The Puffer Forum

My intention is to put a GSP in a 30g tank, someone here "told" me that 30g for a GSP is OK. At the moment i have pebbles in it, but i have thought about changing to a sandier substrate. I live in Puerto Rico, so i have beaches everywhere, and evidently sand. Is it possible to use beach sand for an aquarium???? If the answer is NO, I would like to know why.

I have read many threads in this forum regarding substrate, and crushed coral or aragonite seem to be the alternatives.

You can certainly use beach sand. I would rinse it thoroughly though.

Have you used sand as a substrate before? It is a pain in the butt - you need to stir it frequently to prevent gas pockets from forming...and it gets into your filter mechanisms and buggers them up.

Some people love sand bottoms though...some people don't. GSP's do not require the use of sand - as they do not bury themselves.

Most of us crushed coral to help buffer the water.

I am using sand for my cichlid tank (Eco-Complete from Carib-Sea) at this moment. I have not had any trouble with it, YET.

What should I do to protect the filter???...if anything

When you say that I have to stir the sand FREQUENTLY, is once a week OK??....once every other week??....once a month???

Regarding the Chiclid tank, I move the sand, as well as all decor every time partial water changes (30%--35%) are made. I do this every three weeks.

If you have access to other carib-sea products, you could get their aragonite sand. (its a very large, course grain sand)

You can protect the filter from sucking up sand by covering the intakes with filter floss, or foam. Something to strain the sand out, but let the water through.

Stirring the sand once a week is a good idea. Stir it up and then vaccuum the debris that settles back down when you do a water change.

How deep is the sand bed? How often to you disturb it deeply, rather than superficially

The sand bed's depth varies greatly, since the chiclids apparently enjoy digging while in their caves. The depth can go between 1 and 2 inches in most of the tank. There are places where the get to the bottom of the tank, and others where they just create a 4 inches little mountain.

I disrupt the sand every two or three weeks.