# sand..



## piranhafreak007 (Oct 20, 2004)

looking for a good place to buy sand cheap for my 125, thinking of changing the backround to a all black( see alot on this site and looks hot!) and to get some nice sand, preferably stone color or a bit lighter. i live in Ny and would love for someone to tell me where the best ( and cheapest) place to get sand to fill my 125.
thanks alot guy


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## nick007x (Sep 9, 2005)

piranhafreak007 said:


> looking for a good place to buy sand cheap for my 125, thinking of changing the backround to a all black( see alot on this site and looks hot!) and to get some nice sand, preferably stone color or a bit lighter. i live in Ny and would love for someone to tell me where the best ( and cheapest) place to get sand to fill my 125.
> thanks alot guy


go to lowe's or home depot and buy a bag of play sand, etc. it won't get any cheaper than that--and it looks great


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## piranhafreak007 (Oct 20, 2004)

nick007x said:


> looking for a good place to buy sand cheap for my 125, thinking of changing the backround to a all black( see alot on this site and looks hot!) and to get some nice sand, preferably stone color or a bit lighter. i live in Ny and would love for someone to tell me where the best ( and cheapest) place to get sand to fill my 125.
> thanks alot guy


go to lowe's or home depot and buy a bag of play sand, etc. it won't get any cheaper than that--and it looks great
[/quote]

just play sand and thats ok for my fish?????


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## fury (Nov 30, 2003)

> go to lowe's or home depot


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## piranhafreak007 (Oct 20, 2004)

[quote name='fury' date='Oct 25 2005, 04:55 AM' post='1244505']


> go to lowe's or home depot
> if i ask the guys at home depot for " play sand" thatll be ok for my fish??


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## Steve7 (Jun 20, 2005)

home dept man 50lb bag for like 5 bucks cant go wrong, but its a bitch to clean so i changed to tahitian black sand it looks amazing and clean.


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## Oscar5001 (Sep 22, 2005)

Steve7 said:


> home dept man 50lb bag for like 5 bucks cant go wrong, but its a bitch to clean so i changed to tahitian black sand it looks amazing and clean.


True, but one back costs a left nut.


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## swrve (Jan 8, 2005)

i got this stuff called "handy sand" from menards. its a real nice white fine silica sand. if you wanted your p's to have good color i would go with tahitian moon sand. but i like the look of the white sand better, for now, as i just changed from tahitian moon sand.


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## piranhafreak007 (Oct 20, 2004)

Oscar5001 said:


> home dept man 50lb bag for like 5 bucks cant go wrong, but its a bitch to clean so i changed to tahitian black sand it looks amazing and clean.


True, but one back costs a left nut.
[/quote]
one back??? he said one bag of play sand is around 5 bucks at home depot, this true??


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## nick007x (Sep 9, 2005)

piranhafreak007 said:


> > go to lowe's or home depot
> > if i ask the guys at home depot for " play sand" thatll be ok for my fish??
> 
> 
> ...


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## piranhafreak007 (Oct 20, 2004)

nick007x said:


> > go to lowe's or home depot
> > if i ask the guys at home depot for " play sand" thatll be ok for my fish??
> 
> 
> ...


very cool







im not a lazy man so ill def go with more cleaning















thanks bud


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## nick007x (Sep 9, 2005)

swrve said:


> > go to lowe's or home depot
> > if i ask the guys at home depot for " play sand" thatll be ok for my fish??
> 
> 
> ...


very cool







im not a lazy man so ill def go with more cleaning















thanks bud








[/quote]

no prob...and i think 5 bucks a bag is about right too, ...u can't beat it


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## piranhafreak007 (Oct 20, 2004)

this is exactly the way i want it!!


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## Ex0dus (Jun 29, 2005)

go to a pool supply place and get like #20 pool filter sand. Much easier to wash and imo looks much nicer. Lowes/home depot sells the 50lb of 'play sand' for @ 3.50, the pool filter sand is @ 7$ for a 50lb bag. Much nicer looking and much easier to clean.


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## Oscar5001 (Sep 22, 2005)

piranhafreak007 said:


> home dept man 50lb bag for like 5 bucks cant go wrong, but its a bitch to clean so i changed to tahitian black sand it looks amazing and clean.


True, but one back costs a left nut.
[/quote]
one back??? he said one bag of play sand is around 5 bucks at home depot, this true??
[/quote]

Bag. My bad.


