jarrod

hey, i may be upgrading to a 33 gal tank, and i would like to use sand as a substrate(not shure what is in the 33 gal tank now)

but i was wonderin has anyone tried, or herd of anyone using glass bead medium?? its not sharp and can get it it many grits.. and easy to get..

just thinkin outside the box, try something different..

any thaughts?

peacemaker92

Hi jarrod

I don't know much about glass beads but hope other members with better experience in it can help you Hope to see photos of your new 33g after its set up. Good luck!

namehater

i really cant think of a reason why it wouldnt be fine, im sure if you really examined what is in normal sand it would consist of some of the glass beads. keep us posted, id really like to see how this turns out, would be pretty cool looking i think and i dont think it would 'pack' together like sand so you would have a good flow through the substrate.

Nutter

So long as it is smooth & the right diameter then it shouldn't be a problem. Just avoid going too small or too large. Probably between 2-6mm would be ok.

Jaysee

Many breeders use marbles for substrate because the eggs fall through and won't be eaten, so if you plan on getting egg scatterers, you may end up with fry.

jarrod

well the glass bead is pretty small(same as what they use for sand blasting) like realy fine and smooth sand. but it wont pack which might be good, and its glass so it cant really be that bad..

hmm..

michaelb323

I would thoroughly wash the sand first, here is the only problem I see, that sand would have glass powder or dust from the granules rubbing around, and that would be very bad to have freefloating with fish. Other than that I would think that the glass might even be better than some types of sand due to the fact that the glass won't chemically react with anything.