What Sand?

[xJake]

I'm not sure what all-purpose sand or paver sand is, but if you use it, make sure it's not meant for mixing concrete or anything like that. You want just pure sand - no additives like bonding ajents or glues or chemicals. Things like that will obviously poison your whole tank.

All-purpose sand is simply a pure coarse silica-based sand with larger particles than play sand so it doesn't compact as easily and is actually safe to use in sand boxes. Paver sand is also a pure coarse silica-based sand that has even larger particles and is used as a base for putting down cement so that the cement has something to hold onto, and the only reason they don't recommend using it in sand boxes is because it has the larger particles and won't compact as well as play sand would with it's larger particles (as the only thing kids do with it is compact it i.e. shape/mold it). They both have a very natural-looking 2-toned light brown look to them and are even cheaper than play sand because they aren't as refined. I prefer the natural looking sand to the play sand as well because play sand is so light that it reflects a lot of light and can actually stress out the fish making them show duller colors.

I've used playsand in the past and I found it a right pain to keep clean, I've got lots of wood in my tanks and little pieces always seem to come off making bottom of the tank look unsightly, along with all the fishy do-dos.

I'v now switched to a very fine gravel in my 16g and a bigger gravel in my 125g. I much prefer the look plus it makes clean easier.

The only thing you have to do to clean it is turn off your filter and then run a standard fish net through the sand like a kitty litter box and you get most of the debris. The rest of it you can vacuum out by swirling the gravel vac a few centimeters above the sand's surface.