Substrate: Sand (008)

[noyd]

Do you need special sand that won't harm the fish? Or is it any old sand... I couldn't see any sand at a few of my local pet shops.

And say I do get some sand, will it work with my under-gravel filter?

I have two convicts in my tank now, but I'm going to get some other fish and remove the convicts (this may be my chance to change the gravel into sand before I bring in the new fish)...

any info?

[fiona]

Clean sand. River sand, and wash it thoroughly, is good, and cheap, get it from a landscape supplier. Bird cage sand, already washed, not too spensive. I haven't bought that one myself but maybe petmarty places? Or supermarkets? Can't remember. Small grain crushed marble, or coral sand (less sustainable than marble) for high pH fish like the rift lake dudes.

Forget the undergravel filter though. Ditch it and get something that will work with the sand. All my fish lurve : sand. I keep rift lake fish with washed river sand and have buffers (shell grit) in the filters.

[noyd]

cheers

what can I replace the under gravel filter with if I do get sand? Apart from the UGF, I have a cylindrical sponge filter... and thats about it.

[Anthony Osmos]

i find sand is okay for some Under Gravel Filter plates, so if the holes/slots are not to big for sand to fall through should work a treat. and on the were to get it from $5-10/30kg bags at any landscape/ sand cement place.

good luck

[Bit Racer]

Get yourself a hang on the back type filter where the water intake isn't too close to the sand as drawing the sand into the filter will damage the impeller.

Visit age of aquariums for a good deal on some HOB filters.

I personally used crushed marble grade 00.

Cheers,

Bit Racer

[PHL]

And say I do get some sand, will it work with my under-gravel filter?

I have two convicts in my tank now, but I'm going to get some other fish and remove the convicts (this may be my chance to change the gravel into sand before I bring in the new fish)...

Will you intended new fish dig through the sand? If so, forget UGF, get one of those internal filters powered by a powerhead (there range in price from cheap to quite expensive) or a canister if you budget goes that far and the tank is largeish.

[trofius]

hey all

Firstly sand is the only way to go...! i had gravel and ugf for years with some americans then i got into tangs and they prefer sand also ugfs were going to be really expensive for a 6x2x2 so got my girlfriends dad to get me some creek sand( works for a sand and gravel comp.) and will never go back, it does require looottttts of washing! dont use beach sand too fine and full of salt and all sorts of crap it stays in the water too long and can get into the filters

Get a good hang on filter like an aquaclear 500 or a canister filter, they are so much better they get the crap out of the tank instead of hiding it!! sand is great in that respect aswell... you can see the crap and it promotes you to do more regular bottom vacumes/ water changes = healthier fish

[hungsta]

i use a prefilter on my ac300 in my sand tank so that the sand doesnt wreck the impeler

[noyd]

thanks all...

btw.. my thermometer reads 28 degrees when I had set my heater to 26 and a half mark.. its over + its still trying to heat.. is it wrecked?

[Exiledonmainstreet]

Hi. All substrates work well. It's mostly a matter of cost, preference, and how it appeals to the eye. Sand, gravel, marble, stone, will all do nicely. Good luck with it. :^:

[Matthew]

G'day Noyd

I have a number of heaters that are mis-calibrated. These things simply happen.

BUT what I would do is;

Have a good look at the heater, is there any moisture present or cracks?

Does your household safety power switch keep tripping for no apparent reason?

IF none of the above then just keep a close eye on it.

[PHL]

btw.. my thermometer reads 28 degrees when I had set my heater to 26 and a half mark.. its over + its still trying to heat.. is it wrecked?

A lot of thermometers you buy in LFS are not accurate; mine was out by 2C (reading high) when tested against a photo processing thermometer accurate to 0.1C. So it may pay to calibrate your thermometer. But also be aware that most heaters will not hold the temp at exactly what you set it for.

[PHL]

Hi. All substrates work well. It's mostly a matter of cost, preference, and how it appeals to the eye. Sand, gravel, marble, stone, will all do nicely. Good luck with it.

Unless you need soft water; quite a few substrates will harden water (speaking from personal experience when trying to drop my kH).

[OziOscar]

Three things:

[1] Heater

How big is your tank? What wattage is the heater? How old is the heater?

[2] Sand

You might want to try 'pool filter sand' from your local pool supply shop. It's not expensive (about $9.50 for 20 kg of 16/30 grade), it's already reasonably clean but still needs a wash-out and the grain size is a little larger than some other sands. Don't forget to keep it about 1" - 2" thick only else you will get deep sand bed issues (ie anaerobic layer at the bottom, goes dark colour and man does it smell strong...). The shallower depth works well and you can stir it up nicely when you use your gravel vac during weekly cleaning to keep it nicely aerobic.

[3] Filtration

HOBS (like the ACxxx) are pretty good, but if you can afford a cannister then do it. There are some cheaper ones around at the moment (like Resun AE-308) for around $125. These come with: coarse filter wool, fine filter wool, bioballs, ceramic tubes and carbon (but only four trays, so you're going to need to choose what you want to run in it). They're pretty quiet, no where as elegant as an Eheim Profi II (I wish i was rich!), but they do a nice job. Flow rate is 900 l/h, filtration is 500 l/h (according to the specs). Put one on a 24 x 12 x 20" community tank to prepare change-over from my last UGF about a month ago and it's doing nicely. Comes with all the pipes and gadgets to get you going out of the box and a spare impeller and o-rings and all. However, if you're using sand put a piece of filter floss (or similar) on the intake to protect your cannister's impeller during settling (say up to a week).

Hope you find something useful in this lot.

Cheers - OziOscar.

[23Skidoo]

I use regular beach sand in most my tanks and river sand i the others. Beach sand is pretty consistent as far as grain size goes, where river sand has a fair difference between the large and small particles. My Americans love the beach sand, my malawi's don't have a prob with river sand.

The beach sand is alot saltier, but most people, me included add salt to tanks anyway, so after washing it a few times to get rid of immediate cloudiness i just dump it in and let the filter and snails deal with it!

Don't bother with the UGF, but everyone else has got that one.

I have a LIberty HOB and internal Atman on my 6x20x20 i can't remeber the LPH rating of them but i'll have a look. I like sand in my tanks, gravel just leaves to many large gaps for detritus to collect in. At least with sand only smaller particles end up being trapped in the substrate. So the big bits are easy to siphon up.

Don't pay more than $5 for regular sand, i pay the same for river sand but some pay upto 10. These $ are for 30kg bags