Sand?

[ChelseaK]

Real quick question, where do you get good aquarium sand?

[Malvolti]

Most people get it at home depot in big bags labelled Play Sand. Just rinse it really well and make sure the bag isn't wet and doesn't have ANY holes in it. But that's true of any sand.

[Littlebittyfish]

My 5g i used carribean naturals sand from petco. My 10g I used playsand.Playsand just needs to be rinsed a bit longer.

[ohstephyy]

I got some nice black carribean sand from petsmart. It's really cheap (got a medium sized bag for 5 bucks) and when i put it in the tank, I just swish it around and reuse it.

If it gets really dirty, I just pour in some more... There's lots.

[PeggyJ]

Pardon my ignorance, but how do you keep the sand clean? Can you vacuum it like gravel, or do you just replace it?

[Littlebittyfish]

Originally Posted by PeggyJ

Pardon my ignorance, but how do you keep the sand clean? Can you vacuum it like gravel, or do you just replace it?

IMO
It is easier to keep cleaner than gravel. Food and poo kind of fall in between the gravel and get stuck there, but any debris that falls on top of the sand kind of just sits on top which makes it pretty easy to get out of there. I usually hover my airline tubing and inch or two away from the sand and it picks up whatever is laying on top of the sand with minimum sand getting removed.

[PeggyJ]

Thanks... I may try some one day :)

[ChelseaK]

Thanks much! I'll try the play sand from home depot!