White sand - does algae grow on it?

D

Delilabee

Registered Member
Oct 23, 2007
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Sydney, NSW
www.insightmatters.com
Hello

I am considering changing my gravel over to almost white sand/fine gravel, because I've seen aquascaping where this looks really nice. Question is, will it get dirty and dull looking as algae grows on it, thus defeating the purpose?

I want algae in the tank because it's natural and I have algae eating fish, but I don't imagine they could clean it off sand(??) So how does it look after it's been there for a while?

Thank you.
DB.
 
:welcome: to AC!

Algae will grow on anything. As this is sand, you'll need to disturb it frequently to prevent it from becoming compact thus resulting in anaerobic pockets.
 
Only thing I would want to chime in here is that many fish, especially certain tetras, gouramis and most angels, do not appreciate light colored substrates.
 
I have almost white sand in 1 tank & everything shows up on it. I vac twice a week but it always looks dirty. I have a more tan speckled sand that is natural looking I like much better.
 
I had white silica sand in a 5 gallon.. because you need to stir up the sand to free up anaerobic pockets I ended up with globs of green crap all over. The algae would look nicer if you didn't have to disturb the sand..
 
I've had white sand in my tank for about a year now, and I really like the look of it. I vacuum the surface pretty regularly, and a small amount of the sand gets drained off when I do. Since I always use the same bucket, when the sand in the bucket starts to build up, I clean it well and dump it back in.

Also, I have small pieces of glass stone and river rock around my plants so the poop falls through and doesn't show - it's good for the plants and I don't have to clean that area so much. I have MTS snails to prevent compaction and aerate the sand for the plants. There's some algae on my rocks but haven't noticed it on my sand.

Fish poop does stand out against the white tho, so I guess it really depends on how much cleaning you want to do - and what kind of fish you have. I have a pleco, and he's the one that makes the huge mess. I actually like cleaning the tank and love the sand.
 
I, too, would say that my concern with white sand would be the unforgiving nature of poo....What lands on sand, shows on sand, be it algae, poo, uneaten food, etc....This may make it more of a maintenance issue then you had originally considered. I have very light gravel (almost white) in one of my tanks and all I do is obsessively stare at the waste caught in it ( i do gravel vacs 2x weekly)...just something to consider.
 
I have the white sand in my "platy" tank, and all I can say is it shows every-freaking-thing that touches it. All I see when I look at the tank is the waste on the bottom. In the long run, I wish I would have gotten something a bit darker....just to calm my obsessive compulsiveness a tad.
Or maybe it's the platies...they DO seem to always have huge poo strings hanging out of them. Really a disgusting lil fish if you think about it....
 
I guess I didn't really answer the OP's question. Yes, I had BBA grow in & on my white sand. I still scoop out small clumps of (what I hope is dead) algae, it seem to be gone otherwise (fingers crossed LOL).
 
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