sand sub how long till i add my fish

[budde]

heya guys today i redid my tank with white play sand and just wondering how how long till i can add my fish its all milky but clearing up should i hold off till its totally clear or is the cloudyness no big issue ?

[budde]

well its been about 6hrs now still a little milky nothing like it was though my discus seem to be getting a bit on edge in their waiting bucket if it dont clear up soon is there any discus safe water clearing solutions any one can recommend ?

[joller]

it won't harm the fish, usually if you rinse the sand in a bucket until the water runs clear this won't happen

[boydie]

mate im far from an expert,but filtration will clear it in time as well as the sand settling.
if you can hold off putting your fish in,i would,but if they are stressed it maybe better putting them back in the tank.
like i said im no expert,but try not to stress your fish out.........
cheer marty

[joller]

if its play sand form bunnings it will contain clay with a very fine particle size that will not get picked up by your filter

[budde]

yep its play sand from bunnings lol washed screened weed free my Ar$% lol but its comming along nice now i didnt realize it contained clay though im guessing this wont affect my fish ?
thanx for the feed back guys ive been out of the discus game for a few years now and just got back in to it loving every pain staking moment of it lol such fussy little turds but i love em and they are worth every head ache they can throw at me lol

[FinVision P/L]

Just to add my 2 bobs worth
It’s a shame that you used the play sand in the first place as joller said it most likely has clay in it, and possible water parameter altering substances. Play sand could influence the stability of the best water conditions required by Discus. But don’t panic it will most likely be ok this will not harm the fish as long as you keep chemistry parameters similar to what you had before you changed the substrate. But next time maybe try pool filter sand silica and flush it clean in a bucket before you use it,lol,, it has more stable properties

[joller]

yeah i'd also avoid play sand for discus, the clay won't harm the fish but the sand itself will probably contain some ammount of shell grit which will dissolve and increase hardness, ive heard of people having success with it but personally i didn't

[budde]

Brian your 2 bob is my 10 bucks mate any info you guys give is valued greatly I did read up a fair bit on the sand situation and yea i tried to get pool filter sand but couldnt find any from the 3 pool shops in my area( yea lame i know ) and my gravel was really pi$$ing me off with how dirty it got even at 2 day 50% changes and mega vacs i couldnt seem to get all the poops and what not so i decided sand and like 40% of posts i had read from different discus sites said it was ok to use but i think most were american maybe they have better sand lol
but again i cant thank all of you enough for the help and advice you guys provide for us noobs my mrs was a bit reluctant about the discus but shes enjoying em now and if i can keep these guys happy and alive she might just cave to that 7ft tank i really want lol :D

[budde]

OK its been about 10hrs now since i refilled my tank i just tested the water and my PH is hanging in there at 6.5 if the sand was going to raise my ph would it have happened in this time or is it somthing that takes a while then bam major rise ?

[Ghoti]

FWIW I use Bunnings play sand in one of my tanks and pool filter sand in the other. No discernible difference in PH or hardness (TDS, GH & KH).

But both tanks have water changes at same time and from same source.

Cheers,
Scott

[FinVision P/L]

That's interesting to know Scott I must confess I have never used play sand before, but please consider that their is the potential problem. and that is that bunnings would have an inconsistent supply, meaning they would most likely source the sand from several supplier locations which makes it impossible to keep a standard throughout all their outlets, oils ain't oils & sand isn't always sand lol

To answer your question. Budde It's impossible to say because we don't know the concentration levels of what's in the sand. If you do large water changes weekly you may never see a problem .We use filter sand because from my experience it's mostly the same no matter where you buy it ,its a bit like a Big Mac burger, lol