Habitat - Indoor :: Sand FAQ

Turtle tank setups and other indoor configurations.

Post Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 9:24 pm   

untsmurf wrote:Same here. My filter doesn't allow the sand to settle right below the output though. There's just a hole there.


ditto
Horsepower is how fast you hit a wall. Torque is how far you move a wall

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Daniel3507
 
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Post Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 12:43 am   

I have a question about sand. Does using sand affect colonization of good bacteria in the tank?
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imderanged
 
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Post Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 1:27 am   

Colonizing in the filter? No, I don't think it wouldn't affect colonization of beneficial bacteria. I believe beneficial bacteria even colonizes in the sand after it has been established for a while. At least I think so, How could it not? It's porous, gets oxygen, just seems like a good ground for bacteria. :)
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Post Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 2:43 am   

I was thinking more of the colonization of the substrate, I know the rocks hold some of the bacteria...I wondered how good sand was at that...but I guess when I think about it there is ALOT more surface area on sand then rocks....but I wasn't sure how well oxygen penitrated the sand....OHHH! that made me think of another question! what about using bubblers with sand?? Does it throw sand everywhere to bury an air stone in the sand?
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Post Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 2:47 am   

You'll notice when you first put sand in, that if you stir it up the next day, you'll get a ton of bubbles coming to the surface. it's pretty cool. I'd say sand is pretty well oxygenated.

I have tried to bury an airstone in sand, it works. you will need to bury it about an inch to 2 inches deept though, otherwise it will easily be uncovered. You should go for a while before ou have to recover it. it doesn't really throw sand around, more so it kind of "puffs" it out of the way. it actually looks pretty cool haha.
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Chrisbarnett
 
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Post Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 6:14 am   

I'm just not getting this.

Sand in the bottom of your tanks - it looks great btw - but, how do you clean it?

Do you empty out the water and sieve the sand with one of those things suggested earlier in the thread?

Or, do you have two lots of sand and bucket one lot out, put in the clean lot and then clean the sand you've just emptied out so that it's ready to go back in?

Doesn't it add a whole lot of weight to your tank set-up?

And, how do you anchor your plants in it? I remember reading many moons ago not to use the lead weight/tape stuff, as it (lead) is toxic. Do you all use fake plants or real plants? I tried real plants in my tank years ago, the my RES made a majorily huge mess of the complete set-up. One very disgruntled owner!

So, how do you clean it?! Alot of you seem to have just little turts - is there anyone else here with a RES the size of your hand (and who therefore demolishes everything I set up)? I am just a bit cautious about setting it all up to be demolished ...

TIA.
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Post Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 6:10 pm   

Okay.
Just sift it with the sand sifter while in the tank and it is filled with water. No need to remove the sand.

It adds as much weight as you put in the tank. 50lbs of sand shouldn't be too much for most any tank. Many fish tanks are piled with almost a hundred pounds of rock, and the tanks do fine.

I did a post a while back about my solution to uprooted plants. I used aqaurium silcone to glue rocks onto the plant base, so it's harder to dig up, and if it does get dug up, they won't float to the surface.
Image
Image
I use fake plants.
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Post Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 7:53 pm   

i was looking for that post a few days ago. haha. the fake plants i have in my tank have a weighted base which comes in handy. the only thing is there isnt much of a selection on those.
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.j ... Id=2752335
those seem kinda nice though for plants that arent weighted
Horsepower is how fast you hit a wall. Torque is how far you move a wall

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Daniel3507
 
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Post Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 8:10 pm   

I have a bigger turtle. He's about three years old and about the same size as my hand: 4.25-4.5 inches. He loves to uproot everything, air stones, plants, heaters, filters, etc., and he doesn't make a huge mess in the tank. We sift through the sand with the shovel thing that was recommended earlier. The amount of sand adds about the same amount of weight as the water would. Water weighs 8lbs per gallon and the 50 lbs of sand I added displaced about 5-6 gallons of water which comes out to 40-48lbs of water. So, basically the water would've weighed the same as the sand I added. I bury my plants in the sand, but I'm looking at attaching our extra river rocks to the bottom like Chris suggested. That way when they get rooted up, they'll still stay down. But my plants got rooted up before I had sand too, so that's not a new problem.
~Christi
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untsmurf
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Post Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 4:18 am   

So I found an easy sand calculator! No more weird calculations, just go to the bottom of the page, and type in your info.

*I changed this in the original post as well.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/calculator.php
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Post Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 4:34 pm   

It said I needed 62 lbs for 1 inch of sand. We used 50lbs. According to the calculator I have just over 3/4'' of sand.
~Christi
1.0 RES: Mikey R.I.P.
1.0 Het for Albino Red Tail Boa: Kaa ~adopted out
0.0.1 Northern BTS: Petri ~now a well-loved class pet

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untsmurf
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Post Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 6:54 pm   

Yeah its not the most accurate of calculators, but i figure if you round up or down to the nearest common bag size of sand, it'll work out.
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Chrisbarnett
 
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Post Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 1:44 am   

Heres a few updated pictures of my tank, (Been posted before)
Image
And after changing the UVB lighting
Image
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Post Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 3:25 pm   

That looks great, Chris! You could probably fill the tank up another few inches on the next filling. What kind of filter do you have??
~Christi
1.0 RES: Mikey R.I.P.
1.0 Het for Albino Red Tail Boa: Kaa ~adopted out
0.0.1 Northern BTS: Petri ~now a well-loved class pet

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untsmurf
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Post Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 4:03 pm   

Thanks! I have the water level where it is right not so that 1) he can't escape through a little slot right behind the lights, and 2) because the lights can't come any closer, they are at 6" away from the basking area. but I plan on makin an ATBA very soon, or rasing my lamps up on risers so I can fill it up more.
And I have an XP1.
http://chrisredearslider.blogspot.com/
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