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## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

:move to Equipment Questions forum


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## joefish219 (Feb 8, 2005)

i went with the play sand from home menards for 5 bucks and it is ok. i think all sand is a bitch to clean regardless of what kind. the thinner the worse but the badass it looks. it is a compromise of look vs lazy, go with the play sand it will treat you good


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## swrve (Jan 8, 2005)

here is my tank before i change things around, but you get an idea of what the sand looks like. the only thing im keeping the same is the sand, ill try and post pics of the after for you too.


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## piranhafreak007 (Oct 20, 2004)

just got 2 50lbs bags from home depot for 3.79 each!! thanks everyone, will have pics soon!


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## piranhafreak007 (Oct 20, 2004)

just cleaned the sand and put it in my tank, it was like an atomic bomb in my tank!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! my whole tank got sooooooooooooooooo cloudy... im inthe process of removing all the water!!! i got white play sand from home depot... what happened??? and i cleaned it before i put it in... i put so little in!!!

OMGGGGGGGGGGGG


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## Steve7 (Jun 20, 2005)

:/ yea same happened to me a week ago so i decided screw it and bought the tehetian moon and it was a lot easier to clean and it didnt go all atomic on me when i put it in. the thing is you have to rinse it REALLy well and use the cup method to put it in. someone posted a thread about sand and its pinned so check that out.


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## piranhafreak007 (Oct 20, 2004)

Steve7 said:


> :/ yea same happened to me a week ago so i decided screw it and bought the tehetian moon and it was a lot easier to clean and it didnt go all atomic on me when i put it in. the thing is you have to rinse it REALLy well and use the cup method to put it in. someone posted a thread about sand and its pinned so check that out.


dude my whole tank is but white!!!! from a few cups!!!! is my fish gonna die???????????? and it says on the bag, not for aquariums, i thought that it would be ok b/c everyone here said play sand from home depot


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## Steve7 (Jun 20, 2005)

i dont think it will die because i did my 30gallon with cichlids and i left it to settle and they are still alive to this day. maybe some small water changes every day would help, other than that before adding more keep washing the sand.


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## piranhafreak007 (Oct 20, 2004)

Steve7 said:


> i dont think it will die because i did my 30gallon with cichlids and i left it to settle and they are still alive to this day. maybe some small water changes every day would help, other than that before adding more keep washing the sand.


i already tried taking all the sand out! but the water is still half full,, you want me to add more??? this things like a bomb, im puting another type of gravel back,, so my P wont die??


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## james__12345 (Mar 25, 2005)

dont worry about removing all the water, the tank will be cloudy anyway. You just need to let it settle. If you washed it good by the next day it should be fine and i wouldnt worry about the fish.
in regard to the costing a left nut comment, he meant the black sand. And yes.....it does cost a left nut :laugh:


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## Steve7 (Jun 20, 2005)

yea it will settle but takes up to 2 days so dont worry. also when its done settling make sure to shake the decorations because they will be covered in sand







. and yea the black sand does cost a left nut but in my opinion it is worth it because i really like the look of dark substrate and its also makes the fish have a darker colour which i like.


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## piranhafreak007 (Oct 20, 2004)

for now, took as much of the sand out as possible, i got very nervous cause my fish was splashing all around, just put in some natural pebbles look, water is still cloudy as fuk


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## Ex0dus (Jun 29, 2005)

piranhafreak007 said:


> just cleaned the sand and put it in my tank, it was like an atomic bomb in my tank!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! my whole tank got sooooooooooooooooo cloudy... im inthe process of removing all the water!!! i got white play sand from home depot... what happened??? and i cleaned it before i put it in... i put so little in!!!
> 
> OMGGGGGGGGGGGG


That happened because the 'play sand' is not 100% silicia sand, the stuff you get at lowes/home depot has a shitload of silt in it. It took me hours to clean 150lbs of play sand and my tank looked like sh*t after, it took me 45mins to clean 150lbs of pool filter sand and my water was clear. At 1st i liked the look of the finer sand, but now the look of the pool filter sand has grown on me.


