Best substrate

[Asgar]

Which is the best substrate to use in a community tank(4Ft). Is sand a good choice?? Does a sand substrate promote better water quality??Otherwise which is the most suitable substrate to use in a tank with pangasius, silver dollars, balas, and other non-aggressive common fish.

[Zebra Pleco]

Welcome :)

Have you got any plants in the tank?

[Henk Hugo]

With pangasius and silver dollars i am guessing no plants. I would just use normal inert silica sand that you buy R40 for 40kgs at Builders in the pool section

[solex69]

I would opt for fine silica sand...plants seem to be in their element in it

[Henk Hugo]

yea i use it to cap all my planted tanks

[Asgar]

Do I have to wash the pool filter sand before adding to my setup.If yes, then how do i wash it?

[HellRaiser]

just throw a bucket half full with the sand and ad water and turn it inside the bucket untill the water starts looking clean.. there is alot of dust and fine particles in these bags of fine sand that you need to get out, otherwise it will cloud up your tank for quite a while before it all settles down again

[solex69]

Hope you have time on your hands because cleaning silica sand takes yonks. Be glad you don't have to clean river sand as that takes even longer and is more messier

[Sabi]

What happened to gravel beds? I see u'l all have the sand for substrate.

[Asgar]

just throw a bucket half full with the sand and ad water and turn it inside the bucket untill the water starts looking clean.. there is alot of dust and fine particles in these bags of fine sand that you need to get out, otherwise it will cloud up your tank for quite a while before it all settles down again

HellRaiser,Can you explain this a bit more in detail. Its not too clear to me. Does the dust float to the top?Should I buy pool filter sand or a specific type of silica sand?Sabi,I prefer a sand substrate scattered with a few large pebbles. (I think has more of a visual appeal than the regular gravel). I guess most community fish would like it too, since the surface will be smoother, and will thus prevent injuries or scratches to the bodies of bottom dwellers, loaches, etc.

[solex69]

@sabi - Plants love sand, not really ol-school gravel. Besides, sand just looks so much better

[mtroboer]

Yip, I second the pool filtersand, go for the finest you can find.

[hotdog83]

Plus sand is bit cheaper than gravel, here it is R40 for 40kg, where gravel at the LFS costs you R20 for 5kg...

[Asgar]

How much is silica sand selling for in Durban? Which stores can I get them from?

[Galibore]

How much is silica sand selling for in Durban? Which stores can I get them from?


You can get Playsand at Reggies. Also very cheap. I might be wrong but I think it's pretty much the same thing as pool filter sand.

[Henk Hugo]

no no no no no do not use playsand. your filters suck it up as it is WAY to fine and isnt inert. Pool Filter sand = silica sand... its R40 per 40kgs at builders

[solex69]

On the topic of substrate, I put river sand into my 60l and I've noticed that about 1cm or less from the surface is unsettled. It is very loose and is easily disturbed. Thank god I chucked in a decent level of river sand for the plants to grow in. I must admit that river sand looks absolutely stunning as a substrate. I'm now waiting for my plants to take off

I would assume that the 'looseness' I've described above would also apply with playsand should you put it into a tank, but hey...I've never tried it, I'm just wondering :)

[Asgar]

I was just now thing - Is there another way to wash/rinse silica sand before adding to the aquarium?

[Henk Hugo]

a bucket and a hose pipe is the only way

[solex69]

Nee wat Asgar, it's hard manual labour all the way bru :) One small bucket might take up to 20 - 30 rinses before you can put it into your tank. It really is a lot of effort but it's worth it in the end

[Big G]

So I am righ that Silica sand (Pool Filter sand) is even good for plants?? And no 'compost' material has to be laid down first?? I was looking at getting some black river bed gravel, but it was gonna work out expensive, but if this stuff is better and friendly to plants, then I'll jump at that instead! My Khulies and Banjo's will love sand so they can bury themselves!

