Sand??

[RayAllen]

I need dry sand for my 210g and do not have a clue where to buy it. The last time I had a larger tank (2004) then I could still find south down sand which isnt around so much anymore. What kind of sand and where to buy?

Ray

[aggieMEDIC]

usually at home depot they have "pulverised limestone" alot of people in dfw are using it, I have it in both my tanks (24g and 1.5g) it looks really nice

i will see if i can find the links on their forum they have a few discussions on there and its relatively cheap like 5-10 for a 50lb bag.

only downside is that it needs to be washed before adding water, most people do that by using a fine screen, i used a screen and papertowel, other have just put it in and tried really hard not to stir it up when adding water. (one thing that i will do when i have to use it again is put it in a bucket and add fresh water point some powerheads into the sand and let the water flow over It will use a lot of water, and may take a little while but you wont have any sandstorms when you move stuff around later.


http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k183/aggieMEDIC/sandbed.jpg
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k183/aggieMEDIC/sandbed3.jpg
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k183/aggieMEDIC/sandbed2.jpg

[urban79]

HD at I 10 & devala has it in the garden part. Next to the grass stuff. I have it in my tank.. Just have to wash it a good amount.

[brewercm]

You can also buy the sand from a pool supply place that they use in the sand filters. It's pretty cheap and whiter than the play sand.

[RayAllen]

Thanks Aggie and Urban I will check it out. Cliff Ive used pool filter sand in my freshwater aquariums before but thought there was someone that said it wasnt good for saltwater, due to causing unwanted algae blooms or something. If this is not true i may use that because that sand rocks. After the initial rinse it never clouds the water again. You can literally pick it up and drop it in the water and it falls back down without any cloudiness at all.

[brewercm]

Old wives tail about silica based sand leaching silica into the water (which has been disproved over and over again). The silica just doesn't have the buffering power of aragonite based sand if you are using a DSB. That and if you look at it under a microscope the silica based has sharper edges to it. Our beaches in the gulf are all silica based sands so take that for what it's worth.

[RayAllen]

Sweet, you know you are correct; I belive Troy who at the moment has tank of the month uses silica based sand as well. Im not planning a deepsand bed considering the tank will be 90% FOWLR with a few softies anyway. I iwll make a trip to my swimming pool store. Thanks Cliff

[erikharrison]

Thanks for the info Cliff, I always thought the silica thing had little to StAND on.

[RayAllen]

Yea erik I always thought it was a little weird to considering that many including myself use silica in fresh water and never had any problems, didnt really see how in saltwater it would make that much of a diffrence. The price is right to, cheap. I need probably 4-50lb bags