Can you use white sand in cichlid tanks instead of white calcium rocks?
If so what sort and where would be the best to get it from?
Can someone let me know of the pros and cons of doing this?
i dont see why u cant, only problem with sand is that if you have an internal filter the fine sand particles could get in the motor and wreck it, also the fined the substrate the more visible and poo and the more it stands out i found, but i have 1mm stuff and its fine so far.....
Should be fine...just make sure its not bricklayers sand...
I use sand in 90% of my tanks as it looks good, and is very easy to clean as you only have to siphon the top of the substance... :D
The use of calcium rocks in cichlid tanks is usually for buffering the water (alkalinity /hardness) for rift lake cichlids.
White sand may or may not buffer the water....you can get calcium cabonate sand (it's white)that will buffer the water.
I use a fine sand in my shellie tanks....but it's grey/black, it does buffer the water, and it is easy for the shellies to dig in...but it is no deeper than 50mm to avoid build up of anerobic bacteria.
I like it because it doesn't create a lot of glare and wash out the natural colour of my fish which I find a white substrate tends to do.
I use white sand in a few of my shellie tanks although I used to have it in all of them and it works well and the fish love it. If your near Strathpine there is a landscaping yard just across from the Aussie Pets joint that has it for $6 for 40kg bag from memory. Needs to be washed really well and you'll lose a heap in the process but for that price who's complaining. The stuff I get doesn't buffer the water from memory so need to mix with calcium carbonate, crushed marble or similar. I've got some in a 1ft high tank with a canister filter that has a prefilter over the intake to stop the fine stuff getting in and damaging the pump but only found this to be a problem for the first week while it settled down properly. Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Bryce.
Yeah white sand is perfectly fine I have used the silversand they use for birds without any problems.
If I was to use white sand what would be the best and /or cheapest way
to buffer the water?
Shellgrit I use fine shellgrit from the produce store designed for birds I place it in a stocking then in the filter or mix it in the substrate. It is betyween 15 and 20 dollars for 25 kg
so u want acidic water??
wat ph u after??
Yeah, the tank is normally sitting steady around 7.8.
so u want to lower the ph??
I didn't notice any mention of lowering the pH other than you there was mention of buffering. Buffering is used to Stablise pH (both acitic and alkaline). Craig did ask if he could use sand instead of Calcium carb for cichlids, so one would assume he is keeping Africans and therefore is after a high pH
Matt
well i didnt know that, i thought buffer lowered or raises the ph to suit the stanrdards of water from differ lakes etc.....
different buffers for acid than alkaline, in simple terms if you were to but some acid into a tank it would lower the pH but it wouldn't last long. If you added an acidic buffer the buffer has the ablity to release the acid as required to keep the pH low. Calcium Carb is alkaline so it broken down by acids, this process is what stabilises the pH high than neutral, that is why people use it in African tanks (Coral has the same effect)
Matt
well i use cruched marble to raise the ph, does a good job too
I have moved well away from calcium carbonate and now use marble chips as a way of buffering my water. Mainly due to being heavy enough not to lose any whilst gravel cleaning but light enough to still clean properly, and most importantly it still stays a nice clean white colour and doesn't get the dirty look that I have found that calcium carbonate does. Especially good for display tanks. Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Bryce.
sry for Q'ing but isnt marble a calcium carbonate....i sure though it was and have been told by many aquarists!
you are right nick
yup, i did think so, cause i would be annoyed if it wasnt cause thats the whole reason i bought my bag of crushed marble
I have never heard of marble chips! You guys say that it is a calcium carb? Whats the difference? Is it smaller?
cheers
its just crushed marble, im sure different manufacturers cruch it to different sizes
Im chasing a reasonably fine gravel. I think sand might have to do.
my cruched marble is about 1mm in size
What is white coral sand?
no, the stuff i use....crushed marble is no more then 1mm in size....sand is like 0.1mm or something, well depends wat sand i spose
I have a 3x2x18
And I have red garnet
It looks like red sand its easy to clean and does not get carried to fair up the tube when cleaning
and I'm shore you can get it in white glass
Both are used for sand blasting and is about $30 for 25kgs
So have a look round
Andrew
Where did you get your red garnet from? How does it look roo?
i think he means granit.......do u roo, if it was red wouldnt it leak into the water, or is the red colour all natural?
It's reddish sand thats mined from Straddie. It's heavier than white and river bed sand hence not losing any when you do a gravel clean. It doesn't leach colouring into the water which is a bonus. That and it looks really good in display tanks. Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Bryce.
Has anyone got any pics of a tank with this red granite and where have you guys purchased it?
It's actually called GARNET sand. May be why you were confused about staining the water.
There is a place near the airport on the northern side of the Gateway Bridge that sells it. I was looking for stuff ages ago and they have it in their yard. I think it was about $25 for 25kg's but it may have gone up. It's used for sandblasting as was stated but was told by many a sandblaster that they aren't supposed to sell it and would have to go through a supplier. I can't find their number but shouldn't be hard to find it in the Yellow Pages. Once you find out prices could you please let me know as I'll be after some in the near future. Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Bryce.