Post by amanichen on Jan 26, 2005 12:37:30 GMT -5
Minaku said:
Amanichen, what sort of sand and from where would you suggest for substrate usage? (I'm going to try to hit up the fish store tonight to buy meds, and maybe a new fish 
especially since we're getting a foot of snow tomorrow morning!)There's a couple different types of sand you can get. Most of them are silicon-based, and are the easiest to get ahold of (relatively cheap.) Play sand, from say Home Depot, works well enough, but the problem comes with washing it -- you're going to spend lots of time rinsing it.
There's also aragonite based sand, which is mainly calcium carbonate. It's better for marine tanks, and tanks which require hard water (cichlids.) There is also "crushed coral," which isn't sand, per say but is similar to aragonite.
Volcanic sand (usually black) is also another option, but it can be expensive.
There are also minerals called fluorite and laterite, which while not being true sands, are useful in planted tanks (they release nutrients for the plants.)
The advantages to using sand (instead of something like gravel) are:
1. debris and waste stays on top, and is easily vacuumed off. You don't have to dig deep in order to get it clean.
2. the substrate is less damaging to the fins of fish such as bettas. It also allows snails (and fish) that burrow to have an easier time burrowing.
3. you generally need a much shallower sand bed than gravel bed, which reduces the weight of the tank, and allows for more water volume in the tank.
4. plants that send out delicate roots will have an easier time rooting in sand than gravel.
5. you may notice a bit more diatom growth ("brown algae") when a tank is still being established. Diatoms use silicon to build their shells.
If you're looking to go very cheap, get a silicon based sand. Look for one that has round grains, rather than jagged grains, and a medium grain size (somewhere between the shoreline, and the desert.) You can get a 50lb bag at home center for only a few dollars, or you could go to a fish store, and get a pre-cleaned bag of somewhat more polished sand. And, obviously, the one at the pet store will cost more, but will have been somewhat prepared beforehand.
When you use sand, you'll want to be aware of the following:
1. making a sand bed too deep can cause anaerobic bacteria to grow inside of it. While this is desired in some situations, it is not desired in others. Generally, in freshwater tanks, you need only a very thin layer of sand for a substrate (about 1/4th of what you would use in gravel.)
2. rinse rinse rinse! if you think you've rinsed enough you really haven't.
3. If you previously used pea-gravel, or a non-coated substrate, then it was most likely helping to buffer the pH in the tank. With sand, this buffering capacity will not be there, and you may have to boost the kH of your water.
Of course, not all of these things will be a concern if you're keeping a betta in a small tank.
Here's a little summary of substrates:
www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/substrat.htm
