Confused About Sand Vs. Gravel

[Crossfire]

I was told on this forum that sand is altogether a much better substrate for the well being of plant roots and the fish, especially bottom dwellers. But I have a book on tropical aquariums that says sand shouldn't be for "anything other than a base layer and it quickly compacts down and will soon eliminate oxygen from the substrate, encouraging unwanted anaerobic bacteria to flourish." Now i was planning on doing all sand with some rocks and pebbles on top to create a natural look, but i dont have any bottom dwelling fish to stir the sand, such as corys, and I'm just really confused.....any advise is greatly apppreciated

 

[joselaz5780]

It all comes down to personal option really and what type of fish you have, if you have bottom dwellers such as cories, i recommend sand with some rocks here and there, i don't know what effect it has on plants since i use fake plants most of the time though... good luck!

 

[StandbySetting]

Sand is fine, anaerobic pockets are nothing to worry about, it is true that there is very little if no oxygen deep in the substrate, and Hydrogen Sulfide is formed as a result of anaerobic digestion, but as soon is it comes into contact with water in an aquarium it is oxidized to Sulphur and water. An average depth substrate of sand is fine. There's no need to disturb the sand.

 

[Crossfire]

Thanks for the help! Much appreciated thank you!

 

[fishguy2727]

Sand is much more natural, much cleaner, and much easier to maintain. The sand that I use is very uniform and the perfect size, I have never had any issues with it.

I have heard of a few people who accidentally disturbed toxic pockets and watched their fish die within moments. Maybe it wasn't actually the hydrogen sulfide, but something in those pockets was a problem. Those people also used cheapo sands like PFS and play sand, so the uniformity and grain size was not ideal.

 

[Scott MacAdam]

My first tank had gravel. Every tank after that I went with sand. I find it looks better, its easier to clean and its easier to plant in. just my opinion but it all comes down to personal preference.

 

[Tizer]

Gravel is so last year.

 

[Delloy12]

Yup, I also had gravel in my first tank now I've got white sand which looks amazing

 

[StandbySetting]

Sand is much more natural, much cleaner, and much easier to maintain. The sand that I use is very uniform and the perfect size, I have never had any issues with it.

I have heard of a few people who accidentally disturbed toxic pockets and watched their fish die within moments. Maybe it wasn't actually the hydrogen sulfide, but something in those pockets was a problem. Those people also used cheapo sands like PFS and play sand, so the uniformity and grain size was not ideal.

When using deep sand substrate Oxygen depletion can become a problem if it is disturbed due to the oxidation of Hydrogen Sulfide, but when using a normal volume of substrate this wont be a problem.

 

[Athena]

I couldn't make up my mind which I liked best so I used a mixed substrate - so I have gravel in the centre and sand either side. My convicts are always digging pits and moving the sand around so I don't have that problem of compacted sand. I guess if you don't have bottom dwellers who like to root around in the substrate, you could always just give the sand a little stir every day or two.

Athena

 

[maisy12345]

How shallow should you have the sand,so that these pockets of hydrogen sulphide gas don`t kill the fish ,and why would using cheap argos play sand be a problem?

 

[Tizer]

it doesnt happen and argos play sand is fine, why do people post this junk and worry others, its not necessary

 

[Athena]

it doesnt happen and argos play sand is fine, why do people post this junk and worry others, its not necessary

+1

I think Argos playsand is brilliant!

Has anyone on these forums ever had fish die due to using sand? Would be interesting to know. I've not noticed any posts to that effect since joining.

As it's never happened to me or anyone I've come across I really have no idea whether there is any truth in these rumours or not. I mean, even with gravel substrate if you were to stir it up enough and release all that gunk underneath you could cause all sorts of problems that could kill a fish (which I have heard of happening), so I don't see how sand has got this reputation of being more of a danger than gravel.

But, like I said before, if someone is overly worried by it, then simply give it a stir regularly if you don't have fish to do it. it will give you peace of mind, if nothing else LOL

It seems that the far majority of us are using sand these days - it looks great, it's gentler on the fish and cleaner than gravel. One of the reasons I kept some gravel in my tank is because I actually love getting the gravel vac right in there and sucking up all that poop, which you can't do with sand LOL (I know... I'm weird LOL).

Athena

 

[Tizer]

i like the sand because the poo sits on the top, and because i have decent flow, it gets stucked up by my filter intakes, so i rarely have to vac

 

[Athena]

i like the sand because the poo sits on the top, and because i have decent flow, it gets stucked up by my filter intakes, so i rarely have to vac

Same here! It's very rare that I have to remove detritus from the sand with the turkey baster in my main tank as the filters are super (I now have one each end). But the gravel in the centre section gets a vac every week, which I thoroughly enjoy doing LOL

However, in my little 28l fry tank (only 5 in there) they are such messy little things and the filter in that tank is nothing special...so every other day I'm sucking up their poopsies with the baster to keep the sand clean LOL