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White sand - a good thing?

M

maria

Guest
I am planning on switching from the medium size pebbles that I currently use to sand as I've read so many good things about it.

I love the nice clean look of the white sand, but I am wondering if it would be better to get black sand as white shows up so much dirt. So my question is this - to those of you who have white sand, do you like it?
 
C

cynthia

Guest
White sand...a "poo thing".

I have white sand and I must say that it shows every spec o poo. When they have "firm" droppings it is not a problem cleans out nice, and its easy to spot. But on the "dusty" dropping days I curse the white sand.

But I am glad I can see all the poo and remove it. I have enlisted the help of a small battery operated gravel vacuum to pick up small pieces of plant and left over pellets. A turkey baster is the only thing to get the poo.

Be aware that the black moon sand and its white sand counter part are both easily vacuumed up with gravel vacs. It takes a bit of practice to be able to clean it lightly so as not to suck it all out of the tank.

So I like it and I hate it at the same time.
 
M

maria

Guest
Thanks - I was afraid it would be a bit like having white carpet! I feel the same - I will most likely have a love-hate relationship with it. I will probably end up getting the white over the black sand just because I am a bit fanatical about poo removal.
happy.gif
 
K

kim

Guest
I dont have white sand but i have the natural coloured stuff.. as Cynthia says its a love hate thing.. but you can see everthing that needs cleaning.. and at least it makes ou clean it out more often i reckon as you stan there and stare at the evil poo! :D
 
C

carl

Guest
why dont you mix white with black sand that might look cool
 
L

lulu

Guest
what do their poos look like...sorry if thats a bit gross, but i have pebbles and ive never spotted any poo before i was guessing it was like fish poo...i vaccuum my pebbles once a week is this enough?
 
C

claire

Guest
looks like pellets similar to guinea pigs poos.i siphon mine once a week and my tank seems to be fine.problem is when im replacing my water it blows dirt from under my pebbles and i get bit floating around.but i use my fine fish net to get all that out.the water goes a bit cloudy but goes back to normal after a while.
 
H

heather

Guest
I have REAL sand.
What I like about the natural sand is that it doesnt show every speck of dirt but it shows enough that you can clean what you need to.
Lots of people told me that it was a horrible idea but it works out fine. They said it would have like bacteria in it that would harm my axies, and all kinds of dirt.
From my friend with hermit crabs i learned that baking the sand in the oven will steralize it and washing it ten times over it gets out the dirt.
The natural sand is really pretty if you want a, well, Natural look. The only cons i find with sand is that gravel vaccuums become harder to use, like Cynthia said!
 
B

brian

Guest
What kind of filter do you have with that sand? Regular play sand can sometimes damage filters. It can get into the impeller chamber and start grinding away at the impeller and the casing around it, and eventually will cause the impeller to wobble and break.
 
H

heather

Guest
"real sand" as collected from the beach, not the special stuff found in pet stores.

Brian-If that question was aimed at me...I have one of those filters that hang on the side of the tank. The intake tube is well off the ground so it doesnt suck up any sand at all.
 
J

jarred

Guest
I don't see how sand collected from the beach is any more 'real' then sand bought from a pet shop but all well.
 
B

brian

Guest
What we're refering to here as "real sand" is sand that has not been processed at all, nor is it artificially produced by grinding down rocks. Sand bought from a pet store is processed and cleaned, and sifted to get a uniform grain size.
 
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