Adding Sand For Cories

[purplefish212]

Hey everyone I'm new here so HI.
I just got 3 Corydoras (took me a while to find and are sooo cute) and I read that they prefer sand to gravel. I have gravel now, would it be okay to add sand and mix it with the gravel? Or don't bother since I have already established my tank with the gravel that I have? Also if I do add sand, should I put the fish in a bucket while I am doing it and let the sand settle before putting them back in?
Anyone have any recomendations as to what is the best sand for aquariums is and where I could find it?
Thanks!

 

[chesterscot]

i use argos play sand in my tanks and it works fine just needs lots of washing
you can mix it with your gravel but many ppl dont like the look of this in their tanks but i think it looks more like a river bed i would remove the fish and water when adding it so it doesnt take ages to clear hope this helps
regards scot

welcome to the forum by the way

 

[shroob]

Like chesterscot said make sure you prewash any sand thoroughly, this will be important as your tank is already running and you want the sand to settle as quickly as possible. I would also consider turning off the filters so that sand doesn't get sucked into the impellar or other parts and damage them. Though I'm not exactly sure how long a safe period of time is to leave a filter off.

 

[jourdy288]

Right, it depends on personal preference, really, but sand mixed with gravel is safe..But it is vital to rinse your sand after purchase.

 

[erk628]

Ok first off if you want to mix the two then I would suggest actually mixing the two up. I wouldn't just throw the sand on top. What I would do personally is take the gravel out and put in sand. I have five tanks with sand right now. I have white sand that I purchased at Lowe's for three something for a 50 pound bag, its play sand. The rule of thumb is 1 pound of sand for each gallon. You want about 1 to 2 inch's on the bottom. Now with the whole rinsing thing! Yes its best to rinse it first, is it a must no. The first few times I rinsed it and didn't see a big difference. The whole reason for rinsing it is to get the dust that has be created rinsed off which make your water cloudy in the beginning. Even if it says pre-rinsed the more the bag is moved around the more dust is created. Me personally I don't rinse I just pour it fill it up and a few hours later clear as day.

Now if you do decide to go sand you will want to drain out the water. Heres how I would go about doing it. Grab a bucket or an extra tank siphon the water in there put in the fish if its another tank go ahead and put the heater and filter on there if its a bucket don't worry about it. Then I would take out all the gravel rinse the sand if you want, I wouldn't bother. Pour in the sand to the desired depth. You will find at first when cleaning during water changes you will suck up some sand so you might want to put in a little extra. With cleaning the sand I use a gravel vac take off the plastic pipe and just use the hose. One you have your desired sand level grab a plate lay on the sand and pour the water onto the sand. One its full put the filter and heater back in and the fish. It may be cloudy but will clear up in a couple hours or over night depending on how bad it is. The cloudiness will not hurt the fish.

The main reason for cloudiness in my experience is pouring the water directly on the the sand which stirs it up. Also putting sand in while theres water in the tank will make it very cloudy. If you can't wait a few hours or over night they do sell a chemical that will clump the sand up and clear the water up faster, I have used this and it does work. Also from my experience if you pour the water slowly on the plate and it doesn't stir up the sand I have had many times were it wasn't cloudy at all, this was also without rinsing it.

Another note watch how deep you make the sand the deeper it is the faster gas pockets will form. I have two tanks right now that I put a little two much in and every week I stir it up and its black down deeper but goes aways when stirred. Thats another thing you will need to do regardless the depth is stir the sand up because gas pockets will form and can be deadly to your fish if they swim over it as it is released. I stir mine up once a week during water changes.

 

[purplefish212]

Thank you soo much everyone for your advice!!!! It is greatly appreciated

 

[shroob]

Found this really useful article on cichlid-forum, its worth a read.

LINK

 

[keenonfish]

I think corys are perfectly happy with gravel as long as it has rounded corners with no sharp bits. I am in the middle of deciding myself and while I like sand I think I will first try gravel which incidently I think it better for plant roots.
Also if you plonk sand on top of gravel it will surely just fall through I think you need large quantity of sand to gravel?