Was I dumb or hoodwinked?

[trip]

Haven't had an aquarium for many years, but used to keep small tanks and even tried Discus once.

Recently decided to get a tank and wanted to go with Discus, so I started reading up and visiting the LFS's. Long story short:

The owner of the store where I bought my tank sold me 80 lbs of live sand for my 75 gal tank. Seemed like a good idea: thought it would help me cycle the tank and get it ready for fish a little quicker. The sand was "Nature's Ocean" live sand. Never occurred to me that it was marine sand; trusted the LFS guy to know what he was selling me.

So, I filled the tank with tap water and treated it with a dechlorinator and after the appropriate time added the sand. The tank was densely cloudy and after 48 hours is still cloudy but getting better.

Told a good friend of mine (A serious saltwater reef guy) what I did and he looked at me like I was from another planet. He says the live sand is dying in the fresh water and the cloudiness should have cleared in a few hours. He thinks the sand was totally inapproriate and I should clean it out and start over. He feels the cloudines is due in part to the dying bacteria etc in the sand.

Even if it was a bad idea, I would like to salvage the sand somehow. Would drining the tank, cleaning the sand, and refilling with tap water and then treating the water work.

So, it might be an expensive lesson, but I am patient enough to work it through if it can be done. Any thoughts?

I would appreciate any help and thanks in advance.

[Elite Aquaria]

Trip,

First of all Welcome to Simply Discus. I am one of the Moderators here on Simply. Personally I do not like sand in any discus tank. My recommendation would be to remove the sand completely and not use it at all. Discus are easy fish to keep as long as you have good water quality. Sand is a good place for nasty bacterias to grow. Just my opinion.

[Darrell Ward]

Expensive lesson. Reef sand is made from aragonite, which is crushed coral (calcium). It will send your PH way up, and yeah, saltwater bacteria won't live in freshwater. You were taken advantage of.

[boxters]

I agree with everything said here. Bare bottom tank is best for discus. You were taken for a ride

[Eddie]

Trip,

First of all Welcome to Simply Discus. I am one of the Moderators here on Simply. Personally I do not like sand in any discus tank. My recommendation would be to remove the sand completely and not use it at all. Discus are easy fish to keep as long as you have good water quality. Sand is a good place for nasty bacterias to grow. Just my opinion.

Ditto!

I'd also try to get my money back from that lfs.


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

[kaceyo]

Expensive lesson. Reef sand is made from aragonite, which is crushed coral (calcium). It will send your PH way up, and yeah, saltwater bacteria won't live in freshwater. You were taken advantage of.

Darrel is right. Sand for saltwater tanks is not usable in fresh water tanks with only a few exceptions, and discus are not one of them. I suspect that the person who sold you the sand didn't know what he was doing since anyone with begginers experience in both salt and fresh water tanks would know better.
I'd remove it completely and take it back for a refund since "live sand" costs alot more than sand for a freshwater tank.
I don't use sand myself since I only breed and raise fry but it does look good in a show tank with adults.

[jimg]

some live sand is for freshwater, it's for african cichlids though for keeping ph high.

[ShinShin]

I would be speaking to the owner of the shop about the "expert" advice you got from yet another well quaified LFS staff member. I am sure that I would leave with a refund. Other's might not have, but I would. ;)

Mat

[jaykne]

Hey Trip Welcome to SimplyDiscus!!!

I'm Larry another one of the Moderators here on the forum, please feel free to to PM me, Dan or any of the other SimplyDiscus Team members if you have any questions or concerns with the forum thats what we are here for!!!
As for your question I am the same with most the other responses all my Discus tanks are bare bottom even my display tank, you can still make a bare bottem tank look really nice besides most people are just amazed by the Discus:)!!!

[trip]

Thanks everyone for your input. The problem was primarily my inexperience, and I relied on the LFS for advice . . . unfortunately it was the OWNER not a staff member who sold me the marine sand. I think he mentioned that he used live sand for African Cichlids and I think he assumed Discus required the same type of water. On my part I didn't realize Africans required a High Ph. So I don't think there was malice involved (I certainly hope not). I'll be talking to him about a refund or an exchange and hope it works out. In the meantime the tank is clearing up and the sand does "look nice". Oh well, back to the beginning.

An additional unfortunate piece in the story is another LFS owner is a discus breeder and keeps very nice tanks. She recently closed a retail shop to concentrate on her maintenance and service business. I haven't been able to contact her. I'm sure she would have kept me out of this trouble. But you guys have helped and I'm sure I'll get through this and end up with a nice tank and some beautiful fish.

I'll keep you all posted and I'm sure I'll have more questions.

[kaceyo]

I seriously doubt that an lfs owner would think that discus and african cichlids would require the same type of water, or sand. Also, "live sand", unless it has come to mean something else since my reef days, has marine lifeforms in it and wouldn't be suitable for an african cichlid tank either.
Good luck with your situation and I hope you get the refund you have coming.

[Discus Origins]

Yes totally wrong advice using live sand for ANY freshwater tank. As for keeping sand in the tank a biotope looks better than any bare bottom tank in my opinion. That being said, I have always kept domestics in BB tanks and wilds with sand. All my display tanks have sand in them as long as you don't keep more than a 1/2" deep layer of sand you won't have too many worries about waste/bacteria build up.

Mark

[inmisawa]

I'd take it back and ask for a refund. I can't speak to the LFS owner's thoughts on selling you live sand, perhaps they just weren't paying attention. If you can't get your money back, I'd toss it and call it a lesson learned. It's useless to you. You can always get playground sand from Home Depot or silica pool sand from a pool supply store. I used silica sand in my aquarium and paid less that $25 for 100lbs. A lot of people have opinions on what is best and I'll agree a bare bottom is best for raising discus, but my aquarium is for aesthetics. I buy my discus all grown up, it's easier :)

[trip]

The owner of the store was very helpful when I finally got to talk to him. Told him I called the company and spoke to them directly; they did not recommend this sand for this use although they do produce some products for African Cichlids. They also said they have a satisfaction guarantee and I could take the sand back. The LFS owner said he was told by the sales rep that the product could be used in marine or fresh tanks. He offered to take it back and replace it or give me a store credit against anything else. I'm happy, he's good and he keeps a satisfied customer.

So I drained the tank and took out the sand. Just need to clean it up and start over.

Thanks again to everyone for the input and support. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Trip

[Elite Aquaria]

Great...glad it worked out

[Jason K.]

hoodwinked for sure...

[kaceyo]

Glad to hear it.

[Darrell Ward]

I still say a LFS owner that has experience should have known better. At least you are getting a refund. :)

[RodneyL001]

Although many discus keepers like bare bottom tanks, don't feel that is your only option, if you like the look of gravel or sand, not live sand, but pool sand, in your tank, go with it. I personally like to grow plants in my tanks, therefore I need a satisfactory substrate. But if you decide to have plants in your tank, I would get discus keeping down first, because adding plants to your tanks adds a different dimension to keeping up your tank.

[mmorris]

Was the sand packaged by Caribsea? If so, which one?