Anyone Have A Mix Of Substrates?

[stoneagedinosaur]

Newbie mistake made through lack of research - I have some lovely shiny rounded gravel substrate in my tank and 4 sterbai and 2 peppers. Have read loads of stuff NOW about having sand... Was wondering about having my tank half gravel and half sand... anyone tried this? Does it work?

I'm thinking about left side gravel and right side sand (not hugely technical but you get the picture) Would the corys choose the sandy side?

Interested in your views and unlike some others I won't get offended as I have asked your opinion

 

[mattlee]

i dont think the corys would choose a side...but the sandy side would be better for them

my concern was how were you going to keep the sand mixing with the gravel?

i think if your going to change half you may as well go all or nothing.....


i hope ive not offended you in any way

 

[Curiosity101]

I'm sure I've seen people do this before by using plastic dividers that you put in before you start filling with substrate. If I were going to try something like this then that's definitely what I'd do. Some sort of bendy plastic sealed in with aquarium sealent. Then fill as normal and let the gavel spill over a little onto the sand side so the plastic isn't visible. The reason I would pick bendy plastic is so I could make a slight S shape where the change would be from gravel to sand. That way it wouldn't look so harsh and would hopefully 'flow' better.
Also if you tried to do it on an angle and simulate the changing gradient down a beach that could help.

Haven't actually done it myself though, so please don't try it and blame me!

 

[Ben M]

hi, i've done it (see my journal to see what it looks like), and i think it looks good. the only problem is, i've ended up with some of the gravel mixed in with the sand which is a bit annoying, but is my fault for messing about with it. i have used bits of slate to split up the 2 sections, but plastic would stop more of the gravel from mixing with the sand. also, when vacuuming the substrate it might mix it up. but to me it looks quite natural, so if you like the look of it, and don't mind a little bit of gravel in the sand, then go for it!

cheers

 

[stoneagedinosaur]

Cool - I'm having a big clean out in the summer, so I may well have a go at that. Like the idea of the gradient, not sure how to stop the sand from sliding down any gradient. I'm sure it wouldn't matter if there was some overlap between gravel as long as it didn't all mix together?

 

[Curiosity101]

I was suggesting having the gravel at the top of the gradient and then going down to soft sand.

 

[kiriyama]

Hi I tried this a while back, used pebbles as a divider, the gravel sits on the sand easier than the sand on the gravel, I tried the sloping angled corner effect, somehow it still got mixed??? Does look nice for a while though, another thing is having gravel in the corners on top of the sand, nothing wrong with a bit of experimentation

 

[stoneagedinosaur]

I was suggesting having the gravel at the top of the gradient and then going down to soft sand.

Ah - right you are. Now playing with ideas of sand substrate with gravely islands held in place with pebbles... Hopefully, the design will be right come summer