And I also assume that the sand will not buffer the pH in any way? Hence the term 'inert' i assume??!

Thanks for the advice there!
Cheers
Big G!

[Henk Hugo]

if you want a plant substrate you will have to google a DIY one :D

Yea its totally inert and wont buffer your water at all! i just added some abalone shells to my tanks to buffer teh water a bit

[snakes]

I have Cory Cats and They Love Sand
Sand Looks Nice but dependant on the fish you keep I think you should decide like that
Normal Gravel can be sharp for bottom dwellers

[Asgar]

Almost two months since i started and my aquarium is looking like a bomb with silica sand.

[Henk Hugo]

yea the silica sand looks really good....

[solex69]

fyi, Panorama Pets now has a very dark looking fine-silica sand. I dumped it into a tank of mine and it looks bloody awesome.

Cheers
Dale

[Henk Hugo]

yea at the moment all the silica sand is much darker - i love it :D

[Galibore]

On the subject. Has anyone ever tried to use a clay substrate capped with something else. Or will that just mess up the water completely?

[solex69]

I'm open to correction here but I think Eskimo (user on this site) has a mud & clay mixture underneath his cap in his substrate. He only gets a mess if he fiddles around and uproots plants :) lol

Cheers
Dale

[LanceP]

Wow, I've learnt so much today already. What a good find this site was.

With the pool filter sand, I've have a mound of used sand that's been sitting outside for almost a year. Do you think it is safe to use after a good rinse/cleaning? New sand is cheap, but it would be great to get rid of the used sand.

[Asgar]

If you happen to used the sand lying outside, I suggest you check your water chemistry thoroughly before adding your fish. If the sand was lying outside for a long time, it definitely picked up alot of dirt and dust.From my experience, Silica sand is the best substrate for any type of setup.

[Dolphin]

silica pool filter sand sounds like an interesting idea! problem is, i bought a 40Kg bag in december forR99.95 from builders warehouse - so someone please tell me where to get the 40kg for R40?

[Singularity]

Try the local pool shop, i bought 40kg for R60, i just used some canadian peat for a bottom layer and the plants seem to enjoy it.

[Dolphin]

Try the local pool shop, i bought 40kg for R60, i just used some canadian peat for a bottom layer and the plants seem to enjoy it.

I'll check the local pool shops, cool!

[RaD]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this question so please excuse me if I hijack the thread. In my meager experience of fish keeping years ago I used to clean the gravel with a cylindrical pipe attached to a thinner tube. I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about but I cant recall the name. My question is (please excuse my ignorance) do you still have to do that with substrate? I would think that silica sand would be sucked up very easily by such a contraption? If you do need to clean the substrate how do you go about doing it?

[Big G]

Ok! I'm typing on a mobile, so can't see who asked what, so heres some answers to some questions above....

Firstly, I bought my Pool Filter Sand from brooklyns builders warehouse for R45 for 40KG's back in November. Since then they've said that they've had a supply problem.

Secondly, the cylindrical thing attached to a tube is simply called a gravel cleaner or gravel hoover. I still use mine with the sand, and don't loose much at all. Just make sure that u don't hoover too much into the tube, periodically allow all the sand back out before hoovering more sand. If the sand is approaching the top of the cylinder, then let it back out, otherwise it will be sucked up the tube!

I think there is a rule not to hoover too deeply into the substrate anyway, to prevent removing too much of the good bacteria! Its suggested that only the top cm or so should be hoovered at most to remove any surface mulm.

Hope that helps?

Cheers
Big G!

[Zafgak]

I get river sand sand from the local Plant Nursery. If I buy at one nursery the river sand is white, the other nursery has a brown river sand. I clean these the normal way. Half a bucket of sand, add water and mix with your hand, tip out the dirty water and start again. As Solex says, approx 20 washes and the sand is clean...
Then I mix the brown and white river sand together with a couple of handfulls of small river rolled pebbles. ( also from the nursery, and also washed )
The end result is awesome...