Easy Way to Add Sand - without washing!

This was mentioned on a local fish forum I'm a member of recently - it works great!

Just fill a bottle with sand, top it up with water - and pop it into the tank.
Without squeezing it, let the sand flow.

All dust, etc that was in the sand won't come out. :happy:

Adding sand to the aquarium the easy way - YouTube

I recently had trouble with this! Very useful, thanks! :happy:

This is brilliant! About to go and get some sand now to sand my display tank! Thank you!

This is excellent a big thanks to you for posting it!! xx

You should still wash the sand. Even by delivering it in this fashion, it will still have dust and contaminants in it. The dust will be kicked up when you do a water change.

That's some corner cutting that is sure to come back and bite you! Sand may be a pain to wash when you first get it but once it's done that's pretty much it. Regular axolotl/newt waste is pretty easy to wash out so why not put in the time in the first place and then have peace of mind. Well washed sand can be added to an aquarium full of water from pretty much any height and should settle leaving the water crystal clear in a matter of minutes.

Regards Neil

Reading as much as I can on sand for the bottom of Lottie's tank, as I have taken all small pebbles and glass nuggets out, and now glass bottom is like a mirror (to me), but has black actually under it,so maybe Lottie doesn't see it as a mirror ?
My poor Lottie has been through a lot, in the last few days... I have other posts on "Sick Axolotyl" forum .. she hasn't eaten since about 14th Dec, etc (but I won't go into all that here). Have been thinking of doing a slate bottom, like one guy in US has done ?? Any fellow aussies had a go at this? How do you keep your tank cool, being in a hot place?

- I didn't read the full title of the posst, I thought it just said 'easy way to add sand'

I tried this today, and it works, but I washed it thoroughly first.

Yeah, you have to wash the sand. But that is a good way to get it in the tank


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=44.926746,-93.081139

Lazyness is never rewarded just wash your sand.

i've just set up my new 3ft tank with sand for the first time and i was bricking it as people said how much pain it is and how much things can go wrong and how much time consuming it is, etc. I was putting it off and off even though i bought the sand ages ago and the tank was there to. finally i said what the heck put the sand in the bucket run it under a tap in the bathroom stirred it a couple of times after couple of minnutes the water was coming out clear and the sand settled in a matter of seconds. i was a bit confused cuz people were saying it takes ages. i left the sand in the bucket overnight stirring it but the water was clear every time and sand was dropping very quickly. before putting it in the tank i rinsed it once more for luck put it in the tank and then put a plastic dish on top of it and poured water onto it. the sand bearly stirred. water was clear. put the filters and ornaments in waited for everything to settle and then put Klaus in there. now the day has passed the water is crystal clear and i've got one happy axie.

the whole process took about 45min as i was stressing about cocking up but there was nothing to **** up really! i wish i've done it ages ago!

i think the key here is the sand you use - aquarium sand is the best and let's face it 5 pounds for 5 kilo is not much and saves you a headache when washong it. invest in aquarium sand dont buy any play sand or sand that is generally for different purpose.
i barely had to wash mine!

and i am a newbie in all this - had my axie and first tank just over 3.5 months ago! so i am pretty chuffed with myself

hey guys, i am thinking of getting an Axie, but am doing a heap of research first. Seeming as this thread is about sand i thought i might ask what sand is best. I know you can get sand from pool shops and that, or am i better off getting it from an actual aquarium? And there's that sand that is like little balls.. Not gravel about a quarter of the size.. help! i'm not sure!

Hey Hopflop

Aquarium sand, play sand, or pool sand ( not that I've used that) are all good.

Depends on what you can get hold of, what suits your budget, and what you like the looks of.

What ever you get wash well first, some come up cleaner than others straight from the pack, but you should always wash/rinse first.

The little round balls. don't know them so couldn't say..

What ever you do don't get builders sand

The aquarium sand comes in all sorts of colours, but of you look at some old posts there are some I think that are not recommended/ not sure if are safe.

Personally I have used black aquarium sand in one tank and I have play sand (needed lots of washing) in a couple of other tanks,

Hth

Keep looking through older posts and if in doubt ask

Regardless what sand you choose, we always choose that which is aesthetically pleasing to our own eye, you should definetly clean the sand before adding to your aquarium. This is a great way of adding sand to your aquarium without having to strip the tank, but would definetly clean the sand first, don''t want no contaminants killing off any of your stock that you have. My sand settles very quickly and any cloudiness lasts a very short time. Thanks for sharing though, will also be trying this method today, cheers

hopflop said:

hey guys, i am thinking of getting an Axie, but am doing a heap of research first. Seeming as this thread is about sand i thought i might ask what sand is best. I know you can get sand from pool shops and that, or am i better off getting it from an actual aquarium? And there's that sand that is like little balls.. Not gravel about a quarter of the size.. help! i'm not sure!

Click to expand...

I use play sand that you can buy from Bunnings for about $9 for a 10kg bag and it does the job. You do have to rinse it very well first though. All the aquarium sand I find here is overpriced ($15 for 2kg or something) and generally some tacky fluro colour.

If you can find a sand like the one with the little balls you mentioned that is going to be safe for axies (no added chemicals or something) and it's no bigger than say 1-3mm then I'd say it's probably safe. Slightly bigger substate can be beneficial as it can provide more aeration which means you won't have to worry about toxic gas pockets forming in it, also, some plants have trouble rooting in very fine substrates.

i guess it depends on the sand you get. My play sand from bunnings NEVER ran clear. It was a nightmare. I duiscovered after moderate washing, putting the sand down first then putting a dinner plate on the sand, then pouring the water on the dinner plate avoids stiring up muck. It worked well for me. I'm enthusiastic to try this bottle method though.