What sand would you use if you werent planting?

[Scapexghost]

The tank will have plants, but not in the substrate. Whats a pleasant looking cheap sand that allows for digging?

[JettsPapa]

It depends on which color you want.  I have either pool filter sand (which needs little to no rinsing) or Black Diamond sandblasting sand (which needs quite a bit) in all of my tanks.  Both are relatively inexpensive.  I do have plants, but it doesn't matter.  If you want a light color you can use play sand from one of the big box home improvement stores, which will be even less expensive than pool filter sand, but like the sandblasting sand it will need quite a bit of rinsing.  I'm at the position in life where I will spend a few dollars to save some work.

Speaking of pool filter sand and big box home improvement stores, I saw some pool filter sand at one of those stores.  It said it had some special additive to make it better, but didn't elaborate on it.  The brand name was Clorox, so I decided that mayyyyybe I didn't want to try putting it in a fish tank.  I get mine from swimming pool supply stores, and only get pure sand.

[knee]

Pool filter sand from ace hardware has a nice color to it. 

[T. Payne]

I like to use pool filter sand. Cheap and clean.

[Odd Duck]

I would still use either pool filter sand (PFS) or black blasting sand (BDBS - black diamond blasting sand) depending on what color I wanted.  You can get sand in other colors but you’ll usually pay 3-10 times the price per pound.  I get PFS and BDBS for about $10.00 US per 50 lbs.  I would caution against play sand since it is very fine and dusty.  You will lose about half of it trying to wash it so the cost is literally a wash (see what I did there?) plus it’s more prone to compaction in the tank unless you have fish or snails that will churn it for you.

You might be able to find sand of different colors from local sand and gravel companies (if you can get them to sell it in less than a cubic yard), but it would need extensive rinsing and need a strong magnet run through it many time before using it in a tank to be safe.  You could also mix some more expensive “aquarium” sand with cheap sand to adjust the color if you just wanted a slightly different effect - more red, darker brown, lighter, etc.  Most PFS is a light tan but it’s got some mixed colors in it so it would be easy to mix a bit of different colored sand to achieve a slightly different look.  Even the BDBS has a little mix of color in the black.

I’ve got a closeup of some BDBS when I was trying to take pics of some tiny cory fry.  I’ll link it.  Last pic is a terrible pic I just took of the PFS I get in my area but you can get an idea of the color mix.  It is extremely hard to get the phone to focus on the sand with nearly constant photobombs from the angels.  😆 🤦🏻‍♀️ 🤷🏻‍♀️ 

 

[BlueLineAquaticsSC]

I use this sand mix in all my tanks, 1/4 black diamond, 3/4 all purpose sand and then some small gravel throw in as well. I’ve heard a lot of good things about pool filter sand and i would probably try that next time because both the sands I use require a lot of washing, but $5 per 50lbs is a good deal when you want 250lbs

Edited January 5, 2023 by BlueLineAquaticsSC

[Dutchaj]

Another for pool filter sand, have used it in a lot of tanks.  Often didn’t even need rinsing. But my most recent tank needed a decent rinsing (always use Mystic White II I think it’s called)

[nabokovfan87]

On 1/4/2023 at 6:48 AM, Scapexghost said:

The tank will have plants, but not in the substrate. Whats a pleasant looking cheap sand that allows for digging?

Caribsea crystal river.