New And Terrified!

[oldoak66]

Hello all. I have wanted a tropical fish tank for years and today it arrived, a 54 litre tank complete with filter, pump and heater. I went out to the local aquatics shop to get the rest of my "bits and pieces" and came away with nothing. I have read up a bit on it so knew a little about cycling, etc and I intend to do the fishless cycling which seems to make a lot of sense. I was so confused, though, with all the types of gravel. I quite like the look of the sand but I would imagine that would be difficult to clean. Is it just a personal preference or is there a "best type to get"? Also, I want to get a background for my tank - does anyone know the best place to get a good 3D version? I have searched the net and so far nothing floats my boat.

I will keep reading this forum because I've learned quite a bit already and no doubt will be posting many more questions in the near future. I hope you will be patient with me.

Thanks

 

[MHunt]

Hello all. I have wanted a tropical fish tank for years and today it arrived, a 54 litre tank complete with filter, pump and heater. I went out to the local aquatics shop to get the rest of my "bits and pieces" and came away with nothing. I have read up a bit on it so knew a little about cycling, etc and I intend to do the fishless cycling which seems to make a lot of sense. I was so confused, though, with all the types of gravel. I quite like the look of the sand but I would imagine that would be difficult to clean. Is it just a personal preference or is there a "best type to get"? Also, I want to get a background for my tank - does anyone know the best place to get a good 3D version? I have searched the net and so far nothing floats my boat.

I will keep reading this forum because I've learned quite a bit already and no doubt will be posting many more questions in the near future. I hope you will be patient with me.

Thanks

Welcome to the hobby!

By reading and researching the hobby first you're saving yourself from some pitfalls, that said there are some that you just have to learn by experience.

Personally for your first tank i would go for a gravel substrate, it's dead easy to clean with a gravel vac. Do that the same time as your water changes and you're laughing Sand does look good, but cleaning it can be a problem, and the fish get ill if the water quality isn't good. As far as tank decor goes, i prefer to go natural, Scout your LFS's for some nice pieces of wood or slate, they'll look great! I haven't used backgrounds on my tanks, but i would probably go for black and let the plants and hardscaping do the talking.

Anyway, the most important thing is to have fun, the hobby is great!

 

[DarkEntity]

Id stick with natural decor, nothing worse than one of the horrific multicoluored luminous plastic filled tanks or ones with castles, ships, skulls and the like stuffed in them.

Gravel is the way to go, sand can be a pain in the ass, plants sometimes wont grow, its a pain to clean, then you have possible anaerobic gas pockets....naaaa gravel gets a huge . I prefer pea gravel of abour 1-3 mm in size, and you would probably want about 2-4" of it in depth sloped up from front to back.

 

[kewskills]

to the forum
gravel first off is easiest, but i prefer sand

 

[fishlette]

i personally prefer sand. it is EASIER to keep clean than gravel. with gravel you have to get in there and get every last section and even then you may miss some. with sand you just hover your siphon over the top of the sand so that everything on top just gets sucked up. i use plain tubing not a gravel vac. you may get a little sand sucked up until you get the hang of where to hold the siphon but after that its a breeze.

sand is also good for many common tropical bottom dwellers like kuhli loaches, corys etc i wouldnt keep these guys in tanks with gravel. but if youre not having bottom dwellers you have to make sure your sand is 'sifted' on occasion to avoid the gas build ups mentioned before. if cared for properly these pockets wont cause any probs. ive had sand in all my tanks for a long time now and i would never go back to gravel.

basically it comes down to preference

 

[Nosnibor]

Hello all. I have wanted a tropical fish tank for years and today it arrived, a 54 litre tank complete with filter, pump and heater. I went out to the local aquatics shop to get the rest of my "bits and pieces" and came away with nothing. I have read up a bit on it so knew a little about cycling, etc and I intend to do the fishless cycling which seems to make a lot of sense. I was so confused, though, with all the types of gravel. I quite like the look of the sand but I would imagine that would be difficult to clean. Is it just a personal preference or is there a "best type to get"? Also, I want to get a background for my tank - does anyone know the best place to get a good 3D version? I have searched the net and so far nothing floats my boat.

I will keep reading this forum because I've learned quite a bit already and no doubt will be posting many more questions in the near future. I hope you will be patient with me.

Thanks

Hiya and welcome to this great wonderful forum, it's the best

It's my first tank and I went with sand, I haven't found it to be a problem at all, not one bit. Just maintain it with a vac... Simple.

When you purchase plants just make sure you get ones that will grow in sand, there are hundreds of them. I just made sure I used a fertiliser stick and buried it close to the plants and they look great. It is personal preference, just make sure whichever one you do go for, make sure if you have any bottom drellers, they are compatible with it. For example some catfish or cory's can hurt themselves on course gravel, do research on the fish and you will decide then.

Good luck on whatever option you go for, and good luck with the fishless cycle, it's the BEST way

Martin

 

[oldoak66]

Thank you ALL for your comments and useful tips. Much appreciated. Feel a little less terrified now

 

[Robris]

Can live plants go well in gravel or they do better with sand?

Also how often do you have to move your sand around to prevent toxic gas build up?

 

[MHunt]

Can live plants go well in gravel or they do better with sand?

Also how often do you have to move your sand around to prevent toxic gas build up?

I find that plants grow well in gravel, ok in sand, but best if you can have a layer of soil below the gravel or sand.