Is this sand ok?

[cc_woman]

I bought some bags of white sand made by caribsea and wanted to put them in my discus tank eventually once the smallest guys get large enough. I was told that this sand will not work because they can swollow it and it can harm their internal organs. I just wanted to know what you guys have to say about it? I paid around $100 for 4 bags so I would love it if I can use it, if not I can go with something with larger granules. Any help would be great, thanks :)

[mkv]

Is it aragonite? Is that the case, the sand is meant to be a calcium buffer for saltwater set ups and keeps the PH higher that what you want your Discus to have. There is a white sand for freshwater use that many in this Forum use. It's better than std gravel as it does not allow detritus to go to the underlayers thus making clean ups fairly easy. I haven't heard of people having trouble with their fish eating it but you never know. maybe somebody else will give you their opinion.

[Wahter]

Can you be more specific than "white sand"?

Here's their website:
http://www.caribsea.com/index.html

If you chose the Marine sand - it could be okay (says it's okay for planted tanks and the description says it's inert).

http://www.caribsea.com/pages/products/super_nat.html

Hope that helps,


Walter

[cc_woman]

No it's not the marine sand, I should have been more specific. It is called moonlight sand and is like a really fine white sand for the freshwater aquarium..

I checked out the website but they don't seem to have this sand on there. It is one of their natural sands.

[rickztahone]

I bought some bags of white sand made by caribsea and wanted to put them in my discus tank eventually once the smallest guys get large enough. I was told that this sand will not work because they can swollow it and it can harm their internal organs. I just wanted to know what you guys have to say about it? I paid around $100 for 4 bags so I would love it if I can use it, if not I can go with something with larger granules. Any help would be great, thanks :)

$100 for 4 bags seems steep. i only say that because i have seen fellow members recommend sand that is like $10 for 100lbs bag :confused:

i know the 3M stuff is more expensive though

[bs6749]

If you are looking for a nice, light colored sand I would highly recommend pool filter sand, which you should be able to find for around $10 or less for a 50lb bag and would have the larger granules. If the sand you already have is inert then it shouldn't be a problem as far as I can see. Just be sure to rinse it out well before you put it into the tank. Many people use PFS in their discus tanks and I've never heard of a problem with discus swallowing it and being harmed. Mine spit the stuff out all the time when they graze for uneaten food on the bottom.

[Eddie]

I bought some bags of white sand made by caribsea and wanted to put them in my discus tank eventually once the smallest guys get large enough. I was told that this sand will not work because they can swollow it and it can harm their internal organs. I just wanted to know what you guys have to say about it? I paid around $100 for 4 bags so I would love it if I can use it, if not I can go with something with larger granules. Any help would be great, thanks :)

Who told you that? Not sure if its true but I had a very similar sand in my Heckel Mini-Biotope. It was white and super fine like a powder and the fish loved it. They'd spit it out when picking at food on the bottom. ;)

Eddie

[captain morgan]

I know which sand your talking about- contemplated buying it several times myself-has such a nice pure white color, only bad thing I have read about it is that it is way to fine, more like a powder rather then sand- gets sucked up the python way to easily when vaccummed and also compacts to much for plants. Still searching for the white pool filter sand - AKA (silica sand) that many other members have- but all I can find is brown or beige. What part of Alberta you in? I am in Calgary.

[cc_woman]

I paid $25 a bag which is actually cheap because I got a discount for being an aquarium society member, and I would need about 3.5 bags to give me a nice 2" layer at the bottom of the tank. I don't necessarily plan on adding plants as I am kinda a plant geek myself and know that finer sands don't work well with them. I also saw a video on cichlid-forum for a great way to siphon the top of the sand without losing alot of it from being sucked up. I do have sand in other aquariums and the method works quite well. And unfortunately I already bought the sand about a month ago so I am not going to try and find something else since it won't work in any other aquariums.

Eddie, a LFS told me that, but I don't think I will listen much to his advice anymore since I think he is annoyed I don't buy my discus from him anymore. I just wanted to double check and make sure that this would be safe for the discus. I have not had any problems with any fish swallowing sand as far as I know, and I have sand in at least 2/3 of my tanks.

captain morgan, I am also in Calgary and used to know of a place that might carry the white silica. I would have to go back and ask again though who does. Have you checked with different sand blasting companies?

Thanks guys for the help, I kinda figured it was probably BS what he was telling me. :)

[TankWatcher]

The finer the sand, the more likely it is to be sucked up when syphoning. It's good to syphon surface debris 1st (that's what I do that with my sand) but IMO, once you have dealt with surface debris, you still need to gravel vac more deeply, just like with most other substrates. Otherwise, you will only ever get the debris that sit on the top & overtime your substrate will become dirtier. As the fish peck at the sand in search of food, they turn the sand over somewhat & some debris will slip down to the lower levels. My sand layer is less than an 1" thick & I can tell when I deep vac it that debris does make it to the lower levels.

As far as what LFS said, I think that is nonsense. IMO, the only thing will be you may need to take a little extra care in cleaning the sand.

[tcyiu]

I think I was about to buy the same Carib Sea sand, but the LFS ran out. $25/bag is a good price. This stuff is expensive.

Anyhow, my discus just moved over from gravel to sand. I must say, it took them a week to get used to it. In the beginning, they took mouthfuls of sand. They would shudder and hurl it out. Sand would also spray out of the gills. A week later, they're eating food off the bottom like pros. With their mouths, they suck and blow on the worms so that water movement lifts the worms off the sand floor. Then they swoop in gulp down the worm. No sand enters their mouths.

I think my stunted BD had in fact ingested sand, and was off feeding for a few days. He appears to have come back. (Crossing my fingers)

So what your LFS guy told you may have some validity. But probably for fish that have never really interacted with sand.

Tim