pool filter sand for a substrate?

[KittenFishMom]

I'm thinking about using pool filter sand for a substrate in my 55 gallon tank. I have a bunch of questions.

Would love to know the pros and cons of pool filter sand. You can point me to threads where they have been covered.

Do I need to wash it before I put it in the tank?

How deep should it be on average and at it it's deepest places? I want to have some bottom glass exposed for a pond lit from under the glass. If I can find them, I might use some glass paperweights that stick out above the sand. or maybe vases or beakers. 

Do I need to add anything to the sand before I put it in the tank? I'm thinking about putting some organic soil in net bags under the deeper areas.

All thoughts,  experience and advice welcome.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I use pool filter sand. It's nice because when I vacuum the tank I can go into the sand a little bit to freshen it up and not too much comes up in the siphon. It's a heavier sand compared to some.  I rinsed it in the bottle a bunch of times, just pouring off the dust each time and then added it using the mess free method.

 

[KittenFishMom]

I forgot to ask... How much will I need for a 55 gallon tank?

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Hmm, I think I used 20 lbs for a 10 gallon tank, and that gave me a 1" layer. 

Lots of people put dirt or plant-friendly substrate under the sand.  In my case, I have one tank w/ bare bottom that I put the sand in, but my intention was just to use water column feeding plants like anubias and java fern.

In my 29 gallon I put a 2" layer of sand on top of a layer of dirty gravel so the plant roots could reach down and feed off the stuff in the gravel. The space between the gravel also provided space for the plants roots to grow.  I think I put 30 lbs of sand in there to create that layer because I had a 50 lb bag of sand.  About 2/5 of the bag was left after I finished the 29 gallon project.

[Patrick_G]

It’s user friendly stuff. I give mine a good rinse in a clean garbage can before use. How much you need is going to depend on how you’re scaping the tank, but one bag should be more than enough for a 55g, especially if you’re using lots of rock and other hardscape. I think it works well with a layer of aquasoil underneath, and  the organic soil should work well too. 

[KittenFishMom]

I was thinking about putting the soil in knee high stocking with a knot in the end then covering the knee high with sand.  I think the roots will be able to get in easily, but I think trying to move a plant would be impossible. What size netting do others use for hidden soil?

[JettsPapa]

Hello,

I have several tanks with pool filter sand substrate, and wouldn't hesitate to do it again.  Most of those are just pool filter sand, but the last one I set up (a standard 20 gallon) I started with 1" of dry cow manure at the bottom, then 1" of potting soil, and then topped it with 2" of pool filter sand.  As you might expect, I had bubbles coming up through the sand for weeks, but I had it stocked with guppies almost immediately and it didn't seem to bother them.  Eventually they stopped.

If you do something similar, be very careful when first adding water (I wasn't careful enough).

I've used two different brands, all bought at swimming pool supply stores, so it may be of higher quality than what you find in the big box home improvement stores.  I didn't rinse either one.  One didn't cloud the water at all, and the other one did just a little bit.  It was cleared up by the next day, so wasn't enough that I'd bother with rinsing in the future.

I saw some at one of the home improvement stores a few years ago.  The label said it had some special additive to make it work better, without giving any details on this additive.  The brand name was Clorox, so as you might imagine I gave that a hard pass.

[Corbidorbidoodle]

I've done several tanks with the $8 bag of Quickrete pool filter sand from Lowe's. I really like that stuff. It looks really nice and seems to be fairly water permeable. You gotta rinse it out a lot, but that's not a big deal. Either do before in a bucket, or just do several water changes once it's set up.

I have had some trouble growing some plants, but I'm not sure if it's the sand or something else. I'm experimenting with pea gravel now to see if it's any better.

But it certainly didn't kill any plants. And the livestock have no problem with it at all.

Here it is in a 6.5 gal beta tank...