will sand mix into a patch of gravel over time in my 55gal tank, do they sell sand thta you can use in an aquarium at a place like Home Depot and if they do what am I looking for?
if u have a current flowing through the system it should, or fish that swim on the substrate surface (ie. plecos, etc). And the sand from home depot is not prepped for tanks.
Although sand can be nice, it is very hard to take care of. Because when it gets dirty it will turn green from the algae and it is hard tpo get it off of.
sand and gravel don't mix... what's going to happen is the sand will sink under the gravel, and will acumulate into a ticking time bomb... i have sand in many of my tanks... at least twice a month i have to move it around/stir it up... pockets of dangerous gasses stay trapped in the sand more than gravel...
and i perfer home depot sand > *... i do have a tank with color quarts... that one you don't have to stir around as much to let the gasses out... but it scratches the glass like whoa...
sand from home depot has silica in it. more then likley to cause algea.buy sand from your lfs and put it in some small tupperware bowl or somthing build rocks up on the sides,or cutaway plastic so you cant see it.you could stir the sand gently every couple days,so there is no algea or no toxic gas, and assuming you take care of your tank and you own a siphon. it should suck up what sand you may have knocked out.
i believe the play sand i got from home depot is silica based... i don't have a bag of it right now, but i'm pretty sure it is...
that said, i do not have a problem with algae build up on the sand... i have a 60g mbuna tank with 200W metal halide light... i have heavy amounts of green algae growin on the rocks and background, but none on the sand...
the tank i also have on my profile has 88w of lighting for 12hours a day and there is no algae on the sand... but i also have under-gravel jets... that move the sand around, but they are dead spots...
if you start getting diatoms i would raise the lighting...
Yes sand will mix into your gravel but when you syphon the gravel all the sand will come up with it. Trust me i've expeirenced worst. Sand sucks and it is not a good idea to use it
