Tropical Fish Keeping banner

Aquarium sand or play sand?

75K views 51 replies 15 participants last post by  Justkindoflovefish 
#1 ·
I went to the store to grab a few bags of play sand today. The employee over heard me talking to my friend about my plans for the sand and he stated that play sand is not suggested for fish tanks because it releases a chemical that will harm the fish as well as dirt. He said his 80 gallon freshwater tank was all killed off shortly after adding sand to his.

So, this scared me enough to hold off buying any before asking this question here. So, can I use play sand or is there a special kind? Its $7 a 20kg bag of play sand vs $25 for 9kg bag of "Aquarium sand" at petsmart. I cant afford to do sand in all my tanks unless I can use play sand...
 
#2 ·
What store was this, and what was the brand of play sand?

I use Quikrete Play Sand which is available in Canada from Home Depot and Lowe's [maybe other places too, haven't looked]. It is safe. One of our members even contacted the company about using it in an aquarium and the reply left no doubt about the purity of this product. I have it in five of my tanks.

Byron.
 
#4 · (Edited)
As long as you rinse it well before using it, it would be fine. You even have to rinse "aquarium" sand a certain amount to get rid of the dust so it's no stretch to rinse the playsand more. $5 for 18kg at home hardware locally.

Check the "sand, bacteria, gravel" thread, (sorry, the link fairy in on break right now so you'll have to go look it up) there is a close up picture of some of the sand there, all it ends up being is little rocks. The aquarium sand is probably more uniform in colour and perhaps in grain sizes.t, it's in such small quan

Oh, the Quickrete rep sent an outline of the process they go through to clean the equipment before running playsand for sale through it and the testing that they do to make sure it is clean.

Jeff.
 
#5 ·
I also want to add that even if a certain substrate is completely clean, it may still be a problem for certain fish such as corydoras if they particles are too sharp because they'll eventually sand down the barbels (or something like that, been a long time since I looked into that stuff). I don't believe play sand had that problem, but like I said, I don't really recollect.
 
#6 ·
This is a very important point. The Quikrete Play Sand is fine, my wild-caught corys have no issues. I had to move some corys from another tank with Flourite substrate because of the sharpness, and they have recovered nicely with the sand.
 
#8 ·
+1 to all the comments. I use Lowes play sand and have had zero problems., other than showing the "poo" a little too well on the light surface! Going to use my old pool filter sand too once I finally change it out.
 
#10 ·
I have used Quikrete Play Sand myself in 2 FW tanks(ty Byron for that tip again lol) not only did it save me money but is safe for fish and plants alike. i run 65lb in my 60g and 25lb in my 20g as said ALWAYS clean it.... i put it in a 5g homedpot bucket and let water slowly run through it for a hour :)
 
#11 ·
I had the same issue when I started switching to sand for my tanks. In my research, i honestly found no reason play sand could not be used. BEACH SAND, cannot be used as it often has too much calcium in it, but play sand is fine.

I ended up with aquarium sand though because it comes in smaller bags and I didn't have enough tanks to utilize 40lbs of sand (smallest my home depot had). This might be a concern for you if you do not have many tanks or large tanks to fully use the sand and might eliminate your options.
 
#13 ·
#16 ·
I couldnt find this sand

QUIKRETE 25KG Playsand - Lowe's Canada

So was going to use King Play Sand. The bag said Dried Beach sand on it. From another forum I read they did the vinegar test and it bubbled so they assumed it was argronite based. Is this sand okay??

KPM Industries Ltd >> Product Catalogue >> Aggregates Blocks

Its the second one on this link. I seem to only be able to find this one here
I would not myself use any "Beach" sand, just to be safe. You don't want to get an aquarium set up only to find you have to remove the entire substrate.

Do you have a Home Depot near you? If Lowe's don't carry Quikrete Play Sand, HD does.
 
#14 ·
If it's arognite based I'd imagine you should avoid it. This is basically what marine sand is.... and its not for FW except in certain set ups. African cichlids? Think it's them.
 
