How much sand do I need?

For a 1200mm x 550mm surface area?

10Kg?

 

Don't know if this will help, we used 60 kg (40 kg fine and 20 kg a little coarser), approx. 50mm thick, in our 1800 x 440 tank. 10kg sounds a little bit sparse we think...

 

how much planting are you going to do?

 

Oscar tank so not much planting.

And as I understand it, when using sand you don't use as much as you ordinarily would when using gravel.

I wish they would sell this stuff in volume, instead of weight.

50mm sounds a bit deeper than I need, but taking your tank size into consideration 10kg does seem a bit sparse.

Guess I'll have to go for 20Kg, oi the money.

 

You do need less, agreed. But yes, 20kg sounds more like it. We bought 40kg bags of pool sand, for R 60,00, not that expensive in comparison to the heaters, pumps and filters!!! LOL

 

i used 40kg in my 4ft, of filter sand

 

Yeah, problem is I want black sand, and fortunately I can get the Hagen stuff at cost.

It's still double the price, but easily accessible.

But I'm hoping to find a Toys R Us or Reggies tomorrow to see if you possibly get black play sand locally.

 

Use 40kg for your 1.2m tank.
20kg will form a thin layer.

40kg is just right.

 

I would go with Asgar - 40Kg seems about right. The oscars like to move the sand around a bit so need a liitle more than a thin layer.

 

Well needless to say I'm not paying R600 for 40kg of sand, so I better start looking for cheap black play sand then, or just leave my shit and go for good old white pool stuff.

As I understand it the sand doesn't maintain the same bacterial properties as the thick layers of gravel, and thus shouldn't be more than 3cm or so, at least that's what I've always read on the Oscar sites.

 

Like the sands of time....

Good idea to start with definite numbers .
Asgar and Gavin are right, 40kg will look MORE right, especially when excavated...BUT, it is a matter of cost as well!
See below

When fish move substrate around, there's NO substrate which will LOOK good.

:noworry:
But here's a guideline:

According to

Vol = L*B*H(depth) = ~20L
~30mm deep

Density of MOST aquarium sands ~2mm grain, approx 1.5kg/L

~30kg for YOUR tank size

[Mass = Density*Vol]

No go, in the black play sand dept, unfortunately.

Are you OK with a Salt 'n Pepper look, with MORE BLACK pepper?
:blink1:....don't sneeze at it

THEN 20kg Black and 10kg consol silica sand, nice, smooth, round, safe substrate.

I think it'll look good. :top:
Contrasting any Tiger, Red Tiger ,Red, Albino or new "Lemon" Oscar colour variants.... Yet DARK enough to make them settle in easily.

 

SauRon we have some black substrate lying around here in bags if you're interested. I'll just check with Zafgak that we won't be using it but I doubt we will.

 

Gravel or Sand though?

I'm still of the opinion that 20Kg will do just fine, as I've seen a 90gallon with 20Kg of sand in it and looked fit for my purposes.

Ultimately I figure I'm just going to swing by Panorama Saturday morning and see exactly how much sand 10kg is.

Why they don't measure this stuff in volume, since it's made for aquariums after all, is beyond me.

Besides, I can always just add more later.

 

It looks the same as pool filter sand but it's black. We probably have about, and this is an estimate, 20kgs of it. Zafgak can you confirm this???

 

Yea - 20kgs is about right and I can't see us using it in the near future..

 

I'll tell you guys what.

I'll probably get the Hagen stuff so long, but if it does end up coming short, I'll chat to you guys about taking what you've got should I need more to fill it up.

Going to have a look and see what size these bags are exactly anyway, then I can be more sure.