# Anyone know about pool filter sand?



## beachtan (Sep 25, 2008)

I have gravel in my 55 gal. Thinking of pool filter sand in my 10 gal fry tank so I can see them easily. Its barebottom right now - looks junky. So, any downside to using pool filter sand instead of gravel? and when I go to the pool supply store, what exactly am I supposed to ask for?


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## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

if you ask them for pool filter sand they will know exactly what you need. usually they sell it in 50 pound bags for like 9 bucks. very cheap.

also, pool filter sand is nice because it doesnt cloud water at all. more than once i have just taken a cup and scooped it in my aquarium full of water (filters off) and it settles right down to the bottom after a minute. if you are going with sand, pfs is the way to go imo.


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## beachtan (Sep 25, 2008)

Great! Thanks for the help! I really dont need 50 lb! think I can buy a smaller bag??! lol. :wink:


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## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

true, if its just 10 gallons you dont need 50 lbs. i dont know if it comes in smaller sizes, but you can always buy the nig bag and have extra in case you suck up sand on accident every time you vaccum. cant hurt to have extra.


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## punman (Oct 24, 2003)

I love pool filter sand and no longer have gravel tanks.
However, I do not put any sand or gravel in my 10 gallon fry tank. I want to see all fry and all food settled on the bottom and want to syphon it easily.


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## Aura (Oct 29, 2005)

beachtan said:


> Great! Thanks for the help! I really dont need 50 lb! think I can buy a smaller bag??! lol. :wink:


You'll need that extra sand when you see how nice it looks in your fry tank and want to switch your 55 gallon to sand. :wink:

I'll also add that my pool filter sand was pretty dirty and required quite a bit of rinsing. It must vary from brand to brand.


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## beachtan (Sep 25, 2008)

ooh. thanks - I would've just dumped it inf!


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## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

it must vary from brand to brand cause i tried to rinse mine and it literally was perfect. i put it in a bucket, filled it with water to rinse and there was nothing. sand - clear water. i was surprised.

jus tcheck out the sand you buy to make sure, but if you go to leslies pool supply, they just had the one kind which is what i got. sorry i dont have the brand name off the top of my head.


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## beachtan (Sep 25, 2008)

Thanks! We have a Leslies Pool Supplies here too! so I called and can go get it for $8.49/50lb! 8) 
I have a python water-siphon; is that gonna suck up the sand pretty bad?

:dancing: I have to say - it's worth the $50 to get the Python - I can do a 30% water change in my 55gal from start to finish within 10 min. with no mess!


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## duaneS (Aug 31, 2006)

One of the good things about pool sand, is that it is heavier than play sand, it's made to be automatically back washed, so only a small amount will be sucked up the Python. You can capture that sand, by putting a container under the effluent of your Python, the sand will sink in the container, and you can let the dirty water overflow. I use pool sand in all my tanks, and also use a Python with good results.


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## supadave (Jun 19, 2007)

duaneS said:


> One of the good things about pool sand, is that it is heavier than play sand, it's made to be automatically back washed, so only a small amount will be sucked up the Python. You can capture that sand, by putting a container under the effluent of your Python, the sand will sink in the container, and you can let the dirty water overflow. I use pool sand in all my tanks, and also use a Python with good results.


I agree 100%..... couldn't have typed it better myself. :thumb:


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## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

wow, thats actually a good idea to catch the sand that gets sucked up. i lose alot of sand when i vaccum, i think just because my pleco makes so much waste. thats another thing... waste will be very visible on the sand as opposed to gravel, so you probably have to up the water change frequency just to keep things looking nice, especially if you have messy fish


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## Markolodeon (Nov 4, 2007)

So what color is the pfs you find in your area (poll)? I'm in MN and bought one bag that was labeled as red flint pfs. It took some rinsing but once in the tank it looked like sand at the bottom of one of the local lakes. Sort of close to a brown sugar, almost exactly it. I didn't like it at all.

