home depot sand-is it ok for aquariums?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Yea it is ok. I use it for all my tanks. BUT, you have to make sure to use pool filter sand, not play sand, as play sand with cloud your water.

They sell 50lb bags for like 5 bucks
 
don't use HTH pool filter sand. anything that says Silica run like heck from. I had a very bad experiance with that brand of sand have rinsed it insanely to be safe it still killed off 1/2 my tank.
 
you can use the play sand. just rinse very well. i used 250lbs of play sand in my indoor pond and never had a problem. just took a long time to clean it all lol
 
arowfan;5081216; said:
ok lol so...to confirm this ...the home depot "natural" play sand by sakrete should be ok if rinsed well right??? lol just wanna confirm :)

thanks everyone
john
Click to expand...

Yes I have 2 50 pound bags of it in my 55 gallon tank. Actually probably a lot less after rinsing as play sand has a good portion of it as very fine sand that you need to rinse away or it can cloud. If you wash it well though it looks nice. A little darker than pool filter sand with chunks of white quartz. Pool filter sand is larger, more uniform, cleaner and lighter in color. If I were to do it again I would do a pool filter sand cap over organic topsoil though.
 
as long as it doesn't have strange additives. I got my sand from the local hardware store. Just one thing if you don't rinse it well it will turn the water a funky color.
 
You can use pool filter or play sand. Rinse well, and repeat.
 
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