Habitat - Indoor :: Pool Filter Sand

Turtle tank setups and other indoor configurations.

Post Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 3:55 pm   Pool Filter Sand

So the hubs went to get pool filter sand for me today, so I can get Angelina in her new home this weekend. I don't know how the conversation came about, but I assume he told the lady at the pool supply place why he was getting the sand. She told him that pool filter sand has crushed glass in it. Anyone else heard this? If it does have crushed glass, do you think it could hurt the turtle?

If it does have crushed glass and I shouldn't use it, what are my other options that aren't going to take an eternity to clean? Vepia Cray had posted a sand he found at a local hardware store, but I'm not sure I could find anything like that around here.
1 RES: Angelina
1 Beta: Simon (really Simon #2 but my daughter doesn't know Simon #1 died)
1 Miniature Schnauzer: Sugar
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Post Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 4:43 pm   Re: Pool Filter Sand

I have read a lot about sand over the past couple days. I did read that you shouldn't use pool sand because of the "silica" but then there were other posts about how all sand has silica in it. I loved the setups with the nice bright white sand... I had river rocks which were a nightmare to clean, but the tank looked bare without anything.

I originally went looking for "Playsand" for children's sand boxes - but I didn't want the brown "beach sand" I wanted white. At school we use"Crayola Play Sand" which comes in four colours - green, blue, pink and purple for the sand tables. I bought two bags of blue, rinsed it thoroughly and use that in Sheldon's tank. It looks BEAUTIFUL and it was really inexpensive. (10$ a bag for 20lbs.) I had researched it carefully and it is safe to use in aquariums. It holds onto air strangely - because it's coated - but there is no "dust" like I've read about with other sands. Nothing came off it when I rinsed it and the Crayola rep I talked to assured me it's safe to use in aquariums. (It's basically powder-coated sand. Non-toxic.)

Sheldon ate a bunch the first day - but since then leaves it alone. *shaking head*

Most hardware stores should have "playsand" for kids sandboxes.
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Post Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 5:49 pm   Re: Pool Filter Sand

Silica sand is what you want. There's two types of sand. Silca sand and calcium carbonate (aka aragonite sand). Playsand / pool filter sand / aquarium sand for freshwater is all silica based sand. The lady at the pool supply place is wrong. Pool filter sand does not have crushed glass in it. Pool filter sand is made of silica - silica is used to make glass. You should be able to get play sand, pool filter sand, or the kiln dried handy sand I found at Home Depot or Lowes.
Have your husband look in the area of the hardware store where they sell concrete and concrete forms. You'll find the quicrete playsand and the kiln dried handy sand there.

Crayola Play Sand is also silica based sand. It's safe although I don't trust the dye they used to color the sand. I've posted on this forum numerous time the MSDS sheet for quicrete play sand. It's safe to use as well but it does have some small pebbles that you may want to sift out. I used the quicrete play sand in my tank. $4 for a 50 lb bag at Lowes.


Calcium Carbonate sand aka Aragonite sand is sold for use with Reef tanks. Calcium carbonate sand dissloves in water slowly over time buffering calcium into the water and raises the PH. Coral uses the dissolved calcium to build their cell structure (grow). You DO NOT want aragonite sand for your freshwater tank. Not to mention Aragonite sand is really expensive. It's $30 for a 20 lb bag.
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VeipaCray
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Post Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 6:10 pm   Re: Pool Filter Sand

Veipa Cray you are so knowledgable. How long have you been doing the turtle/fish tank thing?

He went ahead and bought the pool filter sand. I think it was $8 for a 50 lb bag. He got 100 lbs. I probably could have gotten the kiln dried handy sand cheaper, but I thought in another post you said you'd bought it at a local hardware store, and I took that to mean not one of the big box stores. Not a biggy though. I'm not going to cry over $16 vs $10.

So I don't have to clean the pool filter sand? Or do I need to rinse it first?
1 RES: Angelina
1 Beta: Simon (really Simon #2 but my daughter doesn't know Simon #1 died)
1 Miniature Schnauzer: Sugar
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Post Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 6:29 pm   Re: Pool Filter Sand

Thank you. :oops:

I'm fairly new to turtles. I've only had my RES for 2.5 years now. I've had freshwater fish for 25 years, saltwater for about 15 and reef for about 10 years. So that's why you see me post a lot on the equipment / environment forum and not much in the turtle care sections.

I used 50 lbs of sand in my 75 gallon tank and that was plenty for the turtle. That handy sand stuff was I think the same price as you paid. $7 or $8 for a 50lb bag. So you really didn't spend any extra by going to the pool supply store vs. the big home improvement center.


You don't need to clean it but you should rinse it. Rinsing it will wash out some of the dust and fines that cloud up your water. The optional filter setup will do the rest.
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VeipaCray
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Post Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2012 3:29 pm   Re: Pool Filter Sand

I didn't rinse my pool filter sand first, and ended up with some cloudiness to the water the first time I stirred up the sand, but the optional filter setup cleared it out within 24 hours. If you rinse it first, you can avoid this. It is much easier to rinse than play sand.
5 inch RES male named Jordtim
Hardware: 75 gallon tank (21"H X 48"W X 18"D), FX5 filter with veipacray media setup, pool filter sand substrat, TurtleSafe halogen heat/UVA lamp and ReptiGlo 5.0 UVB lamp in ZooMed Dual Dome Fixture.
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Post Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2012 3:02 am   Re: Pool Filter Sand

There are a lot of pool filter available in the market.If you are using these filter then there is no need of sand to filter the pool.The glass of pool will not be crushed by using filter.So using filter for the pools will be the best option for cleaning the water.
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Post Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2012 12:00 pm   Re: Pool Filter Sand

jack123 wrote:There are a lot of pool filter available in the market.If you are using these filter then there is no need of sand to filter the pool.The glass of pool will not be crushed by using filter.So using filter for the pools will be the best option for cleaning the water.


I think you may be mistaken about what this topic is even about. :?: :?: :?: :?:
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Post Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 12:30 am   Re: Pool Filter Sand

@Rubicon: it's his first post. It's possibly spam. The post didn't make much sense to me but it was sort of on topic (was hoping it made more sense to you guys) so I approved it giving jack123 the benefit of the doubt.
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VeipaCray
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Post Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 6:44 pm   Re: Pool Filter Sand

Nope, didn't make any sense to me.
5 inch RES male named Jordtim
Hardware: 75 gallon tank (21"H X 48"W X 18"D), FX5 filter with veipacray media setup, pool filter sand substrat, TurtleSafe halogen heat/UVA lamp and ReptiGlo 5.0 UVB lamp in ZooMed Dual Dome Fixture.
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