can i use this sand??

Okay so I'm going to be setting up a 29gallon dirted tank. And I wanted to use sand sadness. However, I didn't want to spend any money and I what I was wonderring was I have a big pile of sand from like a sand box an its covered with a tarp so its pretty clean and I was just wonderring if I could use that??? Should I soak or bake it first?

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Permalink Reply by Hmoobthor on October 28, 2011 at 5:15pm

i would not go with sand from my experience. Alot of people agree with me while some don't. Its up to you.

I would rinse it well and maybe pour some hot water on it before putting in tank.

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Permalink Reply by Ellie. on October 28, 2011 at 5:17pm

Okay. Do you have planted tanks? What kind of gravel do you use?
I'm going for a natural theme... ;)

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Permalink Reply by Hmoobthor on October 28, 2011 at 8:02pm

plants and tank can be found on my YT channel

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Permalink Reply by Nick (RhinoTanks) on October 28, 2011 at 5:33pm

Hi Ellie,

I would not use sand in a planted tank IMO...from my exp it restricts some oxygen from getting down to the plant base and roots. I would recommend dirt with some sort of gravel/eco cap or just go with eco-comp or flourite.

Later,

-N

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Permalink Reply by Ellie. on October 28, 2011 at 5:34pm

Okay thanks!!

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Permalink Reply by Danny1107 on October 28, 2011 at 6:03pm

Almost everyone I have spoke to prefers gravel to cap their dirt with. I have black gravel in mine and it looks pretty natural in my opinion, maybe a dark brown gravel would look more natural?

if you do use the sand be sure to rinse it well first and it will be fine.

also if you do use the sand you'll want some fish or snails that will move the sand about to get oxygen into the sand and any trapped gas out, I have cory's in my sanded tank and they do a good enough job

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Permalink Reply by 0yuoe0itoxi7u on October 28, 2011 at 8:53pm

I have sand and I love it. You just have to be a little more careful when moving plants and such. You also have to poke the sand to let out the gas bubbles.. but everything of mine is going super well. I just prefer the look of sand.

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Permalink Reply by kmt on November 22, 2011 at 8:06pm

I heard the same thing about sand causing anaerobic conditions.

But the owner of LFS told me he puts his finger in the gravel every 2-3 weeks to circulate the air in the gravel.

I haven't heard of anyone doing this method before or if it is necessary...but he says the plants respond to it.

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Permalink Reply by 2apes2gp667wr on November 22, 2011 at 9:02pm

Play sand is fine to use. Make sure you rinse it well. As a matter of fact if you want to use it you might as well by new bags seeing how cheap it is. Just in case some contaminants got in the sand.