#15 ·
It's listed as a silica quartz sand, it should be fine. Perhaps the fizzy vinegar test was done prior to cleaning it?

When they say beach sand they are talking about lake sand not ocean beach sand which would be full of shell particles and be an issue with the water chemistry.

Jeff.
 
#17 ·
I use play sand in all my fw and salt tanks since the late '70's.

I also let it set a week for the plants to get extabished.

There used to be a silica free tropical play sand that used to say right on the bag not fit for aquarium use. IMHO that referred to FW tank as the sand was calcium carbonate which woule raise the PH. But it was actually much sought after for marine tanks 3-5 years ago when deep sand beds were all the rage.

so to me as long as you let the tank get established with thriving plants (or macro algaes in saltwater) things will be just fine.

I would highly recommend you not use "live sand" which is for saltwater tanks.

my .02
 
#18 · (Edited)
There used to be a silica free tropical play sand that used to say right on the bag not fit for aquarium use.
Why the heck would a "silica" free sand make any difference to sand boxes and the like, I get why you wouldn't use silica free in a FW tank.

To clarify the OP's sand choices, the one posted is beach sand but it states lake sand in the information and silica quartz in the ingredients. Calling it beach sand makes it suitable for use in making sand castles and stuff... I think it even said that.

Individually those terms, lake sand and silica quartz, would assure me that the sand is suitable for the aquarium as lake sand is a quartz based sand and silica quartz (redundant term to be honest) is an inert material for any of our purposes.

At least our cleaning process doesn't get this involved, or at least we can stop after the first sentence:

Cleaning the quartz grains and increasing silica content is achieved by washing to remove clay minerals and scrubbing by attrition between particles. Production of the optimum size
distribution is achieved by screening to remove unwanted coarse particles and classification in an upward current of water to remove unwanted fine material. Quartz grains are often iron
stained and the staining may be removed or reduced by chemical reaction involving sulphuric acid at different temperatures. Impurities present as separate mineral particles may be removed by various processes
including gravity separation, froth flotation and magnetic separation. For the highest purity, for electronics applications, extra cleaning with aggressive acids such as hydrofluoric acid
combined with thermal shock may be necessary.

Jeff.
 
#20 · (Edited)
Okay. Home Depot carries one on the floor called "For Well Material Inc"....never heard of it. They dont take anything else out until April so ill take my business elsewhere

Lowes has two types of Quickrete sand in. One is called "All purpose sand" and the other is "Play Sand"

I assume the play sand is the one I should buy? $7.18 for a 44lb bag is pretty good. I will grab 2-3 plus a bucket to clean it in as my buckets are to small. I know I need to remove fish but how long do the fish need to be removed for? I was hoping if I go careful to not stir the sand up that I could only house them temp. in large Rubbermaids for no more then a few hours (with a heater and filter) in place plus some gravel and plants. I do not have any temp tanks I can put them in.

Im hoping 2-3 bags will be enough but please give me your opinion im aiming for 1.5-2 inches on the bottom of the two larger tanks and 1 -1.5 inches on the bottom. I have;

35 Gallon tank
38 gallon tank
Two 5.5 gallon tanks
Two 2.5 gallons tanks (For the Bettas)

Also, how low can my filter intake tube be? The 2.5 gallons are almost touching the gravel and the ones in the larger tanks are about 6 inches from the bottom.
 
#21 ·
Okay. Home Depot carries one on the floor called "For Well Material Inc"....never heard of it. They dont take anything else out until April so ill take my business elsewhere

Lowes has two types of Quickrete sand in. One is called "All purpose sand" and the other is "Play Sand"

I assume the play sand is the one I should buy? $7.18 for a 44lb bag is pretty good. I will grab 2-3 plus a bucket to clean it in as my buckets are to small
Yes. When they do the sand packaging they run the sand through the equipment after having cleaned it from the concrete products and the first run goes into mortar sand. The next run might be the general purpose stuff and the last run is the playsand only after the testing shows no concrete stuff in the sand.

