Question: Sand flooring

[dvsgal]

At the moment Buttercup has bare flooring in her tank as its easy to maintain.
I was looking at photos of everyone's tanks and I started to think about using sand.

My question is when you siphon the tank how much sand do you lose? Do you replace it every time you clean the tank?

It would get a bit expensive if you have to replace it all the time.

Also what kind of sand do you use?

Thanks

 

[Kaysie]

Theoretically, once sand is in place, you should never replace it. A lot of beneficial bacteria live in the substrate; you don't want to be removing them!

I use a bit coarser pool filter sand, and I'd say over the course of a week, I lose maybe a teaspoon of sand. It's negligible. Finer sand does filter out a little more, but you can just dump it back in the tank when you're done doing your water changes.

 

[Bdyoung]

I've hay tanks up for months without ever replacing any sand. It's just a little bit of a learning curve. Eventually you'll be able to get the right distance away from the sand to pick up more waste than sand.

 

[Kaysie]

My axolotl tank has had the same sand in it for 6 or 7 years.

 

[jessicaanne]

If you do pick sand up then just stir it around in the water before you empty the bucket. I've found that this separates the 'yucky' stuff from the sand due to the weight difference and therefore pours out with the dirty water. You can then just scoop the sand out with a spoon or something similar and put it back in the tank. It does take a while to perfect the process but you'll get the hang of it pretty quickly

 

[dvsgal]

sweet!
I was admiring everyone's photos and the tanks looks really good with sand.

I will be moving into my own place soonish so I will give Buttercup a tank make over then, and she will be moving into a 4foot tank, currently in a 2 foot tank.

oooooo exciting.......lol