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What is the best aquarium sand to go with?

mark4785

Member
Joined
4 Jan 2011
Messages
451
Location
Derbyshire, UK.
I'm looking for a natural sand which closely resembles naturally occurring beach sand and which does not contain PH, KH or GH boosting/lowering properties.

I'm ideally looking for pre-washed sand. I know that Caribsea used to manufacture 'live sand' which was pre-washed. However, at present they seem to no longer be selling substrates suitable for freshwater aquariums. Are there any alternative brands that are pre-washed?

Also, how safe are the Unipac sands? I have heard they require a considerable wash before you can even think about placing it in the aquarium!


Mark.
 
I looooove my playsand that I got in bulk. Its beautiful brown colors have complimented my cichlids so much, I even added some into my 10g planted tank, and my african dwarf frogs look great on top of it, plus the corydora seem to be enjoying it ^_^ (Got a 50 pound bag for 5$)
I'm from California and I can definitely say the sand that I bought looks like the sand on our beaches.
I also love the way my amazon sword has been growing since I put it inside of it. VS the gravel it used to be in.
 
I'm no expert but wouldn't play sand come with anti-weed stuff in it? thus being bad for plants?
 
I'm no expert but wouldn't play sand come with anti-weed stuff in it? thus being bad for plants?
Doubt it. Has to be kiddie eat proof, so play sand is just sand. I know people who have used silver sand in their tanks to good effect, only £1.99 for 25Kg from builders merchant.
 
lolol, good point.
Doubt it. Has to be kiddie eat proof, so play sand is just sand. I know people who have used silver sand in their tanks to good effect, only £1.99 for 25Kg from builders merchant.
 
Does silver sand contain silica? If so, does this cause algae outbreaks and bacterial growth?

Also, I bought some play sand for my previous tank and I ended up with a highly contagious slime and surface film growing all over the tank (look through my previous threads to learn about this). The only other possible cause of this growth would have been coming from airborne particles (it was an open-top aquarium) or induced from the silicone that the tank was made of (it was custom made by Wharf Aquatics; perhaps they used the wrong materials or brought it into contact with things that turn nasty when brought into contact with water??). The manufacturer of this play sand refused to comment on the constituents of the sand when I approached them about the problems it had created within my tank which made me very suspicious, and of course, angry.

The above issue is primarily why I created this thread as I guess it can be difficult, with some substrates, to know whether it is carrying an unsuitable foreign body or not. For me, Caribsea substrate helped a lot as they guaranteed that it would be pre-washed and ready for aquarium use, whereas, with Unipac and other makes there is always mention of their being dust within the sand. If dust can get in it, WHAT ELSE can??
 
Sand is easy to wash in pillow case.dirt comes out,sand stay's in.
Have used play sand many times without issues of protein scum,or slime on surface.
Some contractor's sand may contain mortar,lime,but play sand for children's sand boxes never presented any negative issues for me.
 
I've used unipac sands unwashed without any issues not even clouding (as long as you fill carefully) most of the dust comes from the stones rolling against each other. I've also used argos play sand without any issues.
 
I've used unipac sands unwashed without any issues not even clouding (as long as you fill carefully) most of the dust comes from the stones rolling against each other. I've also used argos play sand without any issues.

Ok thats good to know. Did you use the Unipac in a open-top aquarium or one that is enclosed?

My play sand came from eBay and it wasn't listed under 'fish supplies'. This is what I bought: Children's Playpit Sand Play 25kg Sandpit Play Pit Kids | eBay .
 
Ok thats good to know. Did you use the Unipac in a open-top aquarium or one that is enclosed?

I used Unipac Fijii in an open top tank. It does need a bit of washing but not much. The fine version is quite coarse,(as in the particles being sharp enough as well) Some Unipac sands aren't inert though. You need to read the description.

aquaristic.net sells non dusting, inert sand which is quite light colored. I never wash it, just poor it in from above, no problem!

I have their white sand in several tanks. It's inert. If you don't mind the white colour, it's great stuff, not very fine, but not big for bottom dwellers and clean. The plants love it. It can be poured directly into the tank no problem. I top up with no washing.

I can get you pictures if you want to see how they look.

And I also bought recently Westland playsand, not sure if you have that brand there but playsand is too fine if you are going to make the substrate anything deeper than 1 inch. It looks good though, like beach sand and is darker and slightly larger than Argos playsand which is way too fine for my taste.
 
would love to see
I used Unipac Fijii in an open top tank. It does need a bit of washing but not much. The fine version is quite coarse,(as in the particles being sharp enough as well) Some Unipac sands aren't inert though. You need to read the description.







I have their white sand in several tanks. It's inert. If you don't mind the white colour, it's great stuff, not very fine, but not big for bottom dwellers and clean. The plants love it. It can be poured directly into the tank no problem. I top up with no washing.



I can get you pictures if you want to see how they look.



And I also bought recently Westland playsand, not sure if you have that brand there but playsand is too fine if you are going to make the substrate anything deeper than 1 inch. It looks good though, like beach sand and is darker and slightly larger than Argos playsand which is way too fine for my taste.

would love to see some pics!
 
Thanks for all the suggestions and also for pointing out that I was ripped off by the play sand seller!! :(

I've decided to buy from the Unipac range. I've bought the non-course Fiji Fine Sand (12.5 kg).

I replaced my open-top aquarium with a Juwel Lido 120 with 1000 LPH pump so will be putting the sand, diffuser, plants etc in this ASAP.

As I want to stock it with Microgeophagus Ramirezi I'll be starting with a fishless cycle for security.
 
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