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I have it in my 10gal. cardinal tetra tank that is planted and also have mts that live thru out the sand.One thing about the sand is that you can't vaccum like garvel.Any food will get eatin by the snails.And with the plants,the fish waste will be used up.I'm starting up a 75 gal.and am woundering if anyone has this in their tank.I'm not looking to plant it,as I'll have two clown loaches and three featherfin catfish in it.The loaches like to nibble on the plants,while the featherfin cats will go thru a plant rather than go around it.Any plant will not anchor itself good enough in the sand to withstand those large catfish.Also I will not be able to keep snails with my loaches,if I keep the sand at a 3inch depth,will I have any problems keeping the sand clean without vaccuming it.And can I keep someother type of loach,mybe a weather loach or something like it, that will turn over the gravel and help keep it clean?Any other ideas?

Yes, you may indeed have some problems with a 3 inch sand bed. The thing is, you will get anaerobic bacteria growing in it. The DSB, Deep Sand Bed, will pack down and not have any oxygenation to it. Thus, the growth of anaerobic bacteria will live there. Now this in its self is considered a good thing, as the anaerobic bacteria actually remove nitrates from the water, and thus help create an ecosystem. But, the hazard is, if they are disturbed, the oxygen will kill them, and in many cases can cause anywhere from a small to drastic spike in your ammonia level. I have heard many accounts of people that have lost entire tanks of fish after stirring up the sand. Another bad thing about this is, if the sand is not stirred by something on a regular basis, the anaerobic bacteria will eventually die. After a long term build up of dead ones, they will start creating a toxic build up of ammonia as they break down. Once an area of the sand becomes toxic, they will not live there anymore. These areas will be hard like concrete and you can actually pick up chunks of the sand when this happens. When disturbed though, they release a large amount of ammonia into the water column. Thus again, a spike in the ammonia, never good for any fish. And possibly a drastic effect to the tank. In FW tanks it is extremely difficult to set up an ecosystem using a DSB, and even among the best experts, rarely even attempted. My best advise is to keep the sand under 2 inches, and more likely at about 1-2 inches max.

And stir up the sand right before you do your weekly water changes. This helps to remove waste build up, and halts any anaerobic bacteria growth that may be occuring. I do this on all my FW tanks with sand in them. To help keep the sand stirred naturally, you may want to look at the Horse Faced Loaches. They stay burried in the sand for most of the time. And they will "swim" through the sand. It is actually comical to watch them, lol. In a 75gal tank, you could put several in there. They would do great in it. And you could put some other kinds of loaches in there as well.

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There is always a bigger fish...

So with mts in my 10gal. I'm alright.That has been up and running for a few months, Frank sent me some snails that have been in there for 6 weeks and are they breeding,must be close to 50 or more.So in the 75gal. with the horseface loach,and mybe weather loaches and the fact that pool filter sand is a larger grade,I can stir it up and then vaccum over the top.I can keep it at 1 to 2 inch depth,as I'm, going to add rocks and driftwood.Should I place the rocks on the bare bottom and fill around them?I can place the driftwood on top of the sand.Any problems with this?How is your tanks set up with this type of sand?

One other question,I was at lowes and they have pea gravel,on the bag it says it may contain silicate dust,is this safe to use?For just over three dollars a bag,I can put a three in layer for under seven dollars.I like the small size and would be able to vaccum and plant some crypts and mybe a red sword.Think this is a better choice?

well i tried 2 different kinds of pool filter sand, i tryed the tiny granes of sand and basicly it turned my rocks black, and it was hard to keep stirred up, but i was able to vacume it carefuly, but now i have larger grains of sand about - < this big grains, its alot better with no pockets of bacteria, and it also has the benifit of sand that keeps most waste on top of it, so it can be easily cleaned, but i would never go back to gravel, atleast not the big gravel, i have small gravel mixed with sand in my betta fry tank, and everythnig is going well

good luck

I to have the large grain pool filter sand,but would like to try a small gravel.That's why I was wondering if the pea gravel from lowes is safe to use.

okies i understand now. i havent seen what their looks like, so i cant help you with theirs, sorry

I'm thankfull to all that responded,and will have to give this some thought.I want a safe product to use and may have to go with small sized gravel that's going to cost more,but in the long run will save money because I will not have to replace my clown loaches or featherfin catfish.Better safe than sorry.Thanks again.cjp.

silicate dust, is just sand, or sand dust. You just need to rinse the pea gravel very well. I have used that exact stuff in my tanks as a substrate. With the gravel you should have not problem with 3 inches deep.

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There is always a bigger fish...

Hi,
First, I'm glad to hear that those transplanted critters
are living high on the hog in your tank!

Sand is basically SiO2, Silica and the silicate dust
warning is because if you inhale it, you can get Silicosis
a form of lung cancer. Be sure that you wash it throughly
and that you do it in an outdoors well ventilated area.
The little shards of glass (silica) lodge in the small
lung passages and damage them.

Plants in sand can present a problem. Large plants
with huge root systems will not stay put in a inch or so
of sand, there simply is not enough weight in the over
burden to hold the plant down (its filled with oxygen and
tends to float). If you deepen the substrate to the
3-4 inch depth, then you will develop areas of anaerobic
bacteria that can cause serious problems in a tank as Acid
pointed out. Using a larger grain of gravel leaves larger
spaces between the individual grains that allow for water
flow, and roots to grow into and through. The larger grain
gravel also weighs more and helps the plant anchor itself
in place.

If you are going to use sand, I would consider keeping
the depth to say, and inch to and inch and a half, use
MTS and corries to keep it stirred up, and use small
plants with small root systems.

Frank


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