Can sand cause any problems?

Hi June, sorry had to let hubby have some internet time as he was getting grouchy, so missed your question earlier!

Look the important thing is they're off the gravel so this will allow them the time to any gravel without swallowing any.

We were also amazed at the amount that came from our axies - especially the first few days - weeks! Then every now and again you find a piece or two on the sand.


They'll be fine in the container. You could leave them in there till you replace the sand, just make sure to change majority of water daily. Or alternatively, if your tank is now empty of gravel place them back in and just sort your sand out. Then once you're ready to add the sand you can move them out.
 
Hi Kapo, well the sand is in, my hubby is so good, he spent 2 hours getting it clean before we added it to the tank, it looks so nice. It's a little cloudy but not bad at all. I will add the plants tomorrow avo, then put my babies back in the tank. Poor Charlie is so stressed, first time we have moved him, snowhite is doing fine walking around the plastic container. Kapo is it safe to put them back after 24 hours?? Thank you for all your help.
 
Yes! We added ours within an hour or so, basically as soon as it cleared! Oh yeah, and my hubby did most of ours - after the first tank, I more or less gave up and left him to it, much to his disgust. But I did do the admiring :D

(Message edited by kapo on April 04, 2007)
 
Same here, i sit back and look at it, it's so much nicer than gravel. It will look even nicer when we get the big rocks in and some nice plants. Thanks Kapo!!!!.
 
Its better than gravel. They spit the sand out and anysand they do eat goes straight through them. Sand's great ^____^
 
Hi all. here are my tank readings Kapo..ph 7.2 ammonia 1 nitrite 0.50 nitrate 5.0 . i think our tank is finally cycling. After 8 weeks i sure hope so. The sand is so much easier to clean than the gravel. Our little one has not passed that pce of gravel yet. I am still doing the small daily water changes. Anything i can do to make things better for Charlie & Snowhite.? Thankyou.
 
Sounds like you're doing all the right things! Give it time it should hopefully come out some stage, it'll appear in the sand.
 
just wait it out mine left me a few bits overnight and she has been off (petshop) gravel for 3 months now
happy.gif
 
Great news! she has passed the pce of gravel and then some! . Kapo are the tank readings still safe for our axies? Does it sound like it's cycling to you? Thank you.
 
Yes definitely looks like its cycling now! As long as you keep up the partials just if you're concerned about it at all start a new thread so people can help/advise.

Rebecca, know what you mean - found another piece of gravel from our axies that had been on gravel over 16months ago; I keep thinking they've finished and then discover another every few weeks.
 
Kapo are the rocks that you are finding very small?
 
The gravel pieces I now find are the smaller pieces of natural and coloured gravel the axies were on (blue/yellow and fluoro pink/green - some of the colour has flaked off). They're about a .5cm-1cm. But as I mentioned before they had pooed out glass pebbles similar to the ones in your profile pic up to 1.5-2cm size for months after. Last glass ones found in about December.

We do have a few river rocks siliconed to pvc pipes in our tanks. They used to be loose on sand, but found too much was slipping beneath them when it came to cleaning. So took them out and siliconed to their caves.
 
The sand was not working well for me because I had trouble keeping the filters on the ground and my Axie was still eating the sand. So I have changed to large river rock. All the rocks are bigger than its head so it can't eat them anymore. I am still finding small pieces gravel but I have never found a glass one.
 
The aquarium I went to today advised me strongly against getting sand because it effects the pH very badly, and asked me to ask you guys where you've bought your sand from?
 
I haven't had any problems with pH. Axies can also live in pH levels of 6.8-8.0 (8.0 is fine as long as there is no ammonia problem otherwise ammonia can then be more toxic). I also never bought mine from a petstore. If you get it from the beach you can have a pH prob (due to crushed shell content I think). We got our playsand from a hardware/garden centre similar to Bunnings or Mitre 10.

Do you use substrate or not?
 
Some sand is calcium based, and can buffer your pH, but usually not in a bad way.

I use pool-filter sand, which is coarse.
 
My axie is happy living on large rocks because he doesn't eat them and when I had sand I had lots of pH problems and the filter was not working properly.
 
Sea sand will have that effect: it will make the pH of the tank alkaline (high pH). This is probably because it is partly composed of shell fragments. However, ordinary play sand or silica sand will not do this. Also, some pet shops sell fine sand that is OK for freshwater tanks, it does not affect pH.
 
Does that mean the sand I bought had something in it? It said it was just play sand and I washed it properly.
 
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