# once you go sand, you dont go back.



## ry05coupe (Dec 30, 2008)

Hey all. 
I thought id let you into what *** been doing tonight. 
fat about 7 oclock, i took a quick trip to lowed to get some landscaping sand, and two big drums (im sure you can guess where this is going).

I was planning on swapping the white crushed coral / aragonite sand in my tank, to some landscaping sand tomorrow
*** just gotten tired of having little white specs floating around every time a fish blinked.

Anyways, i got impatiend and ended up doing it tonight, through the freezing cold.

Fisrt off, i syphoned about 30g into one of the big plastic drums. after that came taking allll 200lbs of river rock out. this was probably the biggest chore done (after washing the sand, :|).
Anyways, the fish were pretty easy to catch (working at a pet store, you develop mad skillz).
all 20 mbuna and one bn pleco were safelt put in the drum, so i threw in the heater and set up the two canisters with spray bars to keep the bacteria alive. Everything was going smooth.

After this, i syphones out the remaining 20g or so, until al that was left was the crushed coral, this was the fun part. I proceeded to scoop out the coral with a dust pan (new) and a ladle. I put all of this into the second big drum, and its chillin in the living room right now.

Once I got all the crushed coral out, i took the 55g outside to hose it odd (bearing in mind, its about 8 30, and 25 degrees F.)
Took the tank back upstairs, checked the fish (all doing well) then started hosing the sand.
For all of you who havent done this, i cant stress how important it is to take your time, and make sure you do it right. It couldnt be more worth it. The more time you spend here, the less time youll be waiting for the cloudy water to go away, once youve filled the tank.

Anyways, in went about 90lbs of landscaping sand... eventually.

So now the tank is jsut filtering through with an old AC110 that i hate, so i dont care if the sand ruins it, but i dont think it can get any worse. Once i can see through enough, im going to scart the aquascaping, and the fish should be back home at the end of the night!


----------



## Cich of it all (Mar 29, 2007)

Gotta love those big projects! :thumb: 
I'm sure you and your fish are going to love that sand too.


----------



## football mom (Feb 19, 2006)

I know your fish will love the sand, and the more you wash it, the better you get at doing it.
The last tank I did, it cleared right up in no time.
J


----------



## ry05coupe (Dec 30, 2008)

Everything went very smooth, and only took about 3 hours total.

the only comlications i ran into were :
canister hoses kinking.
large plastic drums not beign strong enough (i broke a handle off one trying to move it.)

One thing i wish i had done though is held out for PFS, or gone with the play sand 
the stuff i got seems very brown.


----------



## is300soon (Nov 2, 2008)

i found it alot faster to clean the sand in 5 gallon buckets vs cleaning them in rubber maid toats. The big bins took forever vs 5 minutes per 5 gallon bucket.

D


----------



## niccomau (Oct 14, 2008)

my playsand looked a little too gold for my personal tastes so I mixed in a bag of black marine sand. :thumb: If you wanted to change the brown up a bit you could add a bag of black or white marine sand, lighten or darken it up.


----------



## Hoosier Tank (May 8, 2007)

Congrats!
I got some tan Playsand in my Tang tank and and it looks very natural and the shellies love it, but the next one is gonna be BLACK :drooling:


----------



## ry05coupe (Dec 30, 2008)

I was thinking of addind a lttle more of the crushed coral, but the reason i got rid of it in the first place was because the particles seemed to small, and were always floaring all over the place. Thats what i love about this sand , no matter how hard the fish flick it, it jsut sinks right back down.


----------



## wheatbackdigger (May 11, 2008)

I am probably in the minority, but I have grown tired of sand and will be switching out for some natural looking gravel here very soon. I have one tank with natural gravel and three tanks with sand. I prefer the natural gravel look. Sand comes with too many headache in my opinion. Good luck with yours!


----------



## Cich of it all (Mar 29, 2007)

> Sand comes with too many headache in my opinion.


I can't think of one disadvantage to having sand.


----------



## niccomau (Oct 14, 2008)

I can think of one I've heard of but has never happened to me. (cue creepy music) Sand in the filter impaler!!!!!!!!!! :lol:

:thumb: I'm such a nerd...


----------



## Cich of it all (Mar 29, 2007)

niccomau said:


> I can think of one I've heard of but has never happened to me. (cue creepy music) Sand in the filter impaler!!!!!!!!!! :lol:
> 
> :thumb: I'm such a nerd...


True (not the nerd part as far as I know :lol: ), but easily preventable and only with HOB filters or canisters with the impeller before the media (like my Aquael Unimax).


----------



## fishyfishyfishy (Dec 24, 2005)

Sand can even be damaging to pumps seals. I had sand chew through a couple over the years. One particular company even sells upgraded seals for those using sand.

So no more sand for me.

But the biggest reason wasn't that. For me it was the build up of dirt on top of the sand. Yah, you can see it and vacuum but I grew tired of seeing dirty sand all the time. I just like how the dirt disappears into the larger gravel.

A few other problems I experienced with sand:

- grains can easily get lodged in check valves. A simple grain or two can keep that flap from completely closing all the way

- grains can get lodged under seals for bulkheads. Again, a simple grain or two can create a little channel under a seal to allow leaking

- grains can get caught in bulkhead threads making them almost impossible to tighten or loosen based on your setup...

That's not to say that things like this can't happen from other small bits of debris, but it's just that sand tends to get everywhere over time.

So for me, once you go sand, you don't go back.....TO SAND!!!


----------



## wheatbackdigger (May 11, 2008)

Cich of it all said:


> > Sand comes with too many headache in my opinion.
> 
> 
> I can't think of one disadvantage to having sand.


Scratched glass , sand in the filters, debris laying on top is an eyesore, grits of sand in my sink when I empty my five gallon buckets after water changes, I just think gravel is easier to work with and more eye appealing, but that is just me. After doing one of my tanks in natural gravel, I decided gravel is for me


----------



## Cich of it all (Mar 29, 2007)

> Scratched glass


Ok, I'll give you that one. You do have to be VERY careful when scraping algae near the bottom. That's probably my one and only gripe, and it is a biggie. All of the other listed negatives are easily workaroundable IME.


----------



## JimInAugusta (Mar 16, 2007)

I used gravel for 40 yrs in my cichlid systems. I went sand in my 90 and the fish just love it. Its like me and my Mac. I'm not going back and you cant make me.


----------



## ry05coupe (Dec 30, 2008)

tbh, *** noticed a lot more scratches in the class since i made the change, because i wasnt very careful. 
I stil thinking the benefits outweigh the drawbacks though, and so do my fish


----------

