# Going With Sand The Cheap Way



## Fresh (Feb 8, 2004)

i know there's many different sands that people use but how's this? great deal

http://www.lowes.com/pd_10392-74291-00014_4294858246_4294937087_?productId=3305740&Ns=p_product_prd_lis_ord_nbr|0||p_product_quantity_sold|1&pl=1&currentURL=%2Fpl_Sand_4294858246_4294937087_%3FNs%3Dp_product_prd_lis_ord_nbr%7C0%7C%7Cp_product_quantity_sold%7C1


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## sapir (Jun 20, 2008)

never used that sand before but i like the color. last week i put quikrete commercial grade sand in my tank, it comes in 100 pound bags for like 7 bucks but the best part about is it does not need to be washed. i just changed the water in my tank once and it cleared up. the medium grain sinks right away and looks awesome.


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## TheCableGuy (Feb 22, 2005)

I used playsand I got from Rona (hardware store). A 30kg bag for $3.99, and it looks great. Just make sure it's washed.


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## Fresh (Feb 8, 2004)

whats the best way to wash it? it's really been long time since my last tank which i did have sand in also.


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## TheCableGuy (Feb 22, 2005)

You buy it already washed...all you have to do is rinse it in a bucket before adding to the tank.


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## Fresh (Feb 8, 2004)

alright. just got done painting the stand so i might go back to lowes and get the sand


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## 65galhex (Nov 5, 2008)

You can always use a pillow case to rinse the sand.


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## Fresh (Feb 8, 2004)

gonna rinse it inside the tank with a water change after it all settles. it's in there now with about 5 gallons of water, gonna let it settle then add more and do the water change. it was one 50lb bag so i didnt want to make so many trips with a bucket.


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## RedneckR0nin (Nov 5, 2008)

If ya going cheap then Playsand...hell go rob the playground and wash it(just kidding by the way). For actual substrate though you can fit a 200 gallon tank with 40 bucks worth of substrate easily!



65galhex said:


> You can always use a pillow case to rinse the sand.


Good idea!


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## Guest (Mar 28, 2011)

Fresh said:


> gonna rinse it inside the tank with a water change after it all settles. it's in there now with about 5 gallons of water, gonna let it settle then add more and do the water change. it was one 50lb bag so i didnt want to make so many trips with a bucket.


Best way to rinse it is in buckets as its easier to get all the dust out. You'll need to stir it up to get all the stuff to float around.


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## Sacrifice (Sep 24, 2006)

You may regret trying to wash it in the tank. You'll have to do 20 waterchanges to get most of the dirt/dust out of your tank. I used play sand from Home Depot and simply filled a 5g bucket up about 1/2 way and ran a water hose in it and continued swishing it around until the water didn't look too dirty. This usually took filling the bucket up 5-6 times with each 1/2 bucket of sand. Very time consuming but well worth it. Even with doing all that I still had cloudy water for about 24 hours and I was careful while filling the tank.

Good Luck. The only thing that I don't like about it so far is that it can get caught in your magfloat and scratch the crap out of your glass, as well as it really made my rhom turn a very very light color, but some days he looks platinum so that's not too bad I guess


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## 65galhex (Nov 5, 2008)

Here is more on using the pillow case. This is just a write up of it i did a while back; its actually a write up of sand in general but either way.

http://www.piranha-fury.com/pfury/index.php?/topic/184587-my-official-sand-thread/


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## Fresh (Feb 8, 2004)

i know it'll be a harder job doing it this way but i just had a feeling buckets, cold weather, and a monday afternoon wouldnt be a good mix lol. i have no problem doing multiple water changes, im even gonna let the filters run and then replace the media before adding the rb's in. it cleared up decently so far but tomorrow i will start the rinsing process and see how it goes.


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## 65galhex (Nov 5, 2008)

Be mindful of sand particles going into your filter, they have the potential to ruin propellers and motors


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## Fresh (Feb 8, 2004)

yea gotta let it settle completely


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