White Sand?

[Shrimpsta]

Anyone kept white sand in their tank over a year without getting it dirty?

[Ilikebutterflies]

I'm going on 6 months currently but have used sand successfully in the past and kept it clean for several years...adding more occasionally of course. I have made myself a super slender vacuum(that I plan on selling in the classifieds since it works so well for bettas in sand tanks specifically) that I can spot clean my sand with. I have found the finer sand stays cleaner better but I have both coarse and fine and neither is dirty enough to replace. About once a month I stir the sand up and allow it to settle for a day then I can skim most of the dark matter right off the top with my vacuum without removing too much sand.

The real trick is getting all that good bacteria to set up in the sand to make sure everything gets broken down quickly.

[babystarz]

I use Quikrete Fine Grain sand in a lot of my NPT's and I love it. It can't really get dirty as the particles are so small, and whenever dead plant bits get into it the snails eventually come along and clean it up :) Since the grains are tiny you do need to put a cup or plate down on the sand and pour water into it when doing changes or it'll fly everywhere, but it also settles back down immediately so it's really nice to deal with in that regard. I don't bother washing it before I use it in my tanks, since it comes pre-washed.

[aokashi]

im trying to speed up mines dirtifying process XD my sand is too blinding white right now D:

[Fawnleaf]

Sand is fantastic! I have had very fine, white sand for over a year now. It isn't even dirty! It's awesome because unlike gravel, where all the dirt falls through the cracks and algae grows in the crevices, the dirt sits on the surface of the sand just waiting to be sucked up quickly, and the sand is so fine that algae never grows on it. In conclusion, sand is the best substrate I have ever tried! I would really reccomend it!