Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Chris T on October 25, 2011 at 7:23am

this is problem with many who use sand to cap their dirtied tanks, including myself, i eventual and what i suggest is that i had to redo the entire tank and replace the sand with gravel.

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Permalink Reply by Hmoobthor on October 25, 2011 at 8:47am

no sand plz..

 

i have warn so many others but i guess people don't listen or do their research.

I have email shawn and have heard nothing to change his guide.

 

Only thing you can do is get MTS snail.

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Permalink Reply by 2apes2gp667wr on October 25, 2011 at 9:16am

I have no problems.  Just because others do doesn't mean don't use sand.  Is the problem that it is a light colored sand and you can see waste built up?  Use a gravel vac, but just hover slightly above the sand to suck it up.

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Permalink Reply by Luis Carrera on October 25, 2011 at 12:48pm

thanks man,

no its more like the sand in certain spots is becoming compacted almost, its clumping together... I do use the gravel vac and that works fine. Maybe I should be stirring the sand up more often to loosen it up?

 

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Permalink Reply by Nic McNaught on October 25, 2011 at 1:25pm

if you say its compacting are you sure it isn't some algae in the sand?  i have had that before...

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Permalink Reply by Luis Carrera on October 25, 2011 at 1:47pm

Im pretty sure it isnt algae, what happened with your tank that the sand compacted?

 

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Permalink Reply by 2apes2gp667wr on October 25, 2011 at 1:55pm

Get Malaysian Trumpet Snails to aerate the sand or just do it yourself.  With a 3 gallon tank it won't be to bad.  Note that it's not really a stirring up of the sand that you need to do.  Just poke it in spots to release any built up gases.

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Permalink Reply by Luis Carrera on October 25, 2011 at 2:09pm

alright cool man thanks!

 

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Permalink Reply by 0yuoe0itoxi7u on October 25, 2011 at 5:20pm

I just poke my sand with a ruler just in the sand part, I don't poke it all the way through to the dirt because then the sand will go into the dirt area and make my top layer thinner. It works for me though. : ] I love sand and wouldn't have gravel no matter what!

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Permalink Reply by Luis Carrera on October 25, 2011 at 5:25pm

thank you! I'll give it a try, and I love my sand too haha

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