Gravel *and* Sand?

[Autonerd]

Just got some pygmy corys, and after reading more and looking at pics, I want to change my gravel (pebble) substrate for sand. Read lots of messages on how to do it, so I'm set there.

Here's the thing: My wife really likes the pebbles. So I'm wondering, can I do both? Not on top of each other; I know the sand will sink into the pebbles. But I'm thinking of leaving a small part of it as pebbles, and creating a nice beach/lagoon effect.

Anyone ever try it?

 

[Cazgar]

It could work & look great, the corys would definitely love the sand

 

[steve1]

yeah why not my mam has half sand and half gravel blended together in her tank it's not just a striaght line cut between them tho lol its blended in nicely

 

[This Old Spouse]

I've done that before and it's quite stunning to look at. Still a pain to clean the gravel, though!

 

[FarmboyUK]

Will look good. Depending on your stock the gravel may slowly get burried under the sand but that's easilly reversable

 

[Autonerd]

Cool, thanks all! I will give it a try.

Next question: Will the plants do better in the gravel or the sand?

Aaron

 

[Jay-93]

I think over time, syphoning will end up just mixing it up, especially with low swimming fish flicking the sand around. Sounds a good idea though, unless you use pretty large pebbles?

 

[riogal_11]

I did pebbles and a spectra stone/sand mixture due to having malawi cichilds. They definitely carry sand everywhere and even move some of the smaller pebbles, but I just move them back around during water changes. I think it looks quite nice and have gotten a lot of compliments on it, so I say go for it.

 

[KrystaK]

Plants like a mixture, it's easier for them to take root in pebbles when they're just planted, but easier for them to stay securely rooted in sand, so a mixture is good
I have a layered mixture in my tank of river pebbles and coarse black sand on top with blue coral aquarium stone sprinkles on it to give it color, it looks good, if I may say so myself

(You can sort of see the layering in my signature, the river pebbles are the beige that you can sorta see along the very bottom)

 

[Autonerd]

Thanks everyone! I just did the conversion to sand last night, and the tank is still clearing. Going to see how the sand looks once the water is clear, and then probably add some larger rocks and smaller pebbles on the surface. Removing the pebbles and seeing all the crap that got stirred up really drove home the issue of how much dirt can be trapped, hence the reason I went all sand... at least for now. It may take a while but eventually I'll get the tank looking the way I want it! Thanks, all, for your input.

Aaron

 

[Crossfire]

Just do a riverbed! Its what I did! Simply pour desired amount of sand, sprinkle some small river gravel, and viola! Sand and gravel
What i did is I bought three kinds of gravel, really small, medium, and large, all river pebbles, mixed it up, and simply sprinkled it over my silica sand. My Kuhlis love it

 

[Baccus]

Your fish will enjoy the sand, what I do for my plants is add a couple of handfuls of gravel around their base, and eventually the sand gets mixed with it and the plant is nice and secure. This seems to work even with cory's that like undermining my plants and spitting sand every where as well as with full grown bristle noses that can dislodge plants with one sweep of their tails. In one of my tanks I even sectioned off a corner of the tank using flat rocks around 5-10cm thick to create a low wall. In behind this walled area I put some sand but mostly gravel and planted most of my Amazon Swords, they are thriving in this corner and the cory's still go up and play around through the plants. I think it has also worked so well because the walled area allowed me to make the substrate deeper in that area and the cory's haven't been able to rearrange everything for me.

 

[jenjen_82]

I did pebbles and a spectra stone/sand mixture due to having malawi cichilds. They definitely carry sand everywhere and even move some of the smaller pebbles, but I just move them back around during water changes. I think it looks quite nice and have gotten a lot of compliments on it, so I say go for it.

nice tank I like ur pots!

 

[smudge_]

is it ok to add some sand with fish in the tank? I wouldn't mind some corys at some point but have stones. If the sand went in and took a while to settle would this annoy the current fish?

 

[Noahs ark6]

is it ok to add some sand with fish in the tank? I wouldn't mind some corys at some point but have stones. If the sand went in took a while to settle would this annoy the current fish?

If you wash the sand very well, and then pour it into a bowl and lower the bowl into the tank, it should not mist the water