Definitely always buy the play sand.

Jeff.
 
#22 ·
Well, as far as how much sand you need, I used 100lbs of sand for my 75 gallon. I have maybe 1-2" deep bed.

Your filter intake shouldn't be so close to the sand. It will suck up the sand and possibly destroy your filter. You can either place a large smooth rock inbetween the filter and the sand or fit the intake tube right inside a shot glass.

I've seen videos of people adding sand to their aquariums with their fish in the tank. My betta was also in his 5.5 for about 12-24 hrs while his sand settle. He was not a happy camera sitting in his cup for the 1st 12 hrs.
 
#23 ·
In my experience, the cloudiness doesn't affect fish.

I'd remove the fish and their heater, remove the gravel, turn off the filter, add the washed sand, turn the filter back on, and return the fish. My fish were removed for less than an hour, and not a sngle loss.

Thats how I did it- I dont know if its perfect, but I had no problems.

Yes, use play sand.

When you think its washed enough and the water is clear, you're half done. Keep washing.
 
#24 ·
When you think its washed enough and the water is clear, you're half done. Keep washing.
I wish my husband would of listened to that. :p
But I guess a tank cloudy for 3 days wasn't too bad.
 
#25 ·
Yeah I figured I would just use my smaller bucket and rinse a small amount of sand so that way I can assure its clean. May take 6 buckets of sand for the two larger tanks but I would rather it be really clean then risk losing fish. I can pack it down and add the water slow so I dont stir up as much sand.
 
#27 ·
Two bags will give you sufficient for all the tanks previously listed. You don't want more than 2 inches overall depth.

I found that washing small amounts is easier. I place no more than 3 measuring cups of sand in a pail, then rinse that about 6-7 times. "Rinse" means filling the pail with water, swishing around the sand, then tipping gently so the sand itself does not come out. By the 6th rinse you will be able to see the sand at the bottom of the pail full of water, before swishing it around. You can do more rinses, with a smaller tank that is not so bad; I last did my 115g which had two full bags of sand which was a lot of work.

Byron.
 
#26 ·
When i did sand in my tanks I had a packet of this de-clouder chemical. It basically bonded up the finest particles clouding up my tank to make them bigger and then my filter sucked it all up and I had clear water within 2 hours. I did a 50% water change before adding fish and haven't had anything bad happen. Not sure what the declouder thing is called but you should be able to find it in stores or similar products in stores.
 
#37 ·
How do I wash the sand inside? Its freezing cold out side right now and my outside water source is turned off so the pipes dont freeze. Can I do it in a laundry tub and just pour down the drain?

Also when adding water to my tank how do I keep the sand from getting stirred up to much?
 
#38 ·
Clean it inside......open your door,walk outside, pour out :)
Better off not putting it in your drain...you dont want to clog it etc.

To prevent stirring......do it SLOWLY. I used an eheim water pump that i put on its lowest setting and literally just trickled the water in slowly. if you aren't lazy like me and didnt buy a pump, well, i'd go with the old pour it onto a plate method. The key here again though is SLOWLY. Basically, the slower the better, if you rush this at all, as with the cleaning, you are going to end up with a messy tank. Take your time and you'll be a happy puppy.
(Like me - cos its snowing outside, in the UK, where i live..never happens!)
 
#39 · (Edited)
There is really no way of me doing this outside.....even dumping the pale outside. I have to go up a huge flight of tile stairs to get outside. I may just try to do it inside and see how it goes if not ill see about hooking the hoses up outside for a couple hours and stand out there like a moron in -10 weather so all my neighbours can laugh :-D

ETA- Brilliant idea! Im going to unhook the outside hose from the wheel thing that winds it up and feed it through the basement laundry room window and hook it up to that faucet and run warm water through while I stand outside like a moron rinsing the sand on the back grass in a bucket while my neighbours watch from the comfort of their heated house lol. I will also refill the tanks like that as well.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top