Gravel Or Sand?

[freckles]

Hi can you please help me i currently have a tropical tank thats well estblished and been running for over 14months, but my tanks had it so ive invested in a 620t aqua one unit 130litres, i have got a community tank of various fish and currently have gravel at the bottom but would like to put sand in my new tank, is this ok and what sand do i use, is it easy to clean and will it effect my tank set up?

 

[joecoral]

my personal opinion is that sand looks much better, and a lot of fish, such a cory species prefer it. a lot of people use childrens play sand, you can get 15kg from argos for £2.49. its different to clean than gravel, as all the waste settles on top of the sand so it needs siphoning off, but it wont affect your setup
hope this helps
JC

 

[freckles]

Thanks, for the help, ive never used sand so will look into that. ::

 

[joecoral]

you use it the same way you would gravel. it still needs washing before you put it in your tank. only difference is instead of using a gravel syphon which you push all the way to the bottom, you have to use a hose which you hold approx 1" above the substrate so that the crap on the substrate gets suck up but the sand itself does not. it takes a few tries to get the distamnce right, but its pretty easy once you get the hang of it

JC

 

[Faythee]

I found a good idea on a website and is what I am going to do with my new tank:

Substrate - 3mm black gravel and river sand; roughly 10:50kg ratio - mix the black gravel through the sand to create a dappled effect.

Looks nice !

I was wondering where to get the sand. Playbox sand is a good idea. Still wondering just how to rinse it though