Praise be to silica pool filter sand!
Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2022 9:25 am
I just thought I'd give a shout out to how great silica pool filter sand is as a substrate. Ever since I started using it for my substrate back in November 2021, there was never the slighest glance back.
These are the reasons why:
-Small, dense, and uniformly sized grains. The small grain size and density allows detritus to stay on top where it can be filtered or vacuumed out instead of sinking in and rotting, and the uniformity ensures good circulation throughout instead of packed anaerobic areas.
-Smooth grains. In fact, even smooth enough for kuhli loaches to sift sand through their gills, instead of being sharp and damaging like many gravels and some play sands can be.
-Excess silt is very cooperative. When you have larger (such as 473 liter) tanks, it's not practical to rinse the entirety of the sand that will be going in, and this is where the cooperation of the excess silt comes in.
I have added it to both established tanks and a new tank that was being set up with excellent results. In the established tank the silt clouded the water fully at first but was removed in short order by the filters+water replacements, and in the new tank the silt simply settled into the sand as the tank was being filled, without clouding the water at all!
-Great prices. It's not a fancy, high-demand product like colored play sand, and the prices reflect this - if I remember correctly, I paid only about 25$ to get enough for my over 1000 liters of tanks.
-Looks just like the sand found in the wild. For example, here's an underwater image of the Asian areas where loaches are found.
https://hknature.weebly.com/fish.html
As you can see, it compares very favorably to my silica pool filter sand.
It's even a good match for other areas like the Amazon. So you don't have to have loaches for this upside, other fish can benefit too!
And my Amazonian fish look lovely over it in my opinion.
Anyone else with silica pool filter sand substrate enjoy it as much as I?
These are the reasons why:
-Small, dense, and uniformly sized grains. The small grain size and density allows detritus to stay on top where it can be filtered or vacuumed out instead of sinking in and rotting, and the uniformity ensures good circulation throughout instead of packed anaerobic areas.
-Smooth grains. In fact, even smooth enough for kuhli loaches to sift sand through their gills, instead of being sharp and damaging like many gravels and some play sands can be.
-Excess silt is very cooperative. When you have larger (such as 473 liter) tanks, it's not practical to rinse the entirety of the sand that will be going in, and this is where the cooperation of the excess silt comes in.
I have added it to both established tanks and a new tank that was being set up with excellent results. In the established tank the silt clouded the water fully at first but was removed in short order by the filters+water replacements, and in the new tank the silt simply settled into the sand as the tank was being filled, without clouding the water at all!
-Great prices. It's not a fancy, high-demand product like colored play sand, and the prices reflect this - if I remember correctly, I paid only about 25$ to get enough for my over 1000 liters of tanks.
-Looks just like the sand found in the wild. For example, here's an underwater image of the Asian areas where loaches are found.
https://hknature.weebly.com/fish.html
As you can see, it compares very favorably to my silica pool filter sand.
It's even a good match for other areas like the Amazon. So you don't have to have loaches for this upside, other fish can benefit too!
And my Amazonian fish look lovely over it in my opinion.
Anyone else with silica pool filter sand substrate enjoy it as much as I?