Aquarium Sand Maintenance

[barrettsline]

I am not the biggest sand advocate, however more and more I am drawn to how beautiful it makes an aquarium look. Please answer the following questions and give you opinions.

1. What type of sand do you use?

2. How often if ever do you change it?

3. Do you have fish that sift through the sand to help turn it over? If so, what kind?

4. How often do you turn your sand and what do you use to do it?

5. Do you move any of your decorations when you stir your sand? I havent in the past and have ended up with black patches under the rocks and such. this happens, what should be done?

6. Do you use eggcrate?

Please feel free to offer up any other USEFULL information.

Thanks. :o

[SunnyHouTX]

1. PFS

2. Never have

3. No

4. I use the rake attachment on this whenever I need to move sand back from being shifted around by the flow in my tanks. I try to have only about 1" - 1.5" depth of sand.

5. No. Haven't had any ill effects from not doing it. Another reason to only have 1" - 1.5" of sand.

[barrettsline]

1. PFS

2. Never have

3. No

4. I use a the rake attachment on this whenever I need to move sand back from being shifted around by the flow in my tanks. I try to have only about 1" - 1.5" depth of sand.

Good information. Thank you.

[mnemenoi]

1. What type of sand do you use? PFS, Aragonite (sugar grade), African Cichlid mix

2. How often if ever do you change it? Never

3. Do you have fish that sift through the sand to help turn it over? If so, what kind? I have Shellies, goby cichlids, and a Fahaka that move it about/occasionally sift it. It is ony a 1-2.5" deep layer.

4. How often do you turn your sand and what do you use to do it? At water changes I move it about a little, but nothing really in depth and focused. Usually I use chopsticks.

5. Do you move any of your decorations when you stir your sand? I havent in the past and have ended up with black patches under the rocks and such. this happens, what should be done? I have the same thing occur and just mix it back into the sand column and the color fades and it returns to normal. My assumption is bacterial colonization. I rarely move anything unless I'm rescaping the tank and make certain to add some powerheads if there are any inhabitants that might be sensitive to the release of built up toxins. I have also thought that this might be oxygen deprevation due to the release of the bacteria into the water column, but could not test/verify this theory. When I was younger and did things far less carefully the fish would often gasp at the surface and this is what gave me the idea.

I do not use eggcrate, but all my rocks are small or secure, if I were to get larger stones and there is a possibility of collapse I would use it.

Please feel free to offer up any other USEFULL information. I think there is a fear of anearobic bacteria and zones, but I have never had any of these and my thoughts are that it is simply releasing nitrates and bacteria into the water column that can be dangerous to any inhabitants. I have heard Hyrogen Sulfide bantered around as a danger because it is produced by anearobic bacteria, but they need total oxygen depravation (4"+ of substrate) and the amount produced is very small. It is heavier then air and can collect in the aquarium under canopy, but a powerhead would eliminate this completely by displacing it with fresh air if it worried someone.

[barrettsline]

More good Information. Thank you.

[barrettsline]

Questions added to OP.

[troy tucker]

I am pretty new at the Sand in my aquarium. I used pool filter sand. never had to change it. hope I never do. Our puffers move it around a little but they are not sifting through it. never had to move it either but if I do. I guess I will get the grandkids beach rake.
I switched to sand after some one told me it was easier to keep clean. I have found that to be true. It is easier to keep clean. I will never go back to rock...

[barrettsline]

thank you for your input.

[BrAin]

1. +1 to PFS

2. Ive had it for 6 months or less. So No

3. Altifrons but they dig in the same general areas and skim the rest. Maybe 40% is actually dug into and moved

4. I use water changes to move a tiny bit and smooth out areas with holes from the fish.

5. No

6. No, but was thinking about using the crate under rocks that the fish could dig under. Dont want rocks falling because the sand shifted from fish.

We love the sand alot more than the rock. Probably will not have rock in any new tank setups.

[barrettsline]

Thank you for your input.

[moganman]

I will never use aragonite (sugar grade) again. It is entirely too light and if you have alot of flow, it will get into your filtration systems and potentially cause problems. I use PFS and every now and then I use my hand to move it around during water changes, but not a main concern of mine.

[barrettsline]

Thanks for input bro.

[TangoMIke]

Leslies pool sand works well for me. I have never changer any sand put, However I clean tanks agressively and do remove some causing me to add more later. The sand holds it 's own bacteria culture that aids in the filtration. Think Saltwater live sand. Make sure you are careful about snails. They are a pain to get out of there and are very hard to control once established Assasin snails work good for that.
It is a good idea to rake something thru the sand ocassionally ( I use my hands) to break up any pockets of waste.
Mike

[barrettsline]

Thank you for your input Mike!

[black_knight]

I tend to do bare bottom set ups, however I love sand as oppose top gravel. It looks much better. The key is using a thin layer. Fish swiming close to the bottom usually shift it around plenty. I usually swirl the water around above the sand to remove the lighter debris. You will always suck up some sand. Every couple of months you have to spread a small layer to replenish. I've used Tahitian Moon, play sand, and argonite. You'll need to have a sponge on any power filter intakes. It will ruin your impellers. Never any issues with anaerobic build up so long as I use less than an 1 1/2 inches of sand. I 've had problems with thicker layers, including fish die outs, but easily solved by either lots of turbo snails or fish that shift sand. For instance I had 250 gallon with F. rostratus (sand divers) with 4-5 inches of pool filter and play sand mix at the bottom, no problems with dead spot since those boggers dug and shifted every inch of sand in that tank daily. One caution is that any sand piled up under a rock or behind one will build up a dead spot.