Pool Filter Sand

Hi there

I have white pebbles in my tank and they are getting the brownish colour algae on them and it does not look good. Someone suggested changing them for Poolfiltersand. They said it is easier to mantain. For cleaning I now gravel vac once a week and they said I still do that, but I hold the vac about and inch away from the sand. Do you suggest sand as well, or should I just bin the white pebbles and go for a darker colour?

I Love Fish wrote:

Hi there

I have white pebbles in my tank and they are getting the brownish colour algae on them and it does not look good. Someone suggested changing them for Poolfiltersand. They said it is easier to mantain. For cleaning I now gravel vac once a week and they said I still do that, but I hold the vac about and inch away from the sand. Do you suggest sand as well, or should I just bin the white pebbles and go for a darker colour?

hello again, i also have white gravel if you check my gallery pics,
sand looks lovely but from what i understand plecs love to turf it up when they go on mad runs like my male L182 does
plus gravel is miles easier to clean with a gravel vac, but to be honest i havent used sand just yet but iam sure someone on hear will have,

Curby how do you keep your pebbles clean and white? I would prefer to stick to pebbles, cause my bristlenoses loves to just lie and suck on the stones and where is the fun in sucking on sand I gravel vac 30% of my water once a week and it only recently started happening. Actually thinking about it, it started happening since we had very warm humid days

I Love Fish wrote:

Curby how do you keep your pebbles clean and white? I would prefer to stick to pebbles, cause my bristlenoses loves to just lie and suck on the stones and where is the fun in sucking on sand I gravel vac 30% of my water once a week and it only recently started happening. Actually thinking about it, it started happening since we had very warm humid days

i do stage gravel vacking...when i do a large W/C every week 30% i will also gravel vac just a 1/4 of the pebbles then the week after another quarter then another then another, so in the month you cover all your gravel without disturbing your entire tank, because if you tried to do it all at once and moved all the cave's and what not then you will just end up with loadsa manky water, so do it in stages miles easier to keep on top of.....

i have gravel in my breeding tanks but i have Sand in my grow out tanks for my Fry it is easy to clean i use a Turkey baster and suck up the left over food and poo with it

816johnv wrote:

i have gravel in my breeding tanks but i have Sand in my grow out tanks for my Fry it is easy to clean i use a Turkey baster and suck up the left over food and poo with it

Turkey baster you say

Curby wrote:

816johnv wrote:

i have gravel in my breeding tanks but i have Sand in my grow out tanks for my Fry it is easy to clean i use a Turkey baster and suck up the left over food and poo with it

Turkey baster you say

http://www.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/1078991/2/istockphoto_1078991_turkey_baster.jpg


i got mine from Wilkinsons for 50p and it does the trick perfectly

your white pebals are going brown and sounds like brown algae to me cut down on your lighting hours and for the next few days cover your tank over and leave lights off will help get rid of most of it




Dane

Dane wrote:

your white pebals are going brown and sounds like brown algae to me cut down on your lighting hours and for the next few days cover your tank over and leave lights off will help get rid of most of it




Dane

Super Great advice My stones are looking better allready. I now only switch my light on from 1pm to 9pm instead of 8am to 10pm

816johnv wrote:

Curby wrote:

816johnv wrote:

i have gravel in my breeding tanks but i have Sand in my grow out tanks for my Fry it is easy to clean i use a Turkey baster and suck up the left over food and poo with it

Turkey baster you say

http://www.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/1078991/2/istockphoto_1078991_turkey_baster.jpg


i got mine from Wilkinsons for 50p and it does the trick perfectly

We got ours from Wilkos too. I find them invaluable, and great for catching fry with too, as well as cleaning the fry tank without disturbing them to much. The trick is to squeeze the bulb before you put it in the water, otherwise when you do squeeze, you'll blow everything around lol ~~ YES, I've done it a few times

Oh, and another thing to bare in mind, get one with a clear tube as you can see what there is Some have opaque tubes and this makes things more difficult

I Love Fish wrote:

Dane wrote:

your white pebals are going brown and sounds like brown algae to me cut down on your lighting hours and for the next few days cover your tank over and leave lights off will help get rid of most of it




Dane

Super Great advice My stones are looking better allready. I now only switch my light on from 1pm to 9pm instead of 8am to 10pm

8 hours id say is still high i keep mine on for 6 hours at the most,sometimes i leave them off totally...
This gives me a good idea for a thread...

I Love Fish wrote:

Dane wrote:

your white pebals are going brown and sounds like brown algae to me cut down on your lighting hours and for the next few days cover your tank over and leave lights off will help get rid of most of it




Dane

Super Great advice My stones are looking better allready. I now only switch my light on from 1pm to 9pm instead of 8am to 10pm

wow.. what a huge carbon footprint, i now use a electrical timer and after having problems with excess algae due to too much light now my main too tanks have their lighting set equally at about on time (7.15pm) and offtime (00.30am) i found this sufficient to keep my fry and fish feeling normal as much as can be....

you could also try changing your mood lighting in the room around the tank for a little variety....

lol fish with mood lighting, that is a new one...lol