As I called around to the local pool supply stores in search of this sand all carried the same color (red) but a coupe of places said they could order some in special if I knew the brand/color. I'd love to find something cheaper than eco-complete. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!


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## Hawks (Feb 7, 2008)

I just switched mine to sand and used Quikcrete commercial grade medium grade from Home Depot. Cost was $6.50 for 100 pound bag. This sand comes out clean I barely washed it and had no cloudiness at all. Pretty decent sized grains as well, should be easy to vacuum without losing a bunch of sand.

Here is what it looks like-


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## beachtan (Sep 25, 2008)

The pool sand I picked up is white - little flecks in it (#20 silica sand). Its still in my trunk - 50lb! so I'll wrestle it outa there tomorrow and rinse etc. I'll get a pic up of it dry, and then once its in the tank w/ water in the next couple days..


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## Markolodeon (Nov 4, 2007)

^ beachtan - I take it you live near the ocean? The midwest is a lousy place to be for pfs!

As far as using Quikcrete or a similar product, I never would have thought have that! Amazing all the stuff you learn on here.

So what do you think is the base cost (raw materials) to make one 20 pound bag of eco-complete sand? For me it seems the only option just due to where I live, plus it looks better than anything else I've seen. But I bet it costs them around a $1 bag to produce.


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## Aura (Oct 29, 2005)

Markolodeon said:


> So what color is the pfs you find in your area (poll)?


The pool filter sand in my area is tan colored, the brand is Target. I've seen pictures of other tanks with a white pool filter sand, which is what I wanted at first, but couldn't find in my area. Now I'm used to this color and like it better than the white blasting sand I have in another tank. :thumb:


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## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

Markolodeon, have you tried looking at any of these pool stores for pool filter sand?

http://yp.yahoo.com/py/ypResults.py?&ci ... e=distance


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## beachtan (Sep 25, 2008)

What? :-? I live in Mich. but why would that matter for pfs? I am close to the beach and go all the time but that sand is tan and I wouldnt trust using that. re: the silica sand: I'm about to take pics and get it in the tank in a few minutes so I'll put up the pics soon. It's a really good color - very light. I wanna re-create this tank I saw on youtube. Its SO cool!! :drooling:






did you know theres all kinds of underwater videos of the african lakes on youtube?! also it shows the fry flying in and out of the mothers mouth - it's pretty amazing to see it in the wild where theyre bigger and have more fry... shows you stripping yellow labs and frontosas... opcorn:


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## Markolodeon (Nov 4, 2007)

Yep, I tried several pool supply stores in the area, all carried the Red Flint brand that is mined out of Chippewa Falls, WI if I'm not mistaken. White would be ok if I could I find it, or something more light tan than red.

What Aura has going would be perfect, at least from the picture. When you say the brand is Target, do you mean the department store that's sort of a step up from Wal-Mart? Even if it is this would be a lousy time of year to go look for it in MN. A snoblower, definitely.

The other part I don't like about the eco-complete is this my first experience with a serious snail outbreak! Has this happened to anyone else?

Off to do more hunting - thanks for all the tips! :thumb:


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## Aura (Oct 29, 2005)

Markolodeon, the sand came from a pool/spa supply store. I've also seen it in hardware stores and on Amazon.com. of all places. I don't know if it would be available in your area though.


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## beachtan (Sep 25, 2008)

I got pics - I'm just too tired tonite - but I'll post them tomorrow!

Pics of Bag: sand before, sand after, rinse water etc.

look up swimming pool in the yellow pages - ask them - whatever they have is good - and actually it looks exactly like dry Malt-O-Meal. -like tiny beads. it's only 7 - $8/ 50 lb bag. I think shipping would kill you on a 50lb bag online!


