# will a 20lb bag of black sand be enough for my tank



## dr2391 (Feb 11, 2009)

the dimensions are 36X12 and im looking for about 1.5" sand bed. i jus bought a 20lb bag and was planning on mixing it in with my white but im thinking on jus going all black. its pretty expensive since i live in alaska and only one place had it for $40 a bag


----------



## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

From the article in the library:



> I recommend using at least 2" of substrate in your tank. This is equivalent to 1 pound of gravel or 2 pounds of sand for every gallon of water.


I would not do 2" however. But gives you an idea of how much to buy.


----------



## dr2391 (Feb 11, 2009)

no that doesnt make sense tho because theres different variations of tanks that hold the same amount of gallons but have different lengths and widths so one 55 gallon will need more than another 55 gallon. so coming up with the amount of sand needed should not be based on gallons it should be based on the dimensions of the base of the tank


----------



## tylersweeney22 (Jan 11, 2010)

pretty much ill give an example real quik wich i use my self if someone want to correct me go for but it works for me..say you have a 90 gallon aquarium well the 75 gallon has the same footprint as the 90 so i would do is use that 1# per gallon on the 75 gallon side you see what i mean . ill tell you i have about 1.5" in a standard 10 gallon (20x10) for my nano reef i only used half a 20# BAG i would recomend 2 bags


----------



## JWerner2 (Jul 7, 2008)

IMO 20lbs is not enough for that foot print.

I have a 20 long ( 30x12 ) that I recently worked on. I have a 2" thick background in it ( drops it down to 30x10 ) and 20lbs of sand is still barley enough too hold down some plants and I plan on adding more.

If you are doing plants you want more sand then 2" but even if not since you are doing Cichlids I still recommend more to keep the bottom glass from showing as they dig.


----------



## borohands8593 (Apr 15, 2009)

I used 30lbs on a footprint 13X24inchs and it gives me about a 1.5inch sandbed.


----------



## tarpleyg (Jan 4, 2010)

If it helps, I used a 40# bag to get 2-3 inches all over that same size tank recently so you're going to be a little bit short to get 1.5".

Greg


----------



## frozennorth (Dec 16, 2008)

There is a sand bed calculator in the library section of this site. Also if you have a lot of rocks covering the bottom you would need less sand. Why don't you just use one bag for now and see if it is enough.


----------



## borohands8593 (Apr 15, 2009)

I would just buy the second bag, you may not need the whole thing but its always nice to have extra to add as you slowly get lower from water changes. Although we dont vacuum a sandbed like a gravelbed you vacuum right above it and minimal sandloss is almsot unavoidable, hence the need to clean the sink after each watchchange because of sand particles


----------

