Habitat - Indoor :: Sand

[Tenodera]

I'm thinking of adding sand in my turtle tank...Is sand harmful to turtles? could they ingest it and get it clogged in their systems?

and yes, I know about the filter clogging thing. the intake of my filter is lifted several inches from the bottom.


Kevin

[turtle.love08]

ive been wanting to do sand for awhile but im to chicken of the mess lol.
tell me how it works!!

[Andrew7769]

you have to be very careful...the best way to make sure the sand sink well enough without clogging your water or your filter is to place all of the sand in a bucket and run water in it... the lighter stuff should come to the surface while he heavy sand stays on the bottom...i have seen some really cool results yet sometimes you have to be prepared that you will end up with a big mess...best bet is to do it outside lol

[Tenodera]

Yea, I'm thinking of using a heavier grain sand, but small enough to pass through the system if the turtle swallows it by accident.

[killrmack]

we jsut put sand in my little 10 gallon to see what it looked like and it came out great. What i did was take so play sand (cost a couple of $ at lowes) put it on some kind of large container mixed it with water than dumped the water and repeated a few times and when i put it in the take it only took a few hours to completely clear up the key is to just really wash it and you should if not already over compensate on your filter.

[Theo's_Friend]

I would like to try sand as well, but was worried about it making a mess in the tank when Theo walks on it and digs around. I read this morning that the little river rocks I have might not be a good idea becuase he may try to eat them as he gets bigger. That thought didn't even cross my mind.

Our house is on the river, so is it a good idea to go get some sand from the bottom? Or should we actually purchase sand to use?

The filter we have is an TerraFauna ReptoFiler, will the sand get sucked into it and clog it?

Thanks, Sher

[DavidY]

The nice thing about the play sand at places like Lowes or HD is that the grains are more rounded and less likely to impact or cause abrasions (therefore won't harm their digestive system). River sand especially up north tends to contain more silica and can be more abrasive. You also run a very real risk of introducing parasites or other harmful microbes (giardia) into your turtle tanks if you use stuff taken directly from wild sources. The play sand is already sterilized. But like was mentioned before, make sure to keep rinsing it until there is no more silt left. Otherwise you will have a disaster on your hands...Here's what happened to one member who tried sand once...http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6690&highlight=

[Theo's_Friend]

Wow, thanks for the advice. I won't be getting sand from the river, not sure I'll get sand from a store either. What a mess that tank was. At least Theo's only in a 10g right now, so it wouldn't have been quite so bad, but enough. Thanks for sharing that. I would love to see pictures of "Beast's" setup, I'm going to go looking in photo gallery and see if I can find it. Thanks for saving us the hassle.

[DavidY]

You're welcome. I wasn't trying to discourage you from doing it but just warn you of what could happen if you don't rinse the sand good enough or if you don't get the right kind of sand. Yea if you do find that thread please post a link to it here too. I would like to see a successful sand bottom tank and how that person did it.

[steve]

Breigh has recently been using river sand with her setup. I think in smaller setups, it can be quite attractive.

Sand impaction can happen but has not been documented as often.

[biomanz]

Our turtle has been kept in 1 inch of water with sand underneath for over a year before I put it in a tank, and haven't seen any trouble over it ingesting sand. It's not the very fine grain ones, but be sure to rinse it well (can be very dirty) and fill it with water to look for floating grains to throw out. A test for me is to fill it with water, agitate the sand with my hands, and if the water's still clear with no floating stuff then I'm set.

[xsavingsaturdayx]

You have to be very careful with sand. If you use it wrong it can kill your filter or you will end up with results similar to jessicas. I have been talking to a keeper from another site who uses sand and other substrate (crushed coral I think it's called? Not sure) on all his setups and swears by it, though he did say it's tricky to clean with a python. I'm thinking of adding it to my setups, we'll see..

If anything do a search on google on 'how to add sand to an aquarium' before doing ANYTHING. There is a lot of info out there. That, or join a fish forum..if anyone knows, it's probably fish people, or asking breigh is another option too..gosh, so many options to choose from huh?

[Breigh]

I have sand in two of my tanks and I LOVE it. I use river sand, which is a bit heavier and more coarse than play sand. This is better for a number of reasons..

1) Play sand tends to float in the water and gets lifted up every time the turtle digs or swims past it. River sand doesn't as it's heavier.

2) The coarser sand grinds up waste when the turtles are rummaging around, play sand just tends to bury it.

3) The heavier sand doesn't get sucked up into the filter as easily.

I'm going to do my 360L tank with sand tonight as well, then they will all have it. After seeing my other tanks with the sand my bare bottom tank looks WAY too bland.

You have to rinse the sand REALLY well before putting it in the tank. We used buckets and bowls and spent hours washing all the sand out before putting it in the tanks. There is still a tiny bit of dust that floats when you first put it in but it settles in a few hours.

I took out about 3/4 of the water in my tank before putting the sand in, then filled it up again after. Just dumping it through a full tank would get messy.

[marisa]

I know of an experienced keeper who has sand in her tanks and has no problems, health or otherwise. I really think it looks nice. It just seems like extra work to me, though.

[DavidY]

So is there any evidence of any abrasions to the turtle's digestive tracts from ingesting that kind of river sand? I suppose if the turtle doesn't try to gulp down mouthfuls of it then it wouldn't be a problem. hmm....I'd like to give it a try.