# What type of sands do you guys use?



## xHarold (Sep 18, 2013)

I was looking more on PFS because people say its way better and it settles better than play sand. I was wondering if anyone knows where I can find them for my African Cichlid tank that I'm doing. I live in Scarborough Area so inputs are appreciated. Thanks!


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

I personally like dark substrate and just can't get dark pool filter sand in my area and don't have the budget for the expensive stuff. I have heard many great things about pool filter sand though.

what I have been using for a while is a sandblasting sand from TSC, it is a darker grey and only $10 for a 50 lb bag. Sometimes it requires a whole lot of rinsing and other times not too bad. I have been using it for well over a year with no problems and even got a copy of the MSDS to share here and people didn't see any problems with it.

Just today I picked up 3 bags of the sandblasting sand and 4 bags of organic top soil for when I move and have to replace the substrate in my 90 that I can't move with substrate in and its layered dirt and sand


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## EH123 (Aug 4, 2013)

I use Caribsea Tahitian Moon sand.
Approx 1/2 inch thick, and looks great.
Fish seem to enjoy sifting through it.


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## YK. (Apr 2, 2014)

TMS is the most beautiful black sand I've seen but it's way too fine. You may struggle to hold plants down properly and it takes multiple rounds of rinsing before you can think about dumping into your tank. 

I recommend using this sand only to layer over an existing substrate though, like Eco Complete or gravel.


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## alstare2000 (Feb 16, 2013)

I have black gravel in one that seems to keep lot of stuff in between (ex smaller food that fish can't get to) it was ok with fish but now have shrimps in it.

In my 46gal I have put down Caribsea Tahitian Moon sand and it is beautiful even with the blue night led I can't stop looking at it and think how nice it looks.
Fish seem to enjoy it, was worried about cories but they seem to like going through it and searching for food and it doesn't hurt their barbells like the gravel in the other thank I had them did. 
Also colors do seem pop more in dark/black substrate.

Now I didn't plant anything in it yet, tank is too new but I have about 2" of it so it should be ok with time.


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## Jung (Mar 17, 2009)

I picked up a bag of black sand from Menagerie last week, you can give them a call if that is what you're looking for.


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## tranceaddict (Apr 3, 2011)

Went to rona, and picked up Horticultural sand. It's a mixture of play sand and very fine rock pieces. Easy for plant roots to move around. Better then gravel. 

Plus 4 buck for 18kg didn't hurt the wallet on my 188 gallon.


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## KeyLime (May 4, 2014)

tranceaddict said:


> Went to rona, and picked up Horticultural sand. It's a mixture of play sand and very fine rock pieces. Easy for plant roots to move around. Better then gravel.
> 
> Plus 4 buck for 18kg didn't hurt the wallet on my 188 gallon.


tranceaddict, that stuff looks good. I just googled it and they say that type of sand is free of salts and pH neutral. I think I'll get some.


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## KeyLime (May 4, 2014)

tranceaddict said:


> Went to rona, and picked up Horticultural sand. It's a mixture of play sand and very fine rock pieces. Easy for plant roots to move around. Better then gravel.
> 
> Plus 4 buck for 18kg didn't hurt the wallet on my 188 gallon.


Went to Rona and went looking round and round, asked all and nobody knew anything about it. Went to service desk and they located it under "All Purpose Sand", said it was the same SKU number, different name and bag. It's a nice darker brown colour than the other sands, and has some bigger grit in there. I will see if it looks like what you got once it's washed and in the light.

Yep, it looks like the same stuff. I really like the colour of it. I hated the white quartz sand I used to have.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

Black sand will make cherry shrimps have a redder coloration. White, or off-white, sand, on the other hand, looks more natural to me.

Tahitian Moonsand is also sharper than regular sand. While I've kept cories with TMS for about a year, I think they prefer a smoother sand.


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## KeyLime (May 4, 2014)

This stuff looks just like natural river sand in Ontario.


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## JNSN (Nov 4, 2013)

KeyLime said:


> This stuff looks just like natural river sand in Ontario.


Going to pick up some myself!


