hssea

i purchased some Estes Marine Sand this weekend. Its states that it is safe for freshwater aquariums. i was planning on buying some pool filter sand until i saw this. i've read about not using marine sand in fw tanks, but since this states is also for fw it will be fine, right? i'm setting up a new 20 gall tank, i purchased 20 pounds of the sand. Will be using a bio wheel filter with this tank.

sirdarksol

It should be good. A lot of marine sand has minerals that can dissolve, and live sand would send a freshwater aquarium into a horrible cycle as the life in it died off.

One thing to be careful with is the fish that are going in the tank. Certain bottom-dwelling fish do not normally live with sandy bottoms, and might swallow sand and injure themselves. I would do research into the natural setting a fish lives in before putting sand in the tank.

hssea

im setting this one up in my 17 yr old daughters room as a graduation gift. She's staying at home to attend college. Hopefully she will join this site, as she has always loved my tanks but i'v always taken care of them. anyway her room is in a beach theme and thus the reason for the white sand. we will work with fish that can live in the tank. bottom dweller would corys be ok. I need to do research in this area. Since i want her to take over will a thinking of tetras, swords, platys etc..

sirdarksol

Cories would, from what I read this morning, be excellent. They can do the trick where they suck sand up and then "spit" it out their gills, sifting it for little tasty bits.

hssea

oh good , they are so cute. im waiting for the tank to arrive. got the sand and filter. Still need to get a heater. Im ordering one of those stealth ones everyone recommends