Cody

the sand i got is way to fine and every time its a littel distubed the substarte turns into a huge clould of dust,i wish i would of got the more expensive black stuff taht was a thinker grain

Chief_waterchanger

Actually if you either give it a few days with a filter media in your filter or rinse the substrate in a container that you let run over with water continuously to get the floating cloud-making sand out of the rest of it that could work. (That's what we do frequently. )

Dino

About the best sand for aquaria is pool filter sand.
It does not have to be rinsed and is a large enough grain that is does not stir up with the slightest movement.

Cody

i would feel much better replacing this stuff with that. i want somthing darker also if i can get dark stuff, this shows every little thing and is not very apealing, i dont know what to do with this stuff though.

Dino

If you did not spend a lot on it, put it out in the yard.

mrsmuffin

Pool filter sand does not come very dark though, does it? That is what I am considering for my large tank that I am planning (I can do 55 now, or wait a few months and do 75-100 - I am pretty sure that I am waiting!)

Dino

No, it is not dark.

Cody

in a different post someone had a carmel coloed one, which is better then the white stuff i have., it was 16 dollars for 20lbs

Amanda

I bought pool filter sand for my 55 gal. - it was $8 for 50 lbs.

Butterfly

My pool filter sand is kind of dark beige instead of white. I've never seen it any darker than that. The bags are clear so you can decide whether it is dark enough or not Yes it does show everything but that helps remind me to keep up the water changes.
Carol

Cody

im temped just to use gravel

Cody

can you explain this better i can seem to make sense of it

Dino

Place filter floss in your hob filter and it will pick up the smaller floating pieces of sand.

Chief_waterchanger

If you would rather do the rinsing of the substrate instead of the filter floss method here is how you do it...

1) Put substrate in a container (bucket, bowl, etc.)
2) Put container under water faucet or hose
3) Rinse the substrate, allowing the container to fill with water and continuously over-run for a moment or two.
The over-running of the container allows the particulates that would cloud the water to flow out of the container, leaving the heavier substrate at or near the bottom of the container.

4) Put substrate back in tank.

You might be amazed at how well the filter floss idea works also.

Cody

i thought the reason that my sand was making the clouds was becuase it was so fine any tiny to begin with, so do you still thing that one of those methods could help

Dino

Yes, pool filter sand is about the only sand that comes prewashed.
Just about every other sand, will have a lot of fine particles in it, whenyou open the bag.

Cody

so do i need to buy filter floss or can i just put in a fliter pad with no carbon

Dino

The pad will remove some of it.
The filter floss will remove more.