Silver Sand

[gbnw28178]

If you want to use sand in your tank, you can buy Silver Sand from your local builders merchants. Give it a good wash before and siv the sand to get rid of all the bits like small broken shells. And you have a very good cheap substate for use in your planted aquariums etc.

 

[Lateral Line]

Silver sand, if cleaned and cleared of calcareous material can be used, I used to use it. The problem with silver sand is the random grain size and shape allows smaller particles to drop between the larger ones. The net result of that is that silver sand tends to pack down very hard quite quickly and requires a lot more gardening to keep it open and prevent anærobic build up.

Pure sand, like pure gravel, is not a nutritous base however. Root feeding plants will require either additional material below the sand or root tabs.

 

[gbnw28178]

Silver sand, if cleaned and cleared of calcareous material can be used, I used to use it. The problem with silver sand is the random grain size and shape allows smaller particles to drop between the larger ones. The net result of that is that silver sand tends to pack down very hard quite quickly and requires a lot more gardening to keep it open and prevent anærobic build up.

Pure sand, like pure gravel, is not a nutritous base however. Root feeding plants will require either additional material below the sand or root tabs.

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Well I used to use it in my discus set-ups after one of my adult discus got a small pebble stuck in it's mouth. But I used to only put a 1 inch layer down to avoid the problems of sand compacting download and causing bad anaerobic bacteria. And then just have plants like java fern on bogwood and other plants in pots etc.. But then I used to feed them Whiteworm so I had to use a thin layer of sand anyway so they could filter the sand through there mouth when sucking in the white worms from the bottom. Plus the corys love silver sand and have sand baths.


Good thing about sand is the crap tends to float around the surface and can easy be siphoned away much easier from the top unlike gravel. making it much easier to see how much crap is in your tank at the bottom and when it needs a cleaning. But as your rightly pointed out, don't use sand in depths over 2 inch. That can cause problems with bad anaerobic bacteria building up.

But then of course sand cannot be used with undergravel filters. It's only really suitable with canister, sponge and trickle filters. And even then with canister filters you have to make sure your outlet pipe is positioned high so as to not suck sand up from the bottom which could break it.

 

[Lateral Line]

>>> the crap tends to float around the surface

That is so true. I often hear people say that sand gets dirty quicker. The mind boggles, how can the substrate affect the rate at which waste is produced by the tank?!?!?!?

Crud sits on the top of sand so can be seen and removed. In gravel tanks, it drops between the grains and festers. I know which I'd prefer.

>>> don't use sand in depths over 2 inch.

I use swimming pool filter sand. It has a much tighter grain size distribution and does not pack down. I have no problem with deep substrates, just poke it every so often with a chop stick.