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## tranceaddict (Apr 3, 2011)

LOL that's exactly what happened to me in Rona too. walked around forever. then they told me to come back tomorrow. then i service desk-ed it too, found the skid outside (no thanks to rona employee's, and hauled it in myself.

Washing it was really long and tedious. you gotta be sure when washing it to keep going till the water your using to wash is clear. 

Cool enjoy. Hopefully your plants will root like crazy.


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## tranceaddict (Apr 3, 2011)

solarz said:


> Black sand will make cherry shrimps have a redder coloration. White, or off-white, sand, on the other hand, looks more natural to me.
> 
> Tahitian Moonsand is also sharper than regular sand. While I've kept cories with TMS for about a year, I think they prefer a smoother sand.


This is true, but I feel its more related to a back background. The sand is really only there for plants to cover the substrate. I'm not going to see the sand after months of plant growth.

And cories are awesome at keeping sand overturning so that algae doesn't build up. Gravels tend to get algae on it after time.


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## KeyLime (May 4, 2014)

tranceaddict said:


> LOL that's exactly what happened to me in Rona too. walked around forever. then they told me to come back tomorrow. then i service desk-ed it too, found the skid outside (no thanks to rona employee's, and hauled it in myself.
> 
> Washing it was really long and tedious. you gotta be sure when washing it to keep going till the water your using to wash is clear.
> 
> Cool enjoy. Hopefully your plants will root like crazy.


I gave a bit of it (enough for a 2.5 g) a rinse. 4 repeats of the paint bucket filled, settled, drained, and it was OK to go.

I put it on top of 3/4" of my worked-over Miracle Gro gardening soil (which turned out to be chicken poop and lots of wood pulp that I assiduously cleaned out and repeatedly washed with water changes for a month) and a layer of cat litter then sand. The water never clouded and I put some test plants in, just sunlight from a small east facing window.
Plants are booming compared to my EI dosed plants, which are draped in hair algae and not growing much.

Now I'm confident to use that combo in the main tank and let the plants grow for a moth or two before I put fish in it.
Tomorrow I rinse lots of sand.


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## KeyLime (May 4, 2014)

I used it in my 65 g. I laid a couple of inches of it unrinsed over 
1/ the well cleaned up Miracle Gro Organic Gardening Soil ( cleaned of wood chip till it was basically just chicken poop, then aged with multiple water changes) and then 
2/a layer of unrinsed kitty litter

So the top two layers were unrinsed. I filled with water, let it settle, siphoned the cloudy water into a garbage can, then siphoned it into the bathtub.

I repeated total of 3 times and it was clear. That was a lot less work and less sands down the drain than washing the stuff in the paint bucket.

What is left is clearly layered, with the multicolour gravelly sand covered with the fine silty lighter colour sand. It looks good where some mixing occurred and the gravelly sand shows up on top. I hope the silty layer sinks down because it's very fine and easily stirred up and the gravelly stuff looks great.

Right now though it looks so natural. It's a much better colour than almost white quartz sand and swimming pool sand.

I tried Canadian Tire for the second bag I had to buy, but their "All Purpose Sand " SKU is just play sand, it's not the same stuff and twice as expensive so I didn't buy. Went back and got more at Rona.

This is superbly coloured sand - just the ticket. About the same shade as brown sugar.
And I'm really happy to bury that chicken poop Miracle Gro stuff. It was horrid sewage when stirred up. Next time it will be pure worm castings for the bottom layer.


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

When I get back into it I think I will try and hunt down that sand as well. I used some black blasting sand... Looked really nice but never again. Scratches on the tank (duh..) and it would compact really badly. Also any bottom dwellers ended up with sores and infections. (Mostly banjo cats)
Hard scaled fish seemed to do well. 

Also mixed this with some pond soil from vandameres just to see how it would do. Nice soil. Just super loaded with tannins and all that stuff. Took a looooong time to settle. lol ....Had to take it out of my 90 before my move. Never again. D:


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## fatkinglet (May 8, 2010)

is this one ?

http://www.rona.ca/en/18-kg-horticultural-sand-76965080


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