reptile sand or fishtank?

Question

my local petco does not have sand for fish tanks, would it be possible to use reptile sand for the fishtank instead, the reptile sand is usually a calcium substrate i believe.

Answer 1

Sands based on calcium are usually not the best choices for freshwater tanks unless you plan to keep Malawi, Victorian, or Tanganyikan Cichlids, or other fish found in those lakes. A better, inert, option would be diatomaceous earth (pool filter sand) which is not only cheap, but also provided many nutrients for live plants. At 50 pounds for about $10-15, it makes a great white substrate (and can be found in gray varieties). It is also much heavier than sandblasting sand and does not contain much silica, so it will not cause algae blooms, nor will it be so light that fish can easily kick it into the filter. Feel free to email me if you have any questions.

Soop Nazi

EDIT: Live sand is ONLY for saltwater tanks. It is also mostly composed of calcium, and will sharply raise your pH, AND, the "live" part of it will all die, decompose, and cause spikes in ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.

Answer 2

If you want reptile sand, you should have the fish that SoopNazi gave. If you want other fish, use normal live sand for aquariums.

CC

Answer 3

find an exotic fish store nearby

Answer 4

confusing situation. lookup with the search engines. that could help!

Answer 5

very confusing point. research onto google and yahoo. this may help!