Substrate advice please!

[MooMaa83]

Hi, so we have fancy goldfish in a tank with gravel substrate, and are upgrading them to a much bigger tank. I was wanting to set up the new tank with a sand substrate this time, as heard that gravel can be dangerous to fancies as they can either injest or choke on it...and I have seen my black moor have one choking episode.

The first sand I got the colour looked much darker and very 'mud like' when in the tank (after much washing). So i got a white sand instead...however have washed it at least 20 times today and it has a scum like foam of floating sand on the surface. My plan is to leave it in the bucket overnight and see if it settles, but I don't want to put it in the tank like this.

Any advice on how to get rid of this, as washing isn't making a difference? Or any recommendations for different brands, or different substrate for goldfish? picture attatched. Many thanks.

What sand are you using and where is it from? Play sand is usually best, but can take some washing, nothing some filter floss won't get rid of though.

A small air pump with a small air stone will help, it's the water tension basically trapping the residue on the surface of the water, breaking that will change the resistance of the surface tension. All you need is a usb mini air pump, I know they're available from Amazon for about £8 or thereabouts and the great part about it being usb is there's no need to worry about water and electricity plus they cost practically penny's to run all year long 😊🍀

I had that, filled the bucket to the top really slowly and the scummy stuff flowed of over the top. I kept stirring it, let it settle and then used a bit more water to push it over the edge again until it stopped. My sand is black.

Aquarium Air Pump Mini USB Fish Tank Oxygen Air Pump Portable Ultra Silent Air Aerator Pump Energy Saving Oxygen Bubbler with Air Stone and Single Outlet Silicone Tube 1W

Is that aquarium sand? If not it really needs to be. I agree with needing sand (i've also had to rescue a choking fish ) but what about gravel with a layer of sand over it

Is that aquarium sand? If not it really needs to be. I agree with needing sand (i've also had to@ rescue a choking fish ) but what about gravel with a layer of sand over it

Thank you for the replies all. This was quite an old post. In the end I did what @Purplecorydoras suggested and this sorted it. I immediately regretted white sand choice though, it shows up all the goldfish poo! Not changing it now though.