Habitat - Indoor :: Sand

[DavidY]

Yea, me too. I wonder if Jessica used the same kind of sand? Hers came out really messy.

[kmichael55]

It seems like the same color, although she did say she added it and then the water...so that may be the problem, if i do it I'll add like a cup at a time, maybe less and be patient....it's only about $5 a bag...very tempting

[kmichael55]

and here's the description:

Features
• Natural sand, no added dyes or chemicals
• Creates a natural and attractive aquatic environment
• Excellent substrate for aquatic turtles
• Stimulates natural behavior
• Also suitable as desert terrarium substrate

Description
Riverbed Sand is ideal for many types of aquatic turtles as it is their preferred substrate in the wild. Soft-shell turtles especially prefer the find sand for digging and burrowing. Other types of water and ground-dwelling reptiles, such as frogs and salamanders, will also benefit from Riverbed Sand because of its soft nature. A rough surface, such as gravel, can easily injure the skin tissue. Riverbed Sand is very fine and can be easily secreted when ingested, unlike gravel or pebbles which can cause indigestion. Created over time in an African river, Riverbed Sand is extremely fine and round making it an ideal and safe substrate for the aqua-terrarium.

[xsavingsaturdayx]

Yea, me too. I wonder if Jessica used the same kind of sand? Hers came out really messy.

She used some exo terra crap that was made for softshell turtles, thats all I remember. I think she might have done something wrong, something that caused her setup to turn out that way, maybe the way she added the sand or maybe her filter picked up too much of it I read that tieing panty hose around the filter intake is a good idea to prevent too much sand from coming into your filter.

[xsavingsaturdayx]

It seems like the same color, although she did say she added it and then the water...so that may be the problem, if i do it I'll add like a cup at a time, maybe less and be patient....it's only about $5 a bag...very tempting

Play sand is about 5$ to 10$ for about 50 pounds of the stuff. Go to any home depot, lowes, ace hardware etc. The only downfall is that you have to wash it, over, and over, and over, and over before adding it to your tank.

However I think that exo terra sand says you dont have to do that right? I read that you do have to wash it before use..regardless of what ever sand you use.

[kmichael55]

I meant the exo-terra sand is $5 a bag on reptilesupply.com at least, i wouldn't use play sand personally, seems too risky, I don't know, but I think I would wash it anyways, as a precaution

[xsavingsaturdayx]

I meant the exo-terra sand is $5 a bag on reptilesupply.com at least, i wouldn't use play sand personally, seems too risky, I don't know, but I think I would wash it anyways, as a precaution

Actually play sand is quite safe as long as you wash it realy good. It's what most people use and trust, i suggested it because I thought you might want to save a buck or two

[untsmurf]

Wouldn't you have the same worry you'd have with using gravel, that the turts could eat it and get impacted?

[DavidY]

As long as the sand grains are rounded and not too large or jagged, it should pass through their digestive tract easily. There's a lot of controversy about the calci-sand on all the reptile forums about how it causes impaction, but it's made of calcium carbonate which is the same substance that we use to dust feeder crickets with, so i don't know.

The play sand sold at the big hardware chains is sterilized and sifted for impurities. There used to be a special play sand called SouthDown Play Sand that was collected from the Carribean and was primarily a calcium carbonate substance. Saltwater Reef aquarists used it in their reef tanks and it was very stable and clean (after rinsing the dust several times first). I'm not sure if it's available anymore though. But the silica sand that's used for play sand should be safe for freshwater aquariums.

I wonder if Jessica got a bad batch of river sand that had too many fine particles in it. I suppose any bags at the bottom of a shipping container would get more pulverized and contain more dust. If I use the river sand I will still wash it out thoroughly before adding it to my tank.

[erwynn]

I just got some sand for our aquarium and I found it works great. It didn't mess up the water, and even though our turtle loves digging in it, it settles in seconds. We got playsand from toysrus for 6.99 for 50 lbs. I washed it outside in a bucket to clean it, but it wasn't barely dirty, cause I think it comes cleaned, I rinsed it anyways though to be safe.

I found what works for putting it in the tank is to put the sand in first, then arrange your rocks/decorations/etc, and then you put a bowl in the middle of the aquarium. Then you pour your water into the aquarium directly into the bowl. That way it'll hit the bowl, overflow, and fill your tank without disturbing the substrate.

[Skadica]

I like the way the sand looks, and it is more like what the turtles would live in, in the wild.

[DavidY]

I think I'll make a trip to Toys R Us today.

[kenaz]

I put sand in my tank about a week ago and i think it looks great. just need to wash it good befor putting it in the tank. The sand i used is the play sand from HD. Here is a link to some pics.

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewt ... c&start=15

[DavidY]

Cool, thanks for the update, Kenaz. Looks really good especially with your Egyptian theme! I've used the HD play sand before for my bearded dragon enclosures so I'll try to pick up some more next time I'm out there.

[Skadica]

With my next tank I plan to use the same sand that you find in a sand filter for pools, it is heavier than playsand, and should already be washed some. I wish I would have kept that sand when I got a new filter for my pool.