vintagetankgirl

Hi all,

I'm getting ready to set up a 10g and a 55g and would love to use sand. I've read here and other places that pool filter sand is the best non aquarium sand to use. My question here is what brands have you guys used?

I have both a Lowes and a Home Depot here so if anyone has purchased there that would be awesome!

Thanks,
Deese

SWilkins

I just used some for the first time and it came from Home Depot. I am not sure of the name brand but I have some outside and I will check on it for you and let you know. I used it in a planted tank and used Miracle Grow Organic underneath the sand. It looks good and the plants seem to like it so far...oh and the fish like it too LOL.

aquarist48

Hello VintageTankGirl. Hope you're doing well. I don't have personal experience with sand but I wanted to point something out about SWilkins post. She has used Miracle Grow "Organic" soil under her sand. The key word here is "Organic". If it doesn't say "Organic" I recommend "not" using it. I'm afraid it may contain additives that could be harmful to fish.
Just a precaution. If anyone has different opinions on this by all means chime in
Ken

vintagetankgirl

My other two tanks are planted and have eco complete as substrate. Do I need a soil base in order to have plants with sand?

btate617

I use play sand from both Home Depot and Lowes. Lots of people use poll filter sand as it is "cleaner" out of the bag. Personally I don't care for the pool filter sand, although it does look nice. The play sand is a bit more work to get clean but thats what I have in all my tanks. Last time I bought any I believe it was around $5 for 50lbs.

Brian

vintagetankgirl

Thanks for the info Brian.

What about the Play sand do you like better? Is it the texture/size of granules? Or is it more about the color?

navyscuba

I use the coarse general use sand from HD or Lowes is $4 a 50lbs bag or Turface Athletics Pro League Red. Here is the link of mine when I did it a little while ago.
Here is new look
Hope you find it helpful.

SWilkins

It is Pavestone pool filter sand from Home Depot $5 for 50 pounds. I used this with soil just because I wanted a fully planted tank. I don't think you have to use soil for plants I just wanted to try it because I had never done it before. I have always read and been told to rinse sand well but I hate even rinsing gravel....it is just a royal pain for me for some reason. I know that you are supposed to rinse the pool filter sand too but I didn't rinse at all. After I got the sand on top of the soil I put a bowl in the tank on top of the sand and added the water slowly. I did have to skim the surface to get a bit of foam off the top but I only had to do that once. My water is clear with happy plants and fish.

btate617

I have seen white and brown pool filter sand. I don't care for the color of the brown and the white shows to much "dirt" for me.

Brian