Sand in a FRESHWATER Aquarium?
by Aquaboy on Tuesday, March 16th, 2010 | 8 Comments
I have a 5g FRESHWATER aquarium with a gravel substrate, but I’m planning on changing to a sand substrate. Is this possible? If so, can I buy the sand at Petsmart or Petco? In the tank I have 3 Mystery snails, 2 neon tetras, 3 Zebra Danios, 1 Plecostomus, and 1 Blue Gouramis. I know its a little full, but I have good filtration. So, will it hurt any of my animals? Also, can I have aeration bubblers underneath the sand? Please, tell me in detail about what I can do! Thanks!
Just make sure the sand doesn’t have salt in it. Check with somebody at PetSmart or something, though.
It won’t hurt any of the fish…. But that tank is WAAAAAAYYYYYYY overstocked. No amount of filtration will help you there…. Your tetras are probably lonely and your danio’s need atleast a 20 gallon because they enjoy being active…
But no. Won’t hurt them. Get what you want, but I’d spend the money on a 20 gallon than some sand.
Sand is too dense for freshwater aquariums, their filtration depends on the aerobic(that means that they need oxygen to live)bacteria that live in the gravel. They help to break down the waste that the fish secrete. Sand is not conducive to the health of your aquarium, coarse gravel is the best way to go.
your fish is not a little full, its horrifingly overstocked, plecos can grow to 24 inches long, gouramis are aggressive and a minimum size tank is 30 gallons for them. i would remind you that danios and neons need to be in groups of 6 or more, but theres really no point, brcuase they are gonna be dead in a week or so anyway,
i agree your tank is overstocked and no filtration is going to help that your fish like to swim alot and a good filter isnt going to help if i were your id try buying another tank and a few more neon tetras because the like to swim in farely big groups but no i have most of those fish and i have that sand they will be fine just be sure to buy another tank soon you might find a cheap one on craigslist or something
As already mentioned, your tank is terribly overstocked. So, I will ignore that, and move on to the topic of sand.
I use sand in most tanks that I do, and it works just fine. If you are looking to purchase sand from Petco or PetSmart, the only sand you are likely to find that is suitable is the ZooMed ReptiSand sold for reptiles. Do not use ANY other sands from either of these stores. They will either be calcium carbonate-based marine sands, or they will be some sort of calcium concoction for reptiles (i.e. Vita-Sand, Calci-Sand, etc.). ReptiSand by ZooMed is silica sand, which is inert, and will not affect your water quality. Petco also used to carry ExoTerra River Sand, which is an EXCELLENT darker sand, but they no longer carry it. If you call around, you may be lucky enough to find one or two Petco stores that still have a bag or so in stock. I am unsure whether PetSmart carries this one.
The question about using sand in freshwater tanks has been posted here several times in the last week or two, so this time I’ll just say it has some disadvantages, but is useful for certain kinds of fish. For the fish you have, though, gravel would be better.
However, it’s irrelevant in your case, because the tank is so overcrowded that most of your fish will soon be shucking off this mortal coil and going to sing with the choir eternal. You’ve got about 50 gallons worth of fish and snails in a 5-gallon tank. It doesn’t matter how much filtration you have; the aquarium just isn’t big enough to support that population. It’s not “a little full,” it hardly has room for any water. The plecostomus, if it survives, will grow longer than the tank itself.
So, in detail, here’s what you can do:
1. Take all those animals out of that tiny tank.
2. Put them in a bigger tank.
3. Use gravel, not sand, in the new tank.
I don’t mean to be rude, but you asked what you should do, and I don’t want to lie to you.
i have 3 tanks with sand 1 tank has white pool filter sand and 2 tanks have play sand in them it is a bit more work but the look is much nicer. aeration bubblers will only blow sand around until it digs a hole deep not a good idea, try not to stir up the sand is the object here not to get any in the filter. you are way over crowded for a five gallon you can be leading to lose of a lot fish shortly