Pool filter sand

Subject: Re: Pool filter sand Sun Jun 24, 2012 9:24 am

Doug wrote:: I went with a layered sand aproach. The bottom layer was propogating sand from bunnings. This comes in a 5kg yellow plastic bag. I spread this to a depth of 4-5 cms across the bottom. Then I sprinkled a fre teaspoons of blood and bone onto that. Some people also add some marble chips at this point but I didnt have on hand and couldn't be bothered going out for a handful of them. I packed that down reasonalbly well and made sure it was nice and flat. I then covered the whole lot with silica sand to a depth of about 5cms. This gives you a very deep bed of substrate. The propogating sand is full of clay and other nutrients so the plants will love it but as it is covered by the silica sand it shouldnt make your tank go cloudy. Also having the 5cm depth on top allows for a bit of gravel cleaning without distubing the bottom layer.
Worked amazingly well.

. So how much of each propergating sand,blood and bone,marble chips would I need for 120cm long x 35cm wide. I've got 20kg inside my tank. I'm assuming I'd need 4 x 5kg bags of propergating sand. Maybe 1kg of blood and bone or is that two much. Again a kilo or marble or is that again two much. Any particular type of marble chips.

Subject: Re: Pool filter sand Sun Jun 24, 2012 11:41 am

yeah, 3-4 bags of the propagating sand willo do it. you want that layer to be a good 5cms thick for the roods to really get into.

the blood and bone is only a sprinkle, two tablespoons sprinkled across the entire bottom will do the trick. and only a handful or two of marble chips. they will buffer the water too much otherwise.

Subject: Re: Pool filter sand Sun Jun 24, 2012 12:35 pm

Any particulate type of Marble Chips. Do the marble chip or propergating sand have to be cleaned before they go into the tank.

Subject: Re: Pool filter sand Tue Jun 26, 2012 2:23 am

nope, just bung them in. I just used marble chips from bunnings. they are from the gardening section

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