thanks for the replies people, sorry i keep putting the same pic up of my rekord60, it has changed since then but just haven't taken any pics. that 'scape was very sucessfull, very very little maintainance and looks great.
all the other tanks on here look great too and most probably took more work than mine. sometimes simple is good!
for the rekord (LOL) sand in freshwater is fine, in fact better than gravel if you have bottom dwellers. how many rivers have you seen with a gravel floor??? not many i think!
a huge bag of playsand that you can just about lift costs £4-6 (from B&Q, Wickes, homebase etc..) and will last you a life time. changing the substrate is easier as well. i syphon out all the sand and replace every few months. no more effort than a normal water change!