tanks save my 55g, I use hang on the back filters. I have one on my shellie tank with the extra light sand but use a powersponge for the most part to do the serious work. The black moon sand works fine with a decent hob filter. I've used Penguin/Marineland on it and have had no problems with the black sand getting sucked up. Just don't have the inake tube too low to the bottom or have too powerful an outflow where it throws sand up into the water and you should be fine.

It might be different if you have fish that actively dig in the sand like shellies though. I have cories in the black sand no problems. They dig in the sand but they don't do much more than stick their noses in it. Estes and Tropic Isle are both brands but ones with good reputations. Tropic Isle is the one who markets Tahitian Black Moon Sand and White Moonlight which I like. Estes I have not used personally but have worked with in a shop I worked at and it's a decent sand as well.

 

[BBrain]

When I vac the tank as long as I don't touch the sand with the vac it's pretty easy to clean.

Aren't you worried the sand will go anaerobic, if you don't deep-vac it?

I think that's what happened with one of my tanks. I put a top layer of nice, smooth-grained filter sand on top of the existing gravel. It looked so pretty, that I didn't want to disturb it, so I didn't do my usual, weekly deep-vacuuming, the first week. In the second week, I had an outbreak of blue-green algae, that supposedly comes from lack of oxygen.

The other problem I've had with this fine sand, is that it jams up in between the two tubes of my Lee's adjustable height gravel vacuum. That makes the vac almost impossible to take apart for adjustment or cleaning.

So from now on, I'll be deep-vacuuming the sand (now completely mixed in with the gravel.....looks wierd), and I'll be getting a one-piece vac.

Oh yeah, one other problem with fine sand. There's always some extra fine sand that gets pulled into the bucket, and you have to dump that outside, not down your sink, if you don't want your house plumbing to plug up.

As for a smooth dark sand, other than black, I haven't found any yet. Dark brown would be really nice. I really don't like the look of black; it looks so un-natural to me.

 

[Teelie]

Anaerobic sand isn't usually much of a problem if it's under 1.5" deep as it doesn't compact enough or deep enough to really cause any problems and if you're planting, the roots will help keep things from going sour anyways.

 

[redraven]

I think im going to go with the Tahitian moon sand (dont think I spelled it right but dont care.... long day at work) I have seen the shellies befor and thought they were some of the coolst fish ive seen in awile. I would like to do them but I here that you cant really put much with them. I have nerowd down my list of fish but id like to do the shellies or some other chichlid but I dont know to much about mixing tank mates for chichlids. Have any ideas? I have a 28 bowfront tank with a rena filstar xp1 (45gal) If I do chichlids id like them in collors of blues, red, purple, green and yellow. What about acie?
And what do you all think of the rena filstars XPs??

My fish list for my tank once I have a good establishement (not all at once)

3 Bosmans rainbow (1 male 2 female
8 gem harliquin rasboras
a few mollys and platies

Depending on what I pick

A albino rainbow shark
or
2 dojo or yoyo loaches and 3 spotted cory cats

 

[Teelie]

If you do shellies, I strongly recommend doing a species-only tank or have upper-level fish like Danios to minimize aggression and stress.

There are a few species of shellie that have blue, red green and yellowish tint to them and some with purplish iridescence. My stappersi often have a purplish tint to them when under certain lights at certain angles.