Habitat - Indoor :: Do you recommend sand?

[Meta]

I kinda wanna put sand in my tank. What kind would i buy, where do i get it? Dunno how to do it either.

[Chrisbarnett]

Check out the Sand FAQ I made. It's a few posts up in the sticky's of this section.

I recommend it, as do a lot of other people. There is a bit of upkeep involved, but it's worth it.

[Meta]

Check out the Sand FAQ I made. It's a few posts up in the sticky's of this section.

I recommend it, as do a lot of other people. There is a bit of upkeep involved, but it's worth it.

i noticed a lot of pics where it was cloudy u culdnt see a thing. the turtle is rly alright to be in there during all that cloudyness?

also, when i clean the sand by sifting it, does the filter need to be turned off?

[Chrisbarnett]

Yes and Yes.

[Meta]

Yes and Yes.

ok 1 more thing i didnt see in the sticky.

i use a spray bar on my xp3. it sits above the waters surface and agitates the surface, but also shoots streams of water to the bottom, when it is on full pressure, wont it disrupt the sand at the bottom of the tank and bring it up and make it cloudy again, or make it get sucked up in the intake

[Chrisbarnett]

I doubt the streams are powerful enough by the time they reach the bottom of your tank to really kick up any sand. The whole point of washing it is so that when it gets kicked up, it won't cause cloudy water again.

[Meta]

what if my turtle just decides to eat mouthfuls of sand? if shes curious as to what it is? that worries me

[mccuen]

We have a spray bar that seems powerful like you are talking about also and we just put sand in our tank for the first time and it doesn't bother the sand at all. We have had a bare bottom, rocks on the bottom and now sand and we like the sand much better. And thanks to chrisbarnett we were able to switch to sand with no problems, his demonstration (Sand FAQ) and answers made it so much easier.

[zoologist]

the sand particles are small enough that they'll pass. everything is explained in sand FAQ i believe. if not, turn all of your concerns there. Chris will def answer them he knows everything about sand.

[Meta]

the sand particles are small enough that they'll pass. everything is explained in sand FAQ i believe. if not, turn all of your concerns there. Chris will def answer them he knows everything about sand.

i mean like BIG gulps of sand. and a few of them. i have a feelin ill have the dumb turtle that does that :/

[grem89]

my turtle takes some gulps of sand every once in a while. The sand settles suprisingly fast though and shouldn't cause any problems in the filter. However the spray bar could push the sand around and cause a bare spot on the bottom of the tank. But definitely get sand! It looks great and your turtle will love to dig in it!

[Raphulk]

Check out the Sand FAQ I made. It's a few posts up in the sticky's of this section.

I recommend it, as do a lot of other people. There is a bit of upkeep involved, but it's worth it.

i noticed a lot of pics where it was cloudy u culdnt see a thing. the turtle is rly alright to be in there during all that cloudyness?

also, when i clean the sand by sifting it, does the filter need to be turned off?

The cloudiness really depends on how well the person cleans the sand.
I don't know if you've seen the sand FAQ that chris made, but it also has a How To on cleaning sand before putting into the tank.

I used the exact same method and I had no cloudiness whatsoever (I have a 55 gallon tank btw)

I haven't done a great job in maintaining the sand though, but it's not difficult to do (I am just lazy sometimes)

we all understand that you just want the best for your turtle and may be scared about what the sand may do to him, but trust us all - your turtle will be fine