Why not to use sand
- Thread starter Polyptasaurus
- Start date
That's your choice, Rucus. Leave the others to decide their options. In case anybody has not noticed, the snails are influenced by the abundance of food supply the way they sustain their population. See this thread for ways of controlling their number. I never have problems with my own MTS which my brigs keep in check as they compete for the food.rucus;3201410; said:
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=215160
every1 Read nc_nutcase's Post.... and Please stop talking/Complaining about sand 
The Best way to control a population of MTS is to add Assasin snails...(i know its mentioned in the URL but i thought id give my personal experience). they eat 1 MTS a day.. so add a certain No. of Assasin snails depending on Population of MTS... It also takes a good while for Assasin snails to breed so wont be overrun with them (1 egg every 10 days and takes like 4-5 months till they are mature)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jamieishard
i just want to say i hate sand for aquariums...its always a mess to deal with...it gets everywhere....its got into every filter i have ever put on a tank with sand..and i finally had enough and python syphon shot a good 100 bucks worth of sand into my back yard...never again.. but thats just IMO
Jamie, I am absolutely NOT saying you should be using sand. They are your tanks and do whatever makes you happy with them... But it is fair to mention in response to this that grain size of the sand can make all the difference. The pretty colored sand sold at most LFS's labeled "Aquarium Sand" is typically very fine grained and often causes such problems. Using a larger grained sand will highly reduce the potential for filter damage... also prefilters can be used to prevent sand from ever entering the filter...
Since you had $100 worth of sand I can only assume you bought the over priced "Aquarium Sand", as Pool Filter Sand or other industrial purpose sands (the larger grained stuff) is usually around $4~8 per 50 lbs, making $100 worth or it more than even the most monstrous fish tanks would need.
Quote:
Originally Posted by black_monster
i can somewhat agree that sand does trap nitrates because if uneaten food or poop gets trapped in for awhile, it will cause ammonia spikes. this happens to me a couple times a year
As mentioned previously… waste is lighter than sand and the gaps between sand particles is smaller than even exceptionally small waste particles… therefore it is unlikely to “settle” into the sand…
The gaps between pieces of gravel are MUCH larger than gaps between sand particles and does allow waste to fall into the gravel. So the problem of waste rotting in gravel causing an ammonia spike is far greater than the same thing happening with sand.
Sure you can gravel vac… but simply put, you will never be able to get all of the rotting waste out of the gravel through conventional gravel vacuuming… then consider the time/effort of siphoning waste off the surface of sand and giving it a quick stir to doing a gravel vac… It’s much easier to keep a sand bottomed tank much cleaner…
Lastly, I won’t quote anyone on this as many posters have made this error… Sand “can” compact and allow gases to form… it is not true nor fair to say sand “does” compact and allow gases to form… Myself an many other hobbyists can speak from personal experience that this is an exceptionally rare, yet possible, thing to have happen in a fish tank… and in those rare situations that it does, it is due to user error (typically deep sand beds AND not disturbing those sand beds for an extended period of time).
I agree this thread is just silly… yet I feel compelled to defuse misinformation or poor guidance… I completely agree we can make poor decisions when using sand and cause problems… but the sand didn’t cause the problem, the poor decision did… So proper education is the solution, not using gravel…
Quote:
Originally Posted by rucus
If I were you I would not introduce them into your tank. There is no such thing as having only 1 MTS. They tend to breed like crazy.
That's your choice, Rucus. Leave the others to decide their options. In case anybody has not noticed, the snails are influenced by the abundance of food supply the way they sustain their population. See this thread for ways of controlling their number. I never have problems with my own MTS which my brigs keep in check as they compete for the food.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/fo...d.php?t=215160
The Best way to control a population of MTS is to add Assasin snails...(i know its mentioned in the URL but i thought id give my personal experience). they eat 1 MTS a day.. so add a certain No. of Assasin snails depending on Population of MTS... It also takes a good while for Assasin snails to breed so wont be overrun with them (1 egg every 10 days and takes like 4-5 months till they are mature)
I hope that means not mixing with other snails as a precaution!! cus of course u can mix with fish. I have around 20 Assasin snails and a Apple snail,,, They dont go near the Apple snail, i find they only eat snails smaller then them
right........
all my tanks are sand. i rarely touch the sand.
yet my params are all normal.
125g has 1.5" sand. 10g has 2"
my 39g i had up was 4.5"(almost too deep)
but sure ur right. sand is horrible!! why all my fish die from the sulfuric acid.
man, i cant even try. this is truly wrong. truly.
all my tanks are sand. i rarely touch the sand.
yet my params are all normal.
125g has 1.5" sand. 10g has 2"
my 39g i had up was 4.5"(almost too deep)
but sure ur right. sand is horrible!! why all my fish die from the sulfuric acid.
man, i cant even try. this is truly wrong. truly.
I keep assassin snails myself, Alex. Mine eat an average of 1-3 snails depending on the individual and size of the prey they chose. They also lay an average of at least 8-10 eggs per week (3 breeding females).*Alex*;3202319; said:
Don't mean to hijack but I figured it would be better asking here than starting a whole new topic...what's the grain size for play sand?
That's an expensive snack. They are still high in demand over in AC and they still fetch $3-4 depending on the seller.*Alex*;3202412; said:Different Makes of playsand= different grain size...
Yeah ur prob right Lupin!!!!
wow... if i knew this was gonna go on and on like this i never would have posted it in the first place, lol. Guys, there are pros and cons of both gravel and sand. I dont really know any cons to FINE gravel... but otherwise its really just based on personal preference or the fish you have.