Gravel Or Sand?

[typhoon]

i have a juwell vision 260 which i recently cleaned out and moved the fish into another tank. i am redonig the tank with a new structured back ground and new fish! ive always wanted sand but i dont know what to do with it or how to clean it? any help information and advice would be great thanks!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

there's some pinned topics on the subject here

 

[Triggerobsessed]

Sand is not a good choice. First of all, the sand allows for the formation of anerobic bacteria which is very bad. Sand can't be siphoned without a bunch of it being taken out. Also, debris just sit on top of it and collect in areas with little water movement. Go with gravel instead

 

[Zafirah]

go with gravel. i have sand and i HATE it i wanna get rid of it

 

[Shaun]

I have sand in my tank and had no problems with it so far. Anerobic bacteria can form but every time i do a water change (once a week) i just stir it around abit to prevent it. As for the debris sitting on top i use just a normal syphon and move it in a circular motion about 2" from the surface which disturbs it and then goes straight up the tube (without the sand).

Hope this helps

 

[fenwoman]

I have sand too and am very pleased with it. Much prefer it to gravel. Better for barbs and similar fish too.

 

[highfire]

I used to have gravel, but swapped to sand and have to say I am very glad I did.
I find it easy to clean. Like Shaun said, simply stir the sand around abit before syphoning. Then with a little pratice and patience you will soon be able to syphon the dirt away with the minimal loss of sand.
If you have fish that enjoy burrowing and digging around, sand is a must - my weather loach loves burying himself in it with just his barbels and one eye showing!

 

[Irf]

My community tank has gravel and my cichlid tank has sand, so I have current experience of both.

The gravel is reasonably easy to clean with the gravel-vac, and you'd be surprised at how deep the dirt can get. Only thing is it's not always that easy to see just how dirty the gravel is until you actually start cleaning.

The sand looks reasonably good, and the fish poo mainly just sits on top. It's true that you can suck up loads of sand when using a gravel-vac, but as already said just move the vac around to stir up the dirt a little and it will be sucked right up.

If you do some reading on how to use sand in an aquarium, you'll find that the anaerobic pockets (areas of sand that contain poisonous gases) only develop and become an issue when you have such a thick layer of sand that oxygen-rich water cannot penetrate it, and organic matter gets deep enough to rot without oxygen. I believe that the general guidance is that sand thickness of up to 2" is enough such that this problem is avoided.

Hope that's accurate and of some help.

Irf.

 

[Aggs]

I had gravel in my community tank but I switched to sand.I did'nt realise how dirty it got until I started to redesign the plants. I'm glad I did change to sand. Its easier to clean, looks better and my kribs love to move it around when excavating for their next brood.I have piles of sand where they've just dumped it.

 

[paul-discus]

Yes i have had experience with gravel and it's okay but give me sand any day of the week so long as it's stirred regularly it's fine and you can get certain fish and snails to stir it up but personal;ly i would only reccomend that you only have a half inch layer and if you suck it out no worries just put some more back min. Buy play sand from a builders yard or Play Centre or Wilkinsons do silver sand, it's a quarter of the price of that in the pet shops.