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## piranhafreak007 (Oct 20, 2004)

Ex0dus said:


> just cleaned the sand and put it in my tank, it was like an atomic bomb in my tank!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! my whole tank got sooooooooooooooooo cloudy... im inthe process of removing all the water!!! i got white play sand from home depot... what happened??? and i cleaned it before i put it in... i put so little in!!!
> 
> OMGGGGGGGGGGGG


That happened because the 'play sand' is not 100% silicia sand, the stuff you get at lowes/home depot has a shitload of silt in it. It took me hours to clean 150lbs of play sand and my tank looked like sh*t after, it took me 45mins to clean 150lbs of pool filter sand and my water was clear. At 1st i liked the look of the finer sand, but now the look of the pool filter sand has grown on me.
[/quote]
yea dude, i was like ohhhhhhhhhhhh shittttttttttttttttt... but i took out almost all the water , took out as much of the sand as i could and just put in some gravel i had,, tank is still cloudy( and i took out all the sand) replaced all the water and put in a new powerhead my rhom seems to swim in all the time!!!! just got it last nite... im just gonna wait for a week or two then get black sand from the pet store, i think my rhom will look better in it anyway and i know its wayyyy more expencive but this fish will look sick in it


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## "qickshot" (Apr 19, 2005)

i got really small black pebbles. the sell them in 25 lb bag for 13-15 bucks. one works for my 50 gal. its 36x18. when i rinsed it nothing i could see came off and it didnt cloud my tank. ive also went threw the cloudy tank thing....twice


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## nick007x (Sep 9, 2005)

piranhafreak007 said:


> just cleaned the sand and put it in my tank, it was like an atomic bomb in my tank!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! my whole tank got sooooooooooooooooo cloudy... im inthe process of removing all the water!!! i got white play sand from home depot... what happened??? and i cleaned it before i put it in... i put so little in!!!
> 
> OMGGGGGGGGGGGG


That happened because the 'play sand' is not 100% silicia sand, the stuff you get at lowes/home depot has a shitload of silt in it. It took me hours to clean 150lbs of play sand and my tank looked like sh*t after, it took me 45mins to clean 150lbs of pool filter sand and my water was clear. At 1st i liked the look of the finer sand, but now the look of the pool filter sand has grown on me.
[/quote]
yea dude, i was like ohhhhhhhhhhhh shittttttttttttttttt... but i took out almost all the water , took out as much of the sand as i could and just put in some gravel i had,, tank is still cloudy( and i took out all the sand) replaced all the water and put in a new powerhead my rhom seems to swim in all the time!!!! just got it last nite... im just gonna wait for a week or two then get black sand from the pet store, i think my rhom will look better in it anyway and i know its wayyyy more expencive but this fish will look sick in it








[/quote]

play sand actually will work fine, but you've really got to wash the hell out of it--you should check out ElTitcho and hyphen's pinned post at the beginning of this forum. and as has been mentioned, use his cup method to put it in. then your tank water will clear up in a hour or two.


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## Ex0dus (Jun 29, 2005)

even if u use the cu[ method, you will still have silt... when the fish stir up the sand...boom... cloudy


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## Steve7 (Jun 20, 2005)

hey also remember to shut you filters off you wouldnt want a clogged up broken filter.. and as for the fish swimming and making it cloudy, it isnt that bad at all. i have my 30gallon with play sand and its been in there for a few months so all the heavier particles of sand remain so it doesnt cloud up at all when the fish swim by.


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## nick007x (Sep 9, 2005)

Steve7 said:


> hey also remember to shut you filters off you wouldnt want a clogged up broken filter.. and as for the fish swimming and making it cloudy, it isnt that bad at all. i have my 30gallon with play sand and its been in there for a few months so all the heavier particles of sand remain so it doesnt cloud up at all when the fish swim by.


Exactly! my water has never been cloudy due to sand particles, and I've got fine sand. but at that point all the particles are heavy and sink. it'll poof up like half inch if they're right on on, but thats it.


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## SregoR (Aug 7, 2005)

I think his problem was he didn't wash the sand well enough, cause i also bought playsand for my old 29 gallon setup, and i washed it very well. when i put it in it was cloudy for like an a little while then it all cleared up. and the fish moving around and making it cloudy isnt true cause i had a pleco in my and all he did was dig in the sand and it never got cloudy for a second, all you saw was some sand kick up. sucks that i lost the pictures of the tank, but i have a few of the sand in water.
















Nvm im a moron i got some shots of my pleco in there, and you can see how clear the water is.


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