Mugwump's Fish World

My nephew wants to turn their 180 into a cichlid tank and he wants sand, preferably white sand.  I've heard that silica sand can promote diatom growth so that is probably out.  The obvious solution is sugar sizes aragonite but there are two problems.  He would need a lot and its expensive and he wants blue rams for sure so I'm not sure they would tolerate the hardness.  Our water is hard enough without it. 

Has anyone used pool filter sand.  I've seen some good reviews of the ACE hardware brand and its cheap (13 bucks for 50 pounds) but I am not sure what it is made of.  I think it is quartz which should be pretty inert as far as water chemistry goes if I remember correctly.

Any other ideas.  That's his goal right now if they can't catch any trout to put in there on their trip to Missouri next week.   

I have used pool filter sand. Pool supply place not too far from me, yea about $12 for 50 lbs.  Grains are slightly bigger than sand box sand but not much.  I don't know what it is made of but it was extra clean. I put it in without washing without a problem.  Also have used construction sand from Home Depot without any problems, but it is finer and might damage HOB filters if it blows around and gets sucked into the filter.  Didn't notice any Diatom problems with either one.  Then again I usually have Bristlenoses in the tanks and they would take care of any Diatoms.

A lot of discus keepers use #20 pool filter sand, its fine enough that the poop & uneaten food sits on top where its easy to clean up. In my experience brown algae (diatoms) is a temporary thing that often shows up in the first few months after a new tank is started.

I've heard of silica sand being blamed for diatom growth but I'm skeptical. Glass and quartz and pool filter sand are all made of silica and just about all natural water already has a tiny amount of dissolved silica. I'm pretty sure the diatoms are getting it from that not from the sand.

Yes that is the stuff. I put it in cory tanks. Don't have a any Diatoms in the cory tanks. I do have Diatoms in 5 year old bare bottom tanks so I doubt it is the sand.