journal My AquaOne Tanks

[NoGi]

[Disciple]

What are you putting in these?

[NoGi]

Red cherries in the little one and orange rilli in the other if I can find anyone with descent quality.

[NoGi]

The LEDs in these are fairly ordinary though. Might look to see what alternatives are around. Could even get one to across both tanks I suppose.

[jc12]

Looking schmick! Is that iron sand in these tanks?

[NoGi]

Yup sure is. A total newbie to sand, washing it clean was the worse thing ever lol

[jc12]

Same here. I hate washing substrate. Haha.

Never used sand myself. Tempted to as it looks so good.

[jayc]

1 hour ago, NoGi said:

Yup sure is.

As in the Pieces Iron Sand?

Does it change water parameters (eg TDS) being high in Iron and other minerals according to the product description on TechDen.

[NoGi]

It's this stuff; http://www.thetechden.com.au/Pisces_Iron_Sand_20kg_Box_Set_p/sand100.htm

I haven't checked TDS but will try sometime this week

[s1l3nt]

Ive used Iron sand in my tanks for like 6 months or so now. It is an inert sand so you shouldn't have any problems with TDS, ph, hardness etc. I didn't, nor has anyone I know who uses it. So you should be all good for it :) It does suck to clean though... Had a black hand for a while there :D haha.

Just be careful in the deeper spots as it does compact a little, however I never had issues (up to 3 inch depth in my tanks). It is a great sand as its heavier than other sand like play sand for example, this means you can plant and scape and so on without running a muck of floating sand in your tank.

Be careful with your algae cleaner if its one of the magnet ones, the iron sand will attach to the magnet as some people have found out the hard way.. Personally, I've always used razor blades to clean my glass.

[NoGi]

6 minutes ago, s1l3nt said:

Be careful with your algae cleaner if its one of the magnet ones, the iron sand will attach to the magnet as some people have found out the hard way.. Personally, I've always used razor blades to clean my glass.

Oooooh hadn't thought of that lol.

My TDS is around 211 in the smaller tank and 249 in the 29L. As a comparison, it's 210 in my 4' with inert 1mm gravel substrate.

My pH meter needs calibration as it's reporting 11-12 on all my tanks. 

[s1l3nt]

Yep people forget that often from the "oh no" photos hahaha.

My tanks all sit around the 150 mark with inert or no substrates. So no difference for me :) pH is roughly the same between tanks too. I have found that it doesn't effect anything in my tanks and from what i have seen online, same goes for others. I'd feel pretty safe using it again (and intend too when needed).

[NoGi]

You won't kidding about the magnets lol. I wasn't cleaning, just testing to see what happens.