lyndatu

Which is the better substrate for my 20-gallon freshwater aquarium: Sand, that I took from the beach, by the shore?(Underwater)(I already cleaned it too much, for like, 3 days or more) Or, gravel, which I purchased from the store? Which is which? What do you think?


I was planning my aquascape to be more natural, not exactly biotope, but looks natural. Does sand count? I want sand because I got it directly from nature, it might contain some nutrient salts, it's quite fine and soft, it's beautiful, it can anchor plants well, it's color looks rich, and since it isn't course as gravel it won't hurt my fish, unlike what happened to my bronze corydoras(you get the picture) but I'm scared that it might carry some bad chemicals, or it might turn my freshwater saltwater.

If beach sand will not do, then are there any aquarium sand? Hehe

Gravel, for simplicity's sake? I don't know. Please give me some advice. Thanks in advance.

Also, I don't use undergravel filter.

Schmidty

I'm in a similar situation, though I don't have access to actual beach sand. I have always used store bought gravel. I'm a little nervous about getting live plants because I hear that epoxy coated gravel is a poor substrate. We'll see! Several members here have told me that plants can still grow in gravel and that sand isn't much better for a substrate.
I personally like gravel because the ease of cleaning. I just take my siphon and stir up the gravel! I think sand would be more difficult, but I don't know as I have never used it.
Have fun with your tank. I hope it turns out great!

(that has nothing to do with the post, just wanted to add some animation!)

COBettaCouple

i'm hesitant to add sand from 'the great outdoors', even cleaned there could be unknown organisms or pathogens in it. then again it may be safe but i'd probably go with sand from the store along with some substrata for plants.

griffin

like cobettacouple, i'm not sure if i'd use sand from a beach. it SHOULD be fine if washed well, but you never know.

if you want sand, you can get some really cheap stuff from the hardware store (i think i paid a few dollars for 50 pounds). you'd still have to wash it, but i know that will work since i use it myself. makes cleaning a breeze!

Isabella

I agree with COBettaCouple and Griffin. I'd also be hesitant to use sea sand (I don't know if it's possible, but I'd guess it may leach salt to your tank - and what if it leaches too much salt as for a freshwater tank?). And as COBettaCouple has mentioned, we don't know if it doesn't contain some potentially dnagerous micro-organisms.

That's all very good reasons for why you may want to have it.

But what about boiling the sand? I took rocks/cobbles/stones from a river too, and I boiled them well and they are fine in my tanks. Although the river was a freshwater habitat. Anyway, I you certainly can still at least TEST the sand. Leave it in some container with water and see if pH changes after 24 hours (if it can affect pH at all). Or leave it like that for a longer period of time, and see if the water parameters change in any way. I don't know if there is any way to test your water for salt content - if there is, that would be great because you could see if the concentration of salt in the tested container increases over time.

Anyway, supposing the sand is inert (i.e. won't leach salts into your water and won't affect any other parameters), if you're to use it, it's best to boil, soak, and rinse it a lot before putting it inside your tank. I think boiling would kill whatever the mico-organisms may live in the sand.

P.S. Does anyone know if boiling can remove salt from beach sand?

Neil

never mind boiling it, just shove it in a pot and bake it in the oven at 400F for an hour. (make sure the pot can handle it)

Marc

There shouldn't be any large amounts of salt in beach sand to begin with unless it was dried in salt water. Rinsing should take care of the majority of the salt and generally most of what's in it. Boiling it should remove absolutely everything that isn't safe, unless there's some random nuclear waste or something

Isabella

LOL, good idea with the baking

So, after all, you may be able to use your beach sand Just make sure it's boiled and/or baked properly so that it's completely disinfected. I'd also soak it for a while and rinse it a lot.

lyndatu

Thanks to you all! You guys are geniuses! I forgot about the boiling/baking and maybe fishermen's boats would put some chemicals in the ocean. Thanks. I think I'll skip the sand, just to make sure there's nothing going wrong with my aquarium.

Peterpiper

I nuked some in the microwave once i had boiled it, rinsed, boiled etc.
Then my wife found out about the microwave

Isabella

Peterpiper, I would NOT microwave anything that goes into my aquariums. Anything that goes into the microwave, comes out unhealthy. You should read some studies on how microwaved food (and any thing for that matter) becomes a toxic poison after microwaving. I've stopped using my microwave about a year ago - replaced it with a small electric oven, which works GREAT.