How do you feel about sand?

[IonBaller07]

Yah, a bazillilion sounds like it would be enough. I also think the vacum should work because I cant see people using turkey basters on big 200g tanks.

[LaniBaby]

LOL. that's a really good point, Ion. Actually, i might PAY to see someone cleaning a 200 g tank with a turkey baster. ;)

[whitedevil]

Originally Posted by LaniBaby

the guy at the store said a vacuum may suck it up but that a turkey baster would work. i'm not sure either, though, since i've heard with some practice, a vacuum works just fine with the right technique.

i've rinsed this tahitian moon sand a bazillion times. i hope it's enough!! i'll be redoing crumb's whole tank tomorrow morning. i'm just waiting for my 3rd gallon of water to age a little and warm up.

its easy to clean, get the normal gravel vac and a hair pik, set the depth of your sand then add 1" for suction clearance. tape the pik to the vacuum and suck away, if you reclaim your water like I do then you can keep any sand you do suck up.

it takes alot less time then cleaning gravel.

[LaniBaby]

excellent. thank you. i'll keep that in mind. It's being installed in the tank tomorrow! so i'll have a few days to figure out the vacuuming. :)

[LaniBaby]

actually, one more question: do i need to boil this sand before i put it in the tank? i've heard i should and i've heard i don't need to. i'm not sure which is the best advice.

[LaniBaby]

So here's my experience so far:
the sand was very heavy. It definitely does not reflect light so the tank looks a little darker. I wanted white but when I checked out the white sand from the same company, it was literally like flour. I thought that might be too fine. However, I'd heard this tahitian moon was quite sharp and it was a bit while dry but when i added water, i was comfortable running my hands through it without any issue. I rinsed it a bunch first and then i soaked it for about 2 minutes in boiled water ( i boiled it in a pot, then poured it over the sand and stirred.) it's in the tank now and i'm waiting for the heat to go up before I put crumb back in. I woke up at 3 am so worried i was going to kill little Crumb!! I'm a bit nervous... update to follow.

[whitedevil]

No boiling requried, put the 20#'s ina bucket and turn the hose on, thats about it, keep stirring till tis not cloudy and wahla tank sand.

[onekatietwo]

Thanks for asking this, Lani. And thanks for info from all of you! I was very curious as well. I might go with sand after I move.

[fishyinpa]

Cool! Good luck with your sand. Vaccuming sand isnt bad. I just swish the vac around the top,a lil ways off to not suck up too much. Sucks up the waste. You will suck up some sand but not awhole lot. Plus ya can always put it back.

[LaniBaby]

i noticed today when crumb pooped. it stayed right on top! I used a turkey baster and voila! no sand sucked up, just offensive water-clouding waste. I already feel like this will be a much cleaner way to keep the tank!