i was thinking of getting coral sand for my tank to act like a buffer so that my pH won't fall......

(i have driftwood and its making my pH unstable)

just wondering....if i get sand...how do u clean the poo from the bottom of the tank?

I really don't think need to clean sand but... that's my opinion

Sand isn't normally recommended for goldie tanks. I wouldn't even use it in any of my tropical tanks, including my larger Cichlid tank. It's too difficult to clean, as you noted. ANY substrate must be cleaned in order to keep the amount of rotting food and poop down. Too much of these in your tank, hiding in your substrate, will cause your ammonia to rise.

Rather than fiddling the pH through adding new things, why not get rid of the driftwood? Since we know that driftwood causes pH to fall, it's easier to buy fake driftwood that is made for aquariums than to deal with the pH problems. Most fish will adjust to the natural pH of their tank given time and it's much less stressfull for them to do that than to keep changing the pH through additions to your tank.

Having said that, if you still want to raise your pH, you can use coral GRAVEL, rather than sand. It never needs replacing and does a good job of regulating your pH to a slightly higher level. I use coral gravel in my cichlid tank, along with Lace Rock, which also aids in raising pH, and find it to be a good solution.

BuddyHolly, I agree. I have low kh in my tank, so I use crushed coral to keep the ph stable. I have it in the "extra" media cartridge of my filter, and it is working fine. I have a sparse layer of river rock on my tank bottom and didn't want to add coral gravel to it.

I wouldn't use sand with goldies either, they would constantly stir it up, and all kinds of waste and uneaten food would get trapped and rot. Sounds like a recipe for disaster to me.

Laura

I have low kh in my water, and use crushed oyster shell to buffer it. I put some in media bags in the media baskets in my filters, and some I mixed in with my plant substrate. I have natural driftwood too, and my pH and kh stay rock steady.