Loaches Online Forum

Im a sand virgin...

I bought sand as per Martin's instructions (I cant get a hold of him atm)

it was play sand. I washed it for 2 hours till the orange got out of it


put it in the tank, refilled and drained it several times until it was as clean as a surgical syringe.

No matter WHAT when I add water (tank is half full now) it clouds up. The cloudiness obviously is sand particles but it looks like a bacterial bloom. its just a bluish haze of cloudiness which refuses to clear...

My fish are in a bucket... its a 20gallon bucket but its a bucket... I need help urgently...

whats the deal with the sand?

And if its this easy to cloud up, wont a big pleco flying across it or digging make the water cloudy?

How am I gonna clean it?


....

SHould have figured this all out first but I figured if everyone uses sand how hard can it be?

I know some of you dislike me but please think of my poor fishies whom I care for very much... and are in a bucket...

Try pouring the water in slowly onto a plate that rests on top of the sand. Should help.

I'd also recommend doing a quick run with a gravel vac (not a quick moving vac--just that it shouldn't take long!) over the surface while it's low after some of the silt settles out. Want to get that outa there before you add the next batch of water...

shari2 wrote:I'd also recommend doing a quick run with a gravel vac (not a quick moving vac--just that it shouldn't take long!) over the surface while it's low after some of the silt settles out. Want to get that outa there before you add the next batch of water...

I lost count at having done this 11 times



I think I got bum sand...

Do I have to filter the cloudiness out? Or does it settle via gravity? I have no fine filter media for that sort of thing... Im a sponge (aka cheap bastard) person... And the sand will clog my sponge and do bad stuff to my biofilter...

Ay ay ay.... I wanted to find good sand thats all nice and uniform like emma uses but all i could find was this trash...

i didnt try the plate bit... should i remove all the water (again... ) and plate-pour back in???

Last tank I did with sand (the new 125g) took three days to settle...I think heavy filtration actually made the process slower.
(And yes, the water was poured in very slowly, over a plastic bag)

Just wait, it will settle down....

(And it would be a good idea to check the pH of the tank vs your tap now, sometimes sand shifts it and you'll need to compensate.)

Yes, it does take several days for the sand to settle regardless of how much you rinse it. My last tank took a week and I carefully added the water using a plate and bowl. I've only had one tank where it's cleared up in a day.

Once the sand settles, it really won't be a problem with the fish stirring it up. My pleco digs out daily and it just falls right down to the bottom without clouding up anything. I have the tank full of loaches and plecos and there's never a problem with the sand flying around to recloud the water and they all dig and toss sand continuously.

I like the sand but my only complaint is that the loaches tend to burrow in the sand with their noses and I have little craters all along the front of the tank.

I hear ya there wendie. The loaches in their new sand carpeted tank seem to have gone into the interior design business.

the tank is really to small for them, but since the move they are out and greeting me for food whenever I come around the tank. Even in the daylight. Even the big guy. They really seem to like it much better than the other larger tank.

Of course, now I'm doing ALOT more water changing...it's like having 3 cats using the same litterbox.

(absolutely unquantifiable amount of swearing)

Well thats six hours I'll never get back.

1 week is as politicians say 'an unacceptable time frame'.

Zee loaches come home on Friday and my poor little buddies are in a bucket.

Sooo its going to have to be micro gravel...

Is 2-5mm size gravel ok?

Atleast it wont be the big fat chunks of gravel...

Even tiny brine shrimp cant get thru the micro gravel (its the smallest estes)... so thats better than what I had i spoze.

(absolutely unquantifiable amount of swearing)

Well thats six hours I'll never get back.

1 week is as politicians say 'an unacceptable time frame'.

Zee loaches come home on Friday and my poor little buddies are in a bucket.

Sooo its going to have to be micro gravel...

Is 2-5mm size gravel ok?

Atleast it wont be the big fat chunks of gravel...

Even tiny brine shrimp cant get thru the micro gravel (its the smallest estes)... so thats better than what I had i spoze.



actual size on a 17" monitor

is this ok? (Bronze Cory, B. rostrata, histrionica, striata)

shari2 wrote:I hear ya there wendie. The loaches in their new sand carpeted tank seem to have gone into the interior design business.

the tank is really to small for them, but since the move they are out and greeting me for food whenever I come around the tank. Even in the daylight. Even the big guy. They really seem to like it much better than the other larger tank.

Of course, now I'm doing ALOT more water changing...it's like having 3 cats using the same litterbox.

I wonder if people who live in the desert buy cat litter... I guess it would be like throwing money to the wind no?

Like in the Sonoran and stuff??

My loaches didn't mind the bits of floating sand when I changed it over.. prolly won't be able to see em well but I don't think it would hurt them to put em in the foggy water. But then again maybe i'm wrong.

angelfish83 wrote: 1 week is as politicians say 'an unacceptable time frame'.

It *might* settle down by Friday if you leave it alone. If you do water changes now, it will make things worse.

Well....he's given up on the sand idea and going for ultra-fine gravel tomorrow We just talked on the phone for ages. Seems like it was some seriously nasty sand

Martin.

Martin Thoene wrote:Well....he's given up on the sand idea and going for ultra-fine gravel tomorrow We just talked on the phone for ages. Seems like it was some seriously nasty sand

Martin.

It was Kim-Jong-Il brand sand... Terrible stuff.

Sorry I had to let you go martin-
I usually walk the dog around 12 and I noticed we'd been talking for a good 90 minutes and she was getting impatient. I hope I wasn't rude when I said I had to let you go.

Thanks for the loach advice. Yep I'll be off to Sh1tquarium scarehouse outlets to buy some overpriced crushed rock bits tommorow...

On that subject- WHO WANTS GRAVEL!

Oh man! You never said it was Kim Jong Il Aggr-0-gates brand . That'll teach you to go buying stuff from Convenience Stores

I went to Korea once.....the Customs guys were Korean, the baggage handlers were Korean, The Taxi driver was Korean, the Hotel clerk was Korean.......I went into a Convenience store and the guy serving was called Gord, from Scarborough

No problem on letting me go. I'd been up since "oh my god it's early" the previous day.

Good chat.

Lovely weather we're having eh?

Martin.