Gravel or Sand

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I find sand helps keep water quality better, gravel has a habit of trapping waste and fish food in it and making it rot and cause smelly water but with sand it just blows right over it and into the filter- personally i find sand easier to clean than gravel.

 

[evofish]

how do u go about cleaning sand then?i would like sand when i get my new tank but i with sand fish will mess it all up and get sucked up by the filter?will sand work with a under gravel filte r?

 

[AlexsDaddy]

evofish- You can't use sand with a UGF. The problem there is that the sand will fall down through the holes in the UGF plate and fill the void that is ment for water circulation. Cleaning it is pretty easy. You just need a syphon tube, and with practice you will learn how far you need to stay away from the surface to suck up the junk with minimal sand.

I started off with gravel, but about a month ago switched to sand and was immediatly sold on it. It looks so much more natural, is easier to clean and to tell when it needs to be cleaned because everything sits on top of it, and the problem with it compacting isn't really a problem if you take the 5-10 seconds to wisk your fingers through it with every cleaning. I'm currently in the process of swapping all my tanks to sand.

 

[canarsie11]

I voted gravel, but I want a sand set up so bad

 

[maxpayne_lhp]

Sand for me!
Firstly, sand is easy and cheap! just do your best to clean it and it's on the way!
Secondly, many plants love sand and you can also easily add plants in!
Thirdly, many fish love sand! Like the bottom feeders who spend most of the time down there.
Fourthly, sand is easy to be maintained! Gravel is not as "tight" as sand so it traps more wastes down there.

 

[Griz]

I'm a huge fan of sand and a bit surprised really to see this poll so close, pretty much 50/50. I can see gravel for certain species that like to dig and rearrange the tank but otherwise it's sand for me.

 

[grayshark]

so its either look nice but hard to clean
or look ok but easy to clean im still no sure.

 

[Dragonscales]

Sand all the way IMO. It looks better, is cleaner, the fish like it better and it is less likely of harming bottom dwellers. There is also more surface area for beneficial bacteria to grow, always a bonus.

 

[LoachLover]

I like sand, easier to clean. I just use stuff from home depot or something, play sand.

 

[Iron Man]

I voted sand but I agree with one of the first posts.....there's no yes or no answer to just whether gravel or sand. I think gravel looks really nice in some tanks, and sand looks best in others.

I like sand because the fish are a lot happier with it, its more of their natural environment, especially for bottom feeders like cories who are constantly resting and rubbing their barbels on it. Cleaning it is a non issue at long as you have a gravel vac with enough suction power to suck up poop, but poop and debris will show up big time on it whereas it won't on gravel....although gravel is a PAIN to clean and if you ask me not as good for water quality....as you'll never completely clean the gravel and things can tend to rot over a period of time.

All that being said...hands down sand....all the way. I've had playsand in my tanks for years now and I won't go back.

 

[fayebee]

I'm currently using a fine gravel in my 180 litre tank, and quite like it, but intend to use sand in my new 350lt when I get it (tuesday, yay!) I'm not really sure which I like the look of better, but as my bigger tank is going to be plec orientated, i think sand is the way to go

 

[Valyrian]

I want sand but I'm worried that the current from the filter will kick up the sand and it will get sucked into the filter. Anyone know anything about this?

 

[Iron Man]

What are the dimensions/size of your tank and what kind of filter do you have? Sand doesn't usuallly get kicked up a lot unless there's a lot of water current near/against the bottom of the tank.