hi there,

i am setting up a new catfish tank. i want to obtain some sand as i've read it's good for catfish as they spend a lot of time on the bottom, and it is close to their natural biotope which is what i am going for - a blackwater river biotope tank, with rocks and bogwood.

where is a good place to obtain clean hardness free sand? can i have white sand or is it too bright for the fish? i will be keeping a gold nugget pleco, yellow gibby or sailfin plec, and probably bristlenose and blackeyed ancistrus cats. also, my other fish may have to spen some time in the tank while i covert their tank into planted (3 clown loaches, zebras, guppies, glass catfish and glowlights.

Hey,

Would you be able to tell us where you are located, as it may help us to help you?

The best place would most likely be a land-scaping supply center (I used Central Land-scaping supplys here in west Auckland). Ask tham for river sand and they should be able to help you out. But you will have to wash it very, very well!!!

I have used white river sand in one of my catfish tanks before, without any problems. I mixed the sand 50/50 with some dark gravle, and it gave quite a natural effect.

I take it you are not trying to make a full biotope tank, rather a mainly pleco tank with a blackwater river setting? It should come out very nice.

Good luck with it, and keep us posted.........

Cheers, CatBrat.

I got a big sack of black sand from the local pool shop. It says "fine grade" and if you rub some between your fingers it doesn't feel too abrasive. It has been used so far with some cories no probs. I think it cost about $10-15. Cheers

thanks for the replies. i'm in wellington. the sand you got sounds great catbrat, how do you know if it is hardness-free or not? yes i'm mainly going for a catfish tank, although i may end up with other fish in there, i thought maybe some neons, swords etc. it will have to house the other fish temporarily as i said.

another question, did you guys have to put a stocking over your filter intake? i read somewhere that it can get into your filter and ruin it. aLso do you stir yours up periodically to get rid of anaerobic air pockets?

Well I didn't know weater it was hardness free or not when I bought it, lol, but it was and it worked great. One good thing about it was that it wasn't too fine so it made it much eaiser to clean, as it didn't get sucked up the siphon to much if I was careful.

I didn't put anything over my intake, but I was always careful not to get sand near the intake and yes I did stir it up to stop the build up of the gas.

Cheers, CatBrat.

thanks catbrat. can you tell me if your pH is OK with the sand? i'm thinking of getting some from your supplier. only thing is, they may not have cream/white colour that i want. If you boil up beach sand enough to get rid of the salt and potential parasites, do you think that would be OK?

Unless you scoop up the beach sand along with buckets of water there isn't enough salt in it to matter, especially if you give it a rinse before putting it in the tank. And most white sands will be mostly calcium and you'll end up with a perfect african cichlid PH tank.

With the sand my pH sat around 6.5 (the same as most of my tanks), so it certainly didn't push it up. One problem with using sand from the beach is that it could be full of small bits of shell etc that would push the pH up, and that wouln't be that good for your pleco's.

Cheers, CatBrat.

thanks for the replies, will go with bought river sand. unfortunately can't get light colour. catbrat - you really have ph 6.5? i'm jealous - my water is quite alkaline in wellington, and the pH is 7.8 at the least. do you use anything to bring down the ph? in their natural environment catfish often live in acidic pH.

I don't use anything to change my pH, I sometimes worry that my pH gets too low. I have lots of drift wood in my tanks so that decomposing (sp) solwly may be affecting the pH.

Cheers, CatBrat.