Sand Bottom Vs. Gravel

[Milezone]

Hi Gang,

I will soon be revamping my tank and would like to know how you all feel about sand bottom versus gravel. I really love the look of clean sand, but it seems it might be tricky to deal with. (Cleaning, etc..) If not sand then I am wanting black gravel.

Any help would be great.

Milezone

 

[tnhowery]

Here is a good post that will tell you all you need to know.


http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showto...373&hl=sand


TH

 

[Milezone]

Here is a good post that will tell you all you need to know.


http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showto...373&hl=sand


TH

Thank you.

 

[Kevstir]

i went from gravel to sand and find it a lot better, everything sits on top so its easy to know when to give it a clean , as food sits on top it make its easier to judge if your over feeding or not , if you have Cory's you will get a big thumbs up from them , even though i had small rounded gravel before i can see a marked improvement in the Cory's barbels after moving to sand ..

Oh and it looks loads better

Kev

 

[ox5477]

Sand

 

[DazedNCoNfUsEd]

Another vote for sand. I switched from gravel to sand in both of my tanks and I love it. Just make sure if your filter is on you don't ruffle up a bunch of sand near the intake. I burned up a Penguin like that.

 

[Shaker]

I've got that really fine black gravel in 2 of my tanks, along with a black paint background, I think it looks really cool. A nice happy medium between sand and gravel.

IMO both sand and gravel have their advantages, and disadvantages. With gravel fine bits of food can get trapped and rot away in the gaps, also not very kind to the barbels of some fish, i.e Corys and Loaches. Sand looks nice but gas pockets can form and IMO its harder to clean ( especially in a big tank )

At the end of the day it's owners preference.

 

[Kevstir]

i'm surprised at the amount of people who say sand harder to clean than gravel, iv found it way easier to clean the sand , mind you i use one of those air operated gravel vac's with the bags to catch the muck so maybe that's why

 

[Tsi_User]

In both of our tanks we have black gravel and IMO it looks great. It seems to brings the fish's colors our more and hasn't had any ill effects on our Cories. If I had to do it again though I would probably use black sand (if I could ever find it).

 

[OohFeeshy]

Sand is better, much more natural and no fish prefer gravel to sand. Not at all difficult to clean, you're unlikely to suck much up and even if you do, it's heavy so will stay at the bottom of the bucket where you can put it back in. And gas pockets are only a tiny risk, and thats only if you have a really deep substrate (like 4"+) and the lower layers are poorly oxygenated. And even then if you happen to get one, its very, very unlikely to do any damage.

 

[nadajdui]

Regarding anaerobic pockets, how often should you run your fingers through the sand to prevent them if your sand is, say .5" deep?

 

[OohFeeshy]

Half an inch? Whenever you can be stuffed. Like if you do a complete clean out, then mebbe. Don't be alarmed at any gas that comes off- most likely it's air that got trapped when you put in the substrate.

 

[PaPeRo]

IMO pure sand only for saltwater tanks. Black gravel looks great but is unatural unless it's black sand for saltwater. For freshwater I think a mixture of sand and fine and coarse gravel is best in 60%, 30%, and 10% ratios respectively.

 

[Andrew Tan]

I went from all gravel to a sand & gravel mix and all my fish now seem to be a lot happier. For turning the sand over, why not introduce some malaysian trumpet snails? They will turn the sand over for you as they burrow through eating detritus & left over food. They won't eat your plants either.