Pool Silica Sand

Hi All

Seeing alot of the tanks on this site and on the net in general I see that the new trend seems to be a finer substrate, pool silica or river sand as apposed to the gravel type. The effect of the finer substrate is amazing, makes the tanks look very natural. I am strongly playing with the idea of changing my gravel to pool silica when I re-do the tank after the move at the end of the month and I have a few questions:

Does it not move around quite alot with the flow inside the tank? At the moment I have an internal filte that cycles 2000l p/h, the flow outlet is towards the top of the tank, but the bottom of the filter is quite close to the gravel and I am worried it will suck up all the sand under the filter, is this a worry?

Will snails crawl on the sand? I have quite a nice snail that has survived 3 tanks that we've grown quite fond of! I dont want to restrict the little guy!

Does the sand settle quite quickly after the fish (I have Malawians) dart around quite close to the bottom? or is the bottom always going to look like a wild west sand storm?

Thanks.

 

Pool filter sand is a lot finer than normal gravel... and in my opinion, a lot more friendlier on your bottom feeder fish, and even more friendlier to you fish that dig and scurry around a lot.

I would recommend ANYONE to use pool filter sand rather than the gravel the pet stores carry.

Peekay, I have sourced a silica sand that is finer than play-pen sand for my tank... Problem is the supplier sells 1ton minimum (I used 5tons for work, so I could steal 40kg easily). The beauty of it is that it holds the plants a lot better, the fish absolutely adore it, and my corries are a lot more active on it, because there is not sharp edges. I also managed to set up a good circulation around my tank in that a pump head blows from one side. The water then goes all the way around the tank in a circle and is then succed up by a sumberged pump UNDER the previously mentioned pump. This then takes the water up to the hood filter. What this does is causes all the muck to circulate around the tank.. so I actually don't have to syphon/vacuum the bottom of my tank.

The problem with my fine sand is that when I do syphon/vacuum, I do land up sucking some of the gravel... but normal pool silica sand won't be vacuumed up.

I would say go for it Peekay... it does look 10 times better!

 

i had pool silica, but got so irritated with the white glare effect the sand gave, i changed to dark substrate, but its a preference so if you like the look, go for it

 

I have Silica sand in almost all my tanks and I have on p[problems with any of it at all
makes the tank look more natural in my opinion

 

Thanks Zoom, I did read your thread on the fine silica that your work is using for building, and it looks absolutely awsome, almost like beach sand on Camps Bay! Ja, pity about the selling quantities though! I'm not going for a "planted" tank as I have Malawians and no that I am restricted in the variety of plants I can have, but the tank has to have some green in it, so I will probably put in some wood with the plant that grows on the wood (any one know that plants name?), and maybe a few pots with some java fern in. It's the natural look that I am going for, but was worried about the sand blowing around like a sand storm, it's good to hear that it shouldn't, it's also comforting to hear that bottom feeders still eat off it, so it shouldn't be a worry for the snail or the plecastomas then?

Ferryman, have you changed to a dark sand type substrate, or dark gravel, I have also seen a tank with black polished marble chips, and that looked awsome, but at over R100 for 10kgs it works out to be quite pricey! I suppose it does come down to personal preference at the end of the day.

I do agree with you Gareth26, it does make the tank look very natural and that is exactly the look that I am looking for.

Thanks everyone for input, I am glad to hear that none of you have had problems, the guy at the local pool shop thaught I was absolutely mad when I said I would like 3 bags of pool silica for my tank! Be he is way over priced, R80 for 40kgs! I have heard you can get it for around R50 - R55 p/40kgs.

 

PeeKay, here on the East Rand they sell pool filter sand for R65 - R80 for a 40kg bag. You just have to shop around

 

If you using Pool filter sand then it definately won't be blowing around. Unless you have a jet turbine as a submerged pump! And yes, it will be completely snail and plec safe.

The black substrate looks bl&&dy awesome... the problem is that it makes the tank APPEAR a lot dimmer than it really is. The lighter substrate reflects a lot more light. So unless you have exceptional lighting from above... I would steer clear of the dark substrate. Having said that, Ferryman does have a VERY nice looking tank with his dark substrate... but I am sure he is compensating the light with higher output lights... or more of.

Builder's Warehouse or Builder's Express usually retail between R45-R60 depending on location of the shop. The more isolated towns will obviously get more expensive.

 

currently i'm just compensating with "more of" till i can get to building the canopy, i'm concidering going hunting for t5's.

The substrate is more gravel-ish i'd say. i just didn't like the reflection in the sand
here's the type


this is an idea of pool silica

notice the sand reflecting light

and an idea of dark substrate (i say dark, as mine isn't completely black)

(i actually don't like the beach look, more into the dark forest stream look, but plants need to fill out for now)

 

I changed to silica sand after seeing how great it looks in the tanks and the fish enjoy them. But the colour is starting to anoy me. Am always looking at the LFS for something with darker colour. I see some much darker colour sand on the sites, if only I can get hold of some nearer to me.

 

Yeah, the darker does look a lot better.... more natural... I just find that because my canopy if fitted with 2 T8's, I'm not getting ideal lighting. So I rely a bit on the light reflection.

 

Hmmmn, very interesting, thanks Ferryman for the images, you certianly have given me something to think about! At the moment my gravel is a white/off white colour, is there a pool silica sand that is dark in colour, or will river sand be darker? I like the look of the sand, but would like to go dark, I'm building a canopy to match the cabinet and plan on putting quite a lot of lighting, so do'nt want a glare affect... Much to think about!

 

you'll find a darker colour if you go to a builders yard or somesuch and get the brown river sand that you'd normally build with

 

Thanks Ferryman, I'll have a look at the riversand and compare colours. Your tank is looking good. I would definitely like to go for sand as it looks very natural and that is the look that I am going for, I'll try and find some dark riversand.

Thanks for the help everyone.

 

i have to agree with ferryman i prefer the darker gravel i have somthing very similar to his gravel except its completely black. if someone knows where i can get black sand id use that hehe, any thoughts on collecting the black sand you find on the beach? i could probably collect enough of it in december..... with perserverance lol. the things ill do for my tanks lol

 

Pet masters has flourite dark at the moment
it's expensive ,but the best for planted tanks

 

Not good idea Windfire, beach sand is too salty for tropical tanks

 

if i washed it, like soaked it in fresh water for awhile, changing the water everyday? do you think that would eventualy flush it of salt? your talking to someone who spent a whole holiday collecting those little black pebbles for a substrate in my first tank it took hours but i collected enough to do a decent layer in the end. i soaked those in fresh water for a week until the water didnt taste salty anymore.sand would be much better for my cories, fred and george, smoother for them to scavenge off of. im rather fond of them to tell the truth

 

Windfire... if you wanting the beachsand... which is light in colour... but you wanting that texture, then why don't you just go to Reggies and buy Play Pen sand?

Same-a-ting... just no salt added. (Well, you would need to make sure that it is un-treated play pen sand, because some PP sand is treated with salt.)

 

i actually want black sand zoom, i love the effect that the black gravel with the platy colours and the plant colours and the yellow of the apple snail shell, it makes everything pop if that makes sense. i was thinking of just making one half of the tank sand and the other gravel. its the colour im after though, i tend to do alota black hehe. i think that the normal sand makes things look a bit bland. but thats just me

 

Yeah, I've considered doing that as well... put the black gravel on top of my fine silica sand.... but then I have the problem of the Corries not getting the benefit of the soft sand. I also think that my tank will loose a lot of light because I don't have astronomical lighting.