White Sand

[Naringlo]

Hello!

I was wondering if anyone knew where to get white sand? Or moon sand or something like that?

I looked in my LFS but haven't found anything. It needs to be suitable for a tropical tank.

I can find it, but was mainly wondering if anyone knew where to get it cheapest or best quality

Anyone know of any websites? for a good price?

Thanks all!

 

[fluttermoth]

Do you need actual, bright white? Argos playsand is quite pale.

 

[Naringlo]

Yeah bright white.

Okay thank you, I'll check it out.

 

[fluttermoth]

I'd have a serious think a to whether you really do want bright white sand. It attracts algae growth and goes green or brown quite quickly, and fish don't like it much; they tend to lose colour and look pale and washed out over very white sand.

Here's what the Argos one looks like in a couple of my tanks (neither have bright lighting; it would appear paler if they did)

 

[Naringlo]

Okay. I did not know that so thank you for letting me know.

 

[FishBlast]

I have white sand.
I have yet to get any actual green algae growth. Only thing I have is the dust on the walls every now and then but no algae whatsoever.

 

[Tonyb111111]

I agree with Fluttermouth, but I think an off white is fine. Darker substrates show colours better, but I wanted a natural as you can see in my signature, but I wouldn't go any brighter than this. I personally have not had issues with it going green, but there are a lot of people that have

 

[Cazgar]

Several people here have said White sand has a tendency to go greenish after a while.
I have play sand in a couple of my tanks & it does give a natural look.
I also have black substrate in a couple of tanks & IMO the fish develop deeper colouring on a dark substrate

 

[FishBlast]

Maybe some day, I'll make a second tank (preferably short and tall, for egg layers that don't swim much) and add black substrate. Looks better when planted. White and yellow would do well with some cactus-looking plants... LOL...

 

[Naringlo]

Thanks for all the advice and information.

I'm probably going to go with with a slightly not so white, white sand. If that makes sense. I have sand at the moment but it's horrible and sort of dark looking. I'm going to have a black background so I don't really want black sand because I won't be able to see any stuff at the bottom to syphon which is essential as this is planning for a Discus tank.