Best Sand for a Turtle Tank (Advantages and Disadvantages)

At some point, every turtle owner will want to add some substrate to its turtle tank. And as we discussed in our previous article, sand is the best option. But there is more than one type of sand, and some types are better suited for turtle tanks while other types are really dangerous. So which sand is the best for a turtle tank?

The best sand for a turtle tank will have bigger grains, so it won’t be easily moved by your turtle and will be free of any impurities and bacteria. And will have a pleasant color that will give your tank a pleasant aspect.

Out of the three possible substrates, sand, river rocks, and gravel, sand is without a question the best choice, but just like every substrate, it comes with its own advantages and disadvantages.

Disadvantages of Sand

The biggest disadvantage of sand is that you have to be really careful when you clean it. Sand is pretty small and light, so you have to be careful how far away you hold the siphon, if you take it too close to the sand, some of the sand will get sucked away.

Fortunately, this problem can be overcome quite easily. When you clean the tank, you just have to keep the siphon as far away as possible in the beginning, and then get closer little by little, when you see that sand is starting to get sucked, move the siphon back a little, and use that distance from now on when you clean the tank.

Most likely you will remove some sand from the tank the first few times that you clean it, but after two or three tries you should get a general idea of what is the ideal distance.

One more downside is that it can make your tank look cloudy and messy if your turtle swims too close to it and starts throwing it around. But this will only last for 5 or 10 minutes, so nothing that will affect your tank or your turtle in any way.

A common concern that people have is that they believe that their turtles might end up eating some sand, and this is a valid concern. There is a chance that your turtle will eat a couple of grains of sand every once in a while, by mistake. But there is no reason to worry. Sand is very small, and won’t block the intestines, and no infection can take place due to sand being eaten. So there is no safety problem.

Now let’s move to the advantages.

Advantages of Sand

The first one is that it completely covers the bottom of the tank, so not even the smallest particle of dirt won’t be able to get to the bottom of the tank. This will make cleaning the tank considerably easier.

Another advantage is that sand comes in a huge variety of colors, actually sand can have any color imaginable. To obtain those colors sand is chemically treated, but that doesn’t make the sand dangerous to the turtle in any way, so don’t worry about that if you are interested in colored sand.

Recommended Sand

The first and most important thing about sand is the place where it comes from, you can’t use any sand that you found outside. The sand has to be bacteria-free, dust-free, and free of any kind of impurities, this is why I strongly recommend buying sand that is specially prepared for tanks and aquariums.

For a turtle tank, you will want to use sand that has bigger grains. Soft sand will only cause a mess in the tank, because it’s very light it will get thrown away everywhere when the turtle swims.

Here are a few links to some really cool sand that will fit perfectly in any turtle tank.

Black Sand, White Sand, Colored Sand.

I personally think that sand is one of the best options when it comes to substrates. But there is another possibility that is even better. And that is to combine sand with river rocks.

Best Way to Use Sand

By combining river rocks with sand you will be able to completely get rid of the disadvantages of sand. And you will be able to give your tank a very interesting look.

River rocks can also come in a few different colors besides the normal grey, and light brown. They can also be completely white or completely black. And since white and black go well with every other color, you can imagine how many possibilities you will have if you combine them with the colored sand.

Since the sand will fill the space between the rocks, there will be nothing that will get stuck under the rocks. And the river rocks will also help a little by making it a little harder for the sand to get sucked by the siphon when you clean the tank.

This combination only brings advantages, there is no disadvantage that you get if you combine both. So in my opinion this is the best possible substrate for any tank.

How I Use River Rocks and Sand

At the moment I have two turtle tanks, and one in one of them I use Imagitarium Black Aquarium Sand, which is simple black sand that helps the development of healthy bacteria in the water, and because it’s black it makes all the mess on the bottom of the tank hard to see. And I also placed some white rocks over it.

For my other tank, where I keep my two female turtles I went with something more colorful so I used some orange sand in combination with some white rocks. The tank looks really great but the problem is that you can clearly see when too much dirt gathers on top of the substrate, and it doesn’t look that great then. So even if the orange sand looks great, unless you want to have to clean your tank too often I would suggest you go with a different color, maybe green or something like that.

If you are interested in the products I just mentioned here are some links to Amazon from where you can get them:

Final Thoughts

The last thing that I want to tell you is to make sure that you wash everything that you plan to add to your tank, this includes sand, rocks, grave, and any decorations. If you don’t wash them properly you might add some harmful bacteria to the tank, and your turtle might get sick.

Have fun decorating your tank!