Who has experience with silica sand? I've always liked the look & and curious about...

- Properties...anything in it that could affect pH or other water chemistry?
- Cost
- Where to find it

Thanks!

I take it your considering moving over to sand ? All my tanks have sand in them, personaly i prefere sand as a substrate as i think it looks more natural, if you are going this way, then have a look at pool filter sand or play pit sand (kids sand) as they are both suitable sands for aquarium use (wont leech any nasties in the tank) as well as being cheeper than aquarium sand. Your catfish will also prefere a sand substrate over gravel. Do not use builders sand as this can/will contain chemicals that you do not want in your tank. You will not need to worry about the two types of sand that i have mentioned nor aquarium sand as all three are perfectly safe for aquatic life. All you need to do with the sand is rinse it before you add it to the aquarium, and make sure that it is NOT deeper than 1" also you will need to rake through the sand every so often so as to avoid it compacting and traping any nasties, i tend to rake my sand every time i do a water change (every 2 weeks) and find i have no problems. If you need to know anything else about sand just ask

Gary,
go to Menards. They have silica sand in 50 lb bags. It's used for sandblasting. I believe there is a black sand too. I opted for the white. It's easier for me to see what needs to be cleaned. It's what I use in my tanks now. I'm planning on losing all of the gravel except some fluorite I still have to pop into the 180 planted.
mike

Awsome. I kind of figured that you two plec fanatics would have some thoughts on the subject.

I am thinking of a 90/10 Sand to gravel mix if I can get the deal I'm looking for on a bigger tank. I like the sand look with small bits of gravel mixed in.

Any idea of how pool/play/silica sand costs compare?

Thanks much!

Gary, I got my first few bags on sale at 2.99 a bag and subsequent purchases were at 4 something a bag. I don't know what the cost comparisons are. Menards is pretty convenient whereas pool supply places aren't. Mike Bovinet also is running the silica sand in his Front tanks.
mike