Habitat - Indoor :: Welp, tiem to go buy some sand...

[MoreBloodWine]

Ok so no trouble with the aquarium rocks yet but its better safe than sorry. So now I guess I gotta go down to Home Depot and hope I can find a literally cheap small back of quickrete sand. Only problem I hope I dont have after adding the sand is if like some peoples turtles do the lil guy finds it delicious.

[megcornell]

I think that if I were going to add sand to the tank, I'd do a trial run first to make sure my turtle wasn't going to eat it.

Of course, I'm not sure how I'd do this, maybe add a small tupperware to the bottom of the tank filled with sand and watch the turtle's reaction. But, I'd hate to have rinsed all that sand and filled the tank only to have to take it back out.

[MoreBloodWine]

Well, with my current situation and the unexpected turtle present fro ma friend I have to use a 10g tank for like then ext 6-8 months til I get money for a larger tank. That aside the 10g will be easy to fill / empty with sand sicne it doesnt have a large flor space. I did find a 50lb back of quickrete fine grade sand for I think it was $4.

[MoreBloodWine]

Ok, so I just got done getting every last bit of gravel / gravel dust out and I noticed something that was kinda disturbing. All this debris came out of the gravel when I was moving it around and made the tank look not so much nasty but ugly lookin and I was thinking. Who's to say I wont have the same issues with the sand ? I know one benefit of sand is that all the debris and stuff would sit on top of the sand unlike gravel where it gets all underneath it but cant I have just as much "uglyness" with sand and debris that I can with gravel ?

Edit: I fugure before I go putting the sand in I'll leave it bare bottom for a bit hoping the filter can catch alot of the stuff that came out of the gravel.

[MoreBloodWine]

Welp, all the "gunk" has filtered out for the most part now I guess I just need to wash / rinse some of the sand before I put it in. I just hope I dont have the same issues with the sand like I did with the gravel. That seriously was nasty when I started swirling it around to get it all in one corner to get it out. I almost forgot how bad it was til today, least it wasnt as bad as when I kept fish lol.

[Chrisbarnett]

No you won't have those same issues.

Sand is much cleaner. I stir mine every few weeks, and after a vigorous stirring all I get is a little bit of cloudy water.

[MoreBloodWine]

My main thing about sand is just not wanting what I saw when I went to move the gravel to a corner. But I just got done washing it so now I gotta find a way to add it in without making a mess heh, BTW my camera phone will be workin again tomorrow so I can finally get pics of my baby up

I was and still am scared to a point because I wasnt ready for him/her but its funny how quick you fall in love with em.

[Reel Girl]

I put sand in my tank this past weekend - - I love it! Sheldon has not attempted to eat it - - it looks fab - - I am going to have to put "stir the sand" on maintenance calendar!

[ammonihah99]

Why stir the sand?

[Chrisbarnett]

because harmful gases can get trapped under the sand, and it should be stirred every few weeks to avoid this.

You'll notice air bubbles under the sand at the front of the tank, those are the trapped gases. they are fine for a few weeks, but they should be turned eventually.

[ammonihah99]

Gotcha.

[blueace23]

wow. thanks for the info... this helped me out too..lol. I have river rocks currently, but i'm thinking about switching and going with sand, because it took me forever to filter out all the debris that was trapped in between all the river rocks... i will keep a couple piles of river rocks for Squirt (on top of the sand) for him to move around and play with, but not all over the bottom. i didn't know you have to stir the sand every few weeks, so thanks for letting me know before i go and find some sand and do my change. Also, does anyone know the best type of sand and where to get it? I know there is Quikcrete (sp?) but should it be medium? fine? etc. and how much will i need for my tank? i wanted tan because it would look really sharp with the background that i have... ( i just did a total cleaning of my tank and all the rocks tonight, so i'd like to get the sand and convert it over sometime tomorrow. thanks.

[akaghettoraver]

Thats good stuff Chris I would have never thought about that. I can't wait to turn my setup from bare bottom to sand with a large center piece of bogwood. That will look hot! I'm gonna try plants but don't expect to have much success, I will see tho if they survive it will look so natural. Blueace you got any pics with the sand bottom? I love to see them

[blueace23]

here's squirt's new aquarium with his new substrate..... i love it by the way... so much better than the river rocks... cause now i can scoop out the food and waste that doesn't make it to the filter without having to take everything out of the aquarium. the excess food and waste just sits right on top of the sand and i can use a brine shrimp fishnet to get all the little particles out... I love it! so happy that i got sand and got rid of those rocks. i kept a couple to help keep the plants down and also piles for him to move around... the sand also gives him more room to swim verses the rocks... he has more space between the bottom of the aquarium and the top of the water. He's actually gotten more active and swims around a lot faster and a lot more... lol. Overall, sand is the way to go, at least in my opinion.