coral sand?

[Ranger]

Hey Everyone

I have been having alot of trouble finding sand for my axolotl tank and have posted numerous threads asking about it. I have finally got my 85cm tank for my two axies. Bunnings, wharehouse and all petshops in my area do not sell sand. My mum recently travelled to picton in the south island where she found a 5kg bag or coral sand. it was 23.00 for the 5kg. Is this sand two big? i would not call it fine sand it is leterally made up of little stones and coral bits. id say the biggest bits are abouthalf a centimetre (or 5 mm) with a few maybe 1 centimetre but are only about 2 mm thick.
is this ok? i have rung alot of shops in new zealand trying to find sand lol.
thanks heaps.
ranger

 

[Darkmaverick]

Hi Ranger,

It is actually fine to also just keep your axolotl tank bare bottomed without any substrate. If you want to use sand, you can try placing an order with aquarium shops or you might like to use the sand from children's sandpit after giving it a good wash.

Coral sand is not suitable. Firstly, the pieces of coral themselves sound sharp and could potentially be ingested which can cause impaction or perforation. Secondly, if the sand originates from the beach etc., it could harbour unwanted parasites and the composition of the coral and presence of salt etc could affect your water chemistry.

Cheers

 

[John]

Coral sand is not suitable for a freshwater aquarium. Steer clear. If you want sand, the most frequently suggested varieties are the sand used in swimming pool filters (not diatomeceous earth) and children's play sand.

 

[floxie]

Coral sand was recommended to me in another thread as a good substrate for raising the pH of the water (ours is very low). I guess that it's possible to get finer grit than the stuff Ranger's found? As for salt and parasites, surely if it's supplied for aquariums 'clean' sand should be available?

 

[Abrahm]

Coral sand was recommended to me in another thread as a good substrate for raising the pH of the water (ours is very low). I guess that it's possible to get finer grit than the stuff Ranger's found? As for salt and parasites, surely if it's supplied for aquariums 'clean' sand should be available?

Coral sand will probably always have some salt in it just because of where it is taken from. Salt obviously wouldn't have too much of an impact on a marine aquarium. I wouldn't use coral sand as a substrate if you have low pH water. The effects on the water would be much more pronounced and water changes could become very hard on the animals as their pH would probably drop with the addition of your normally acidic water. Using some coral sand to buffer the water would be a different matter as you have a bit more control of the chemistry going on (i.e. you can easily remove the coral sand.)

 

[floxie]

Ok, thank you. Guess I'm going to have to do a little more research to find out just how to do this. The water I'm using at the moment has been through my father-in-law's massive filters and is perfect, but I don't think he'll appreciate me stealing it when I'm using a full sized tank and needing to do water changes

 

[John]

What is the pH of your tap water?

 

[floxie]

Can't remember precisely off the top of my head but I believe it was around 6.4.

 

[John]

The coral sand might be a good idea if your pH is that low BUT, we need to make sure. Take a known volume of your tap water (doesn't have to be much - a few litres say) and a known amount of coral sand (what ever way you want to measure it as long as you know how much you are measuring). Measure the pH and hardness (carbonate and overall) of the water. Add the sand to the container of water. It would be good if you could cap the container, so perhaps do this in a 2 litre soft drink bottle. Give the bottle a shake every few days and check the readings. The readings should stabilise in less than a week, I would guess. Tell us what those readings are.

 

[floxie]

Thanks, I'll see if I can get hold of some and give it a try. We have a fairly good aquarium shop in the next town so I'll see if they have anything, and also whether they have any other ideas.

The father-in-law is producing perfect water but I think investing in his setup would be overkill - whatever he's running he's using to maintain a fish tank roughly the size of my sofa