# Sand Question?



## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

Just a quick question. Is there any sand that is sold that's already washed and ready to just put in your aquarium tank?


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## Stiletto (May 17, 2009)

Only thing I can think of is eco-complete. It comes packed in liquid and is ready to pour right in to your aquarium.

Any other type of sand will be dusty. Sure it may be "prewashed" but all that is for is removing contaminants. You could put it right in your aquarium but you are gong to have all that dust and super fine grains in there and the water will be super cloudy and any time the sand is disturbed the water will become super cloudy.

My sand washing technique is like so. I buy a paint strainer bag for a 5 gallon bucket and put the sand in there. Then I run water in the bucket and dunk the sand up and down. The strainer mesh holds the sand but lets the dust and fines wash away. Works well for me.


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## Bweb (Mar 31, 2009)

I just changed my substrate to sand in a 29gal. I used play sand from Lowe's I put about 40 pounds in a five gallon bucket with the hose in the bottom and let it run for 30 minutes stirring it up occasionally put it in the tank them put a glass bowl in the tank on top of the sand and filled the tank by poring the water into the bowl as to not stir up the sand to much it is really fine sand also.

When I added my plants and rock work the sand stirred up a little but did not cloud the water for very long and settled back down fast the tank has been running fine and has no cloudiness issues

I believe their is a video on this method of cleaning sand by one of the Mods.


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## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

thanks for the feedback guys. Yeah I know how to clean the sand, and I appreciate the added support on it. I was just wondering if there were any brands where you could just pour it right in and Stiletto hooked me up with the advice thanks.


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## Maxima308 (Jun 6, 2009)

I just ordered some 3M colored quartz, has the same look of sand. There is thread started on this forum thats were i learned about it. Most users find it alot easier to clean and maintain vs sand of any kind. If your not getting a substrate for buffering reasons i would consider using the 3M quartz. I only paid $22 for a 50lb bag of the black S grade. There are 16 different colors and two different grades, S & T, S being the finer of the two. Lots of options with this stuff excited for its arival early next week!


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## Comic Sans (Apr 21, 2009)

I got some generic white silica at the hardware store. I did the whole cleaning routine but it was pretty darn good. For a complete change I'd wash it, but for the odd top up I wouldn't hesitate to just add it as is.


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## co-photo (Apr 3, 2007)

I'd say the gold standard for sand is POOL FILTER SAND. It's cheap, looks good, and it's ALMOST clean out of the bag.


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## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

Yeah I'm leaning towards Pool Filter Sand myself, I'm just really weighing my options and collecting as much info as I can. I appreciate all your help guys! Thanks


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## vaypourus (May 20, 2008)

co-photo said:


> I'd say the gold standard for sand is POOL FILTER SAND. It's cheap, looks good, and it's ALMOST clean out of the bag.


@ $7 /bag, it is hard to beat.


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## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

That's what I went for Vayporus. I cleaned it really well last night till the water turned clear. I took out my gravel which was a task in itself so to speak! lol. I then added the sand in ziplock bags and emptied them at the bottom of the tank. My water didn't cloudy up on bit I'm very happy and the sand looks great. My question is this. I put 50 lbs in a 60 gallon tank which is 4 ft long do you guys think that's enough?


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## vaypourus (May 20, 2008)

I found that I needed a bit less than a pound per gallon to achieve the depth I wanted. I have heard that this is about correct to achieve a 2" for a standard "long" sized tank. I later ended up removing some sand however as I was getting dead spots from the sand building up over 2" deep. In my experience, sand over 2-3" in depth can harbor the black anerobic bacteria at the bottom of the tank.

When vacuuming the sand with my Python siphon, I often suck up some sand unintentionally. I usually add a couple pounds a month back to the tank to replace what I lost, although I didn't initially do this for the first 5 months.

I always keep a spare bag on hand, as I procure a free tank about once a month. It is always nice to have some extra if you decide you want to add more or setup another tank.


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## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

I'm really loving the switch from Sand my fish seem more excited about swimming in my tank these days. Thanks for the pointers vaypourus I appreciate them. My cousin had sand in his tank as well and I taught him how to clean the sand knowing in the back of my mind that I would make the switch one day. I'm just going to work now on my rocks, I'm not to happy with what I have in there now. I'm aiming for something that's more or less to the back of the wall of the tank so I can free up swimming space.


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## Stonoriver (Jul 9, 2009)

Just so ya know, my buddy is selling sand from the Bahamas. It's very reasonably priced. Check it out.. AquariumAragoniteSand.com
It's perfect for saltwater aquariums.... 
Just a thought.


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## vaypourus (May 20, 2008)

Stonoriver said:


> Just so ya know, my buddy is selling sand from the Bahamas. It's very reasonably priced. Check it out.. AquariumAragoniteSand.com
> It's perfect for saltwater aquariums....
> Just a thought.


I didn't know there were saltwater cichlids...besides dj823 already got the sand he needed.

Tsk tsk stono. Plugging vendors is a no no here, as laid out in the forum rules that you agreed to when you signed up for this forum. Take it to the review section.


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## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

A plug here a plug there lol :lol:


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## sorichi (Jul 6, 2009)

Maxima308 said:


> I just ordered some 3M colored quartz, has the same look of sand. There is thread started on this forum thats were i learned about it. Most users find it alot easier to clean and maintain vs sand of any kind. If your not getting a substrate for buffering reasons i would consider using the 3M quartz. I only paid $22 for a 50lb bag of the black S grade. There are 16 different colors and two different grades, S & T, S being the finer of the two. Lots of options with this stuff excited for its arival early next week!


Yeah I have a 25gl with regular black sand that I purchased @ petsmart. I recently attained a 56gl set up with 3M quartz. It's amazing how much easier it is to clean compared to the petsmart sand. The quartz just drops so cleanly. :thumb:


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