# quick answer please on my way to buy my sand!?!?!



## jfly (Feb 17, 2009)

i want a good large grain sand.... i really want one that will not dust up as much.

play sand??

blast sand??

help quick on my way now to get it THANKS!


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## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

I've only used play sand (washed it thoroughly) and not had any dusting problems. I run a Fluval 105 on a 15 gallon tank. But since I've not used any other sand, mine is not a comprehensive view.


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## cadfael_tex (Feb 3, 2009)

used both. I'd go with play sand.


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## jfly (Feb 17, 2009)

thanks, you all are a big help .. someone in chat room here said play sand clouds tank for 4 days??? must not have rinsed huh


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## cadfael_tex (Feb 3, 2009)

Tank I'm setting up now used aragonite and didn't rinse (bag said it was optional). 3 days to settle. Never had a problem with any of it if I rinsed well in the past.


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## MonteSS (Dec 8, 2008)

And here is pavers sand from Lowes. Larger grains plus some small pebbles. Kind of tannish red color.

I love the look in the new tank.










Tank just cycled today and I started aquascaping so very cloudy










....Bill


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## bobberly1 (Dec 2, 2006)

Yeah in my ten gallon I've had some problems with the play sand, it's messing up my power filter impeller. If you had a thinner layer or a bigger tank it probably wouldn't be a problem though. Just make sure to never kick up the sand too much while the filter's running.


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## ka2zesmi786 (Feb 14, 2009)

:thumb: looks good Bill.


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## Hoosier Tank (May 8, 2007)

I don't have many pics of my sand to show you but this is the Playsand I used... I rinsed it really well in a 5g bucket and continued to do so even after it seemed to be clean... only clouded the tank for about an hour until it settled. Grains are white, tan, brown and black so it looks more "natural" than the solid color specialty sands to me.
I have a Maxi-jet 600 with a pre-filter on it pointed towards the surface in a 29g tank and it doesn't stir it up at all, so the grain size isn't too fine. But I am sure it all varies.


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## zazz (Apr 5, 2008)

i would recommend pool filter sand because it comes as one consistent size of grain similar to sugar but without too much extra dust ect. If you thoroughly wash this filter sand you will find it doesnt dust up and the density is such that it wont get sucked up into impellers since its a bit too heavy for that. Looks a lot neater too. Dont think large equals less dust.


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## jfly (Feb 17, 2009)

thank you all so much for the information it is appreciated .. great pics beautiful tanks by the way


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## jfly (Feb 17, 2009)

i must say that the pool filter sand was PERFECT.. very little time to wash.. almost completely clean when i bought it. also. the sand didnt cloud at all, and was heavy enough to where it doesnt get stirred around. the only negative factor is ,of course, it isnt as pretty as the white sand. NOW.. crushed coral, i mixed with it.. really hasnt upped my ph at all?? any answers why. crushed coral took alot longer to wash and still clouded my tank.. its been 48 hrs and almost clear now, although i have to admit. i did put one teaspoon of api accuclear in my tank.. thanks all


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## zazz (Apr 5, 2008)

my filter sand is far from white in the light of day..more a muddy grey.. but throw a decent set of lights into your tank and that grey becomes fairly close to white. In fact i would suggest that white isnt the way to go because under lights it will become blinding which is the last thing the fish or your eyes really want.

Good luck.


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## jfly (Feb 17, 2009)

zazz i put a post the other day up.. i have a single unit lamp with 2 flourescent bulbs.. yucky yellow light, what do you suggest


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## zazz (Apr 5, 2008)

nothing too special or expensive but try and get a regular entry level aquarium strip light and fitting ..it will probably be towards the blue end ie not yellow. Just say you dont want yellow and things should fall into place.

in fact i would say its quite hard to get yellow strip lights...yellow is incandesant...although you can get them.

of course if regular is too yellow then you can get bluer ones...i have regular for daytime and some blue sera deep sea that i use for evening lighting for the fish before lights out and thats like uv type lighting...very blue.


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## jfly (Feb 17, 2009)

well they werent yellow lights but just dingy white (flourescent).. i want the really nice blue/white hid like hue.. in flourescent tube light of course.. you recommend full spectrum?


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## zazz (Apr 5, 2008)

ok..i think i edited my post after u answered but if you want something special you would find mixing a regular tube with a really blue one might get you to a place that you have in mind. Look at any interior high end lighting scheme and if you look at the colour of the lights you will see they are mixing them..in your case regular plus blue would be very intresting and give a rich spectrum of colur.


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## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

jfly said:


> NOW.. crushed coral, i mixed with it.. really hasnt upped my ph at all??


Your crushed coral will likely not raise your pH, but raise your buffering capacity, which means you are less likely to be affected by pH swings.

What's your pH level untreated? If it's in the mid-to-high 7's you're better off leaving it alone for consistency's sake than chasing a desired value that you can't hold.

kevin


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## jfly (Feb 17, 2009)

thanks all.. for the lights.. the blue and white... great idea!!!

for the ph.. my steady ph is 7.2-7.4 and often times i use ph increase by api
do you suggest just leaving it alone

2xs blood parrot
1x red zebra
1x yellow lab
1x krib
2xs silver dollar
2xs pleco 
1xs red fin shark
2xs angels... i know i know they probably gotta go


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## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

jfly said:


> for the ph.. my steady ph is 7.2-7.4 and often times i use ph increase by api
> do you suggest just leaving it alone
> 
> 2xs blood parrot
> ...


I think it's been suggested already that you have a pretty eclectic mix of fish there. It's impossible to suggest an _ideal _pH when your fish all have different needs.

So I would say, save your money and leave it alone!


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## jfly (Feb 17, 2009)

thanks for the responce, i am in the midst of rearranging my fish population.. this past weekend i got rid of 2 kenyi, and 1 johanni. what do you suggest as far as adding cichlids and getting rid of in my tank.. but btw the parrots stay. *** gotten so much flak about those lil guys but i love em just the same


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## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

I'm going to defer to more experienced forum members on that one, except to say that with almost all mbuna you want 3-4 females per male. With a Ps. msobo or M. callainos you want even more females, with Yellow labs or acei it's not as important...


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