# How much sand in a 48" tank?



## LiamRatSnake (Jul 3, 2007)

I'm setting up another freshwater tank and want to use sand this time. How much would I need for a 48" x 12"?
I use gravel with my others so I'm a bit stumped.
Also can you use playsand as that's the colour I'm after or only aquarium sand?
Thanks guys.: victory:


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## JasonR (Mar 27, 2011)

Depends how deep you want it really but in my turtle tank (48"x15"x18") I used two 15kg bags so that's 30kg of play sand and a that gave me a couple of inches depth


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## LiamRatSnake (Jul 3, 2007)

JasonR said:


> Depends how deep you want it really but in my turtle tank (48"x15"x18") I used two 15kg bags so that's 30kg of play sand and a that gave me a couple of inches depth


That sounds like a lot! I'm used to gravel but I guess the air spaces in it make it deeper.
So do you think playsand would be suitable for fish? I'm not sure if chemicals are used or not.


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## JoPwerks (Mar 15, 2012)

LiamRatSnake said:


> That sounds like a lot! I'm used to gravel but I guess the air spaces in it make it deeper.
> So do you think playsand would be suitable for fish? I'm not sure if chemicals are used or not.


Everyone I know with turtles (some keep fish as well) uses play sand so I think it must be safe, it's 2.99 in argos or tesco for quite a large bag, try one of those and see if that's enough.

Make sure you put it in a bucket and rinse it until the water is clean though or it makes the tank murky until it settles. 
I've used it twice with my turtle and didn't clean it good enough the fist time and couldn't see in there for about two days but it soon cleared after that. Second time rinsed it properly and had no problems.


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## LiamRatSnake (Jul 3, 2007)

JoPwerks said:


> Everyone I know with turtles (some keep fish as well) uses play sand so I think it must be safe, it's 2.99 in argos or tesco for quite a large bag, try one of those and see if that's enough.
> 
> Make sure you put it in a bucket and rinse it until the water is clean though or it makes the tank murky until it settles.
> I've used it twice with my turtle and didn't clean it good enough the fist time and couldn't see in there for about two days but it soon cleared after that. Second time rinsed it properly and had no problems.


Thanks for that. :2thumb: I know they're childsafe but children can injest more chemicals than fish.
I'll try playsand then as it's a 10th of the price and the same colour and texture I want.
Thanks.


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## JoPwerks (Mar 15, 2012)

LiamRatSnake said:


> Thanks for that. :2thumb: I know they're childsafe but children can injest more chemicals than fish.
> I'll try playsand then as it's a 10th of the price and the same colour and texture I want.
> Thanks.


I'm not 100% mind, I'm just going on what people say to me 

You've got me worried now in case something happens to your fish :gasp:

I'd do a google search just to be safe, unless anyone else who have used it with their fish can confirm it's ok : victory:


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## LiamRatSnake (Jul 3, 2007)

JoPwerks said:


> I'm not 100% mind, I'm just going on what people say to me
> 
> You've got me worried now in case something happens to your fish :gasp:
> 
> I'd do a google search just to be safe, unless anyone else who have used it with their fish can confirm it's ok : victory:


I don't get the new tank until tomorrow and won't begin setting it up until next week so I'm sure I'll get plenty more responses.
If it is ok to use it's so cheap I'm gonna get rid of the gravel from all my other tanks.


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## pigglywiggly (Jul 19, 2008)

i found that it went black and manky underneath if you put a decent depth in. 
probly ok in heavily planted tanks though, it also chews up the insides of powerfilters......... :bash:


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## Christie_ZXR (May 14, 2011)

I used homebase playsand for my puffer and he's in a 4ft tank. Took 2 bags, and the sand was already incredibly clean. I've had playsand from a garden centre before and it's been full of little black bits and just generally mucky. I've heard the argos one reccommended loads, but I can defo reccomend the homebase one as being a good quality since I've used it.

Turn your filter off and let the sand settle after you put it in though, otherwise it will chew up your impellor too badly


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## LiamRatSnake (Jul 3, 2007)

Thanks guys. I''l just use the internal for now then and maybe put some tights over it.


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## mask-of-sanity (Dec 27, 2006)

i used 2 bags of play sand in my 5ft tank


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## JasonR (Mar 27, 2011)

Yep it's definately safe for fish...aswell as the turtle tank i also use it in my tropical fish tank, coldwater goldfish tank and I also have some white sand in another tank which cost me about 4 times the price, I'd never use gravel again after switching to sand


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