SugarBassJoe Posted January 22, 2023 Share Posted January 22, 2023 Looking for a larger grain sand rather than the fine grain stuff, no luck yet. Hoping for something that will work better for plant, but still be ok for sand sifters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennie Posted January 22, 2023 Share Posted January 22, 2023 (edited) I think having a coarser/plant friendly substrate on bottom and sand on top sounds like a good idea if you wanna keep root feeder plants! MD Fish tank always keep his tanks that way as he likes the look of sand. He uses aquasoil on the bottom and top it with sand. He sometimes put those media in bags to make sure they dont mix with other layers. You may find an example in the video below. I tagged the related part for you :)! P.S: He usually does this but I've never tried the bags myself, I just wanted to share it to give you an idea! Here is the video: Edited January 22, 2023 by Lennie 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryanisag Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 I'm also looking for larger sand than the fine stuff. I'm starting to think I'm going to have to go to the beach for it. I know of a beach with really large grains of sand but it's a long ways from me. Good luck 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RennjiDK Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 On 1/22/2023 at 1:00 PM, SugarBassJoe said: Looking for a larger grain sand rather than the fine grain stuff, no luck yet. Hoping for something that will work better for plant, but still be ok for sand sifters On 1/22/2023 at 7:29 PM, bryanisag said: I'm also looking for larger sand than the fine stuff. I'm starting to think I'm going to have to go to the beach for it. I know of a beach with really large grains of sand but it's a long ways from me. Good luck Caribsea special grade is the largest grain size you can find in sand. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SugarBassJoe Posted January 23, 2023 Author Share Posted January 23, 2023 On 1/22/2023 at 4:37 PM, RennjiDK said: Caribsea special grade is the largest grain size you can find in sand. Is there a freshwater version? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rube_Goldfish Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 I've never used it but CaribSea Peace River looked good in the bag in the store shelf, anyway. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 On 1/22/2023 at 10:00 AM, SugarBassJoe said: Looking for a larger grain sand rather than the fine grain stuff, no luck yet. Hoping for something that will work better for plant, but still be ok for sand sifters Caribsea Crystal river specifically is a larger grain size. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SugarBassJoe Posted January 23, 2023 Author Share Posted January 23, 2023 Anyone know if play sand or the like is a better option? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RennjiDK Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 On 1/22/2023 at 8:10 PM, SugarBassJoe said: Is there a freshwater version? Yes, you just rinse it in tap water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLFishChik Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 On 1/22/2023 at 7:29 PM, bryanisag said: I'm also looking for larger sand than the fine stuff. I'm starting to think I'm going to have to go to the beach for it. I know of a beach with really large grains of sand but it's a long ways from me. Good luck Can you use beach sand for freshwater fish? I genuinely want to know because I live 3 miles from the beach and… free substrate. Would you need to clean the heck out of it to remove any salt or contaminants??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryanisag Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 Well I think almost all sand came from the beach at some point but I could be wrong. My plan was to soak and rinse it well for removing the salt and as far as critters go I doubt that anything that lives in the ocean could survive in my freshwater aquarium that's 35 to 55 degrees warmer. But I have not tried it yet. Let me know how it goes if you do it first Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mynameisnobody Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 I’ve had a ton of luck with pool filter sand. It is definitely coarse, not fine at all, looks good and is about $20 for 50lb bag. I love it 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer V Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 On 1/22/2023 at 11:12 AM, Lennie said: I think having a coarser/plant friendly substrate on bottom and sand on top sounds like a good idea if you wanna keep root feeder plants! MD Fish tank always keep his tanks that way as he likes the look of sand. He uses aquasoil on the bottom and top it with sand. He sometimes put those media in bags to make sure they dont mix with other layers. You may find an example in the video below. I tagged the related part for you :)! P.S: He usually does this but I've never tried the bags myself, I just wanted to share it to give you an idea! Here is the video: This is very cool and worth a try! So the plants find the soil and break through the bags? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennie Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 (edited) On 1/23/2023 at 10:08 AM, Jennifer V said: This is very cool and worth a try! So the plants find the soil and break through the bags? Hey Jennifer! MD says the roots, especially the roots of big root feeders find a way in. Tbf, I think the main reason why he does this is he takes down tanks and rescape them a lot, as it is the main focus of his channel 😄And lets be fair, seperating aquasoil from sand does not sound like a good or even possible idea 😄 He sometimes goes for a mixture of aquasoil/gravel/sand taken out from an old tank too. I would personally just go for dirt or aquasoil bottom and sand on top for a personal tank at home if I wanna keep species that enjoy sand, as sand blocks stuff very good. But I'm not a huge sand guy, I love to gravel vac every week and keep my tank on a lil bit overstocked and densely planted side. I'm okay with the maintenance! Just wanted to share this method as some cichlids tend to move sand around a lot, so maybe they can potentially reach the aquasoil level? :D. But again, species like shell dwellers are gonna uproot the plants nonstop anyway. This can be a bit depended of what sand-sifter are we talking about here I believe. Edited January 23, 2023 by Lennie 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 On 1/22/2023 at 11:08 PM, Jennifer V said: This is very cool and worth a try! So the plants find the soil and break through the bags? In nature, a lot of plants are on very fine sand. It happens. Nature find a way. I used sand in my first real planted tank and I still haven't found anything I enjoy planting in more. Roots were everywhere and the plants did well. The tank did crash and I did have issues, but that's more on me than the substrate! I WISH I had a photo after things grew in, but unfortunately this is all I got. Pure fine grain sand here and some root tabs. Eventually with CO2. PSO, Bacopa did well, microsword, val did well, all that red stuff just melted away. On 1/22/2023 at 11:44 PM, Lennie said: Just wanted to share this method as some cichlids tend to move sand around a lot, so maybe they can potentially reach the aquasoil level? :D. But again, species like shell dwellers are gonna uproot the plants nonstop anyway. Think of it like quicksand in some way. Sand compacts and hold. Like substrate velcro for some things. YES some fish will just toss plants around, but sand does a good job of holding onto things in some ways as well, it's all relative. Plants that toss runners will carpet sand with a grid pretty easily. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennie Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 @nabokovfan87 Are those tiger barbs. I'm distracted. I like them 😄 Looking beautiful! Thanks for the info btw! Always great to learn from experiences:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 On 1/23/2023 at 12:23 AM, Lennie said: @nabokovfan87 Are those tiger barbs. I'm distracted. I like them 😄 YEP! I miss them. I really, really do. Beautiful fish and such a fun tank. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennie Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 On 1/23/2023 at 11:51 AM, nabokovfan87 said: Beautiful fish and such a fun tank. Yea :') your tank size looks great. I wanted to keep them a lot, but no way they would enjoy my 125L 50x50cm cube as much as your tank. They are crazy active and energetic :D. And I've heard they can be jumpers, no lid guy here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 On 1/23/2023 at 12:56 AM, Lennie said: Yea :') your tank size looks great. I wanted to keep them a lot, but no way they would enjoy my 125L 50x50cm cube as much as your tank. They are crazy active and energetic :D. And I've heard they can be jumpers, no lid guy here. Yeah I can see that. A mesh top would work fine, I would think. They literally would eat out of our hand if you let them, but they just love food. They do get a bit over excited for their own good. I can see someone getting picked on and getting scared out of the tank. Depending what else is in the tank you can keep at least 1, but I do recommend ~25+! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennie Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 I can see the reason behind that! I've searched a lot about them even if I did not kept them myself. Long big tanks with a crowded group seems to be the key for happy tigers! So yea, It's a pass for me 🥲 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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