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## beachtan (Sep 25, 2008)

LOVE THE PFS!!!! here's some pics. I purchased the sand at "under the sun" near Grand Rapids, MI 616-530-5504

The bag: (see how the 2nd pic shows "ecologically safe")

















Heres the DRY sand in a gladware plastic container. I put a penny in for sizing. against the green grass for color reference... looks exactly like dry Malt-O-Meal!

















Heres the WET sand...









I just added water and stirred it with a spoon. it immediately settles and i poured the dirty water into the glass on the right next to a glass of clear water on the left. Did need a little rinsing:









Then I just dumped it into my tank. WARNING:: unplug your filter for 5 min while you do this!! I didnt and almost wrecked mine! the sand swished up next to the intake tube and started a terrible noise - i unplugged it and was able to rinse it out - all good. whew! I even left the fish in-they were fine. just add it slowly it settles immediately. my tank was already a bit cloudy- too big of fish and too many in there - i'm workin on that... two of the males were really going at it afterwards.


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## Markolodeon (Nov 4, 2007)

^ Thanks for the pics bt and aura! Of the two I like the lighter Silurian brand. I'm betting that is mined on the north shore of Lake Michigan (Michigan side). At least now I have a couple of brands to hunt down and check on availability. Like I said several places said they could order almost anything in but didn't have a catalog or list of pfs, lol. Big help! :thumb:


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## beachtan (Sep 25, 2008)

Problem:

ok, this could be totally unrelated to the pool filter sand, but is a weird coincidence if thats what it is.

Since i dumped in the rinsed pfs a week ago, my fish have lost their color. They've gone almost completely silver. dont fight each other, developed ich, (*** been treating the water for 4 days with maracide) and they just hang there in mid-water barely moving. b-o-r-i-n-g! anyone know whats going on? (they do eat fine)

(10gal, 77 degrees, levels are fine, 25% water change every day or every other, 5 fish at 3/4" and 4 fish at 1.75".)


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## Aura (Oct 29, 2005)

I don't think it would be the sand itself, but it might have something to do with the process of switching to the sand.

When you rinsed out the filter after getting sand into it, did you keep the bio-media undisturbed?

Do you have a test kit that you can check your water parameters?

Was the sand room temperature or tank temperature when you dumped it in or was it cold? (I warm mine after rinsing and then gently lower it down to the bottom in a large plastic cup or similar item to dump it without too much disturbance.)


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## supadave (Jun 19, 2007)

beachtan -

I don't think the sand has anything to do with the Ick. As far as the fish being colorless and "boring", I think your tank may be going through a mini cycle. The reason I say this is because you stated that you cleaned the filter because you dumped the sand into the tank without turning off the filter. When you cleaned that filter you may have killed all of you beneficial bacteris (Bio). If this is the case, then i would take some filter media from your 55gal and place it into the 10 gal.


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## beachtan (Sep 25, 2008)

Actually i just rinsed out the sand near the impellar-thing and left the dirty sponge and stuff in the filter. so it cant be that...


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## DarbX1605 (Apr 7, 2008)

I'm a little late chiming in here - but for those of you looking for the pure white sand:

Menards. It's in a white bag with blue writing. Pool filter sand is called Silica sand. $3 for 50 lbs. They keep it back by the concrete mix. AVOID the black beauty blasting sand - it will kill your fish eventually.

ALL of my tanks are Silica substrate. I started off using the Leslie's mix, and it is still in my 120 gallon and 45 Tall - however all other tanks now use the Menards sand. It's cheaper and pure white.

Also, I believe Joea made a video on this site about siphoning with sand. I siphon all my tanks for debris with the old hose and bucket. I would recommend against taking any chances of sand making it down your plumbing. When we replaced half of the plumbing in our house (to the tune of $600+), our trap was clogged full of sand that had gradually piled up in there. As you can see with how it settles in the tank - eventually they will find a spot in your pipes to rest and accumulate.

All of that aside - sand rocks. I took my 38 gallon and put the white sand in, then mixed in 1 5lb bag of white gravel - makes for a cool look.


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