Sand in betta tanks.

[Auratus]

How would sand work in a betta tank with no filter? I mean cleaning the sand and doing water changes. Would it be too messy?

 

[Synastic]

Hey I have never thought about that. That would be awesome. Okay, I will wait along side you Auratus to see what the Betta Jedi Council says.

 

[buggyboutbettas]

I've been wondering that myselt.

 

[cometcattle]

Me too.

 

[bittersweet]

add another to the list, cause i was gonna ask the same question! lol. ive always wondered how people clean there tanks with sand for substrate..wouldnt the sand go up the syphon? very curious and interested!

 

[coconutman39]

dont take my opinion seriously, but it sounds like a good idea to me.

 

[Beta316]

Ok this is only from my experience.......

I had a 1 gallon tank and I decided to try out sand. (It was unfiltered like you said) I did 1/4 water changes everyother day and full water every week so that I can cleand the sand. It was a pain in the a$$ to clean the sand. losts of particles seemed to burry themselves there and I spent alot of time cleaning the sand. Plus my fish then got velvet. I thought it would go away (I was a betta newbie) but 3 days later it got really bad. Spots were all over him. So then I got marble rock and medicated the tank and he got better. But I thought it was weird how only a few weeks after I tried sand he got sick but never got sick when i had regular tank rocks. Don;t know if it was the sand it self or what.

 

[coconutman39]

i change my opinion...bad idea.

 

[Lenna]

I have sand and gravel mix in oldest tank (12gUK/14gUS) and the sand doesn't get sucked up the siphon. This sand is about 2-3mm diameter.

I was wondering this very thing, because I have a 12g tank I'm using to breed in so its bare bottom. But, once the babies grow up I was thinking of some dark (grey/black) sand, although the tank would be filtered. I don't think I'd use sand without a filter, but I guess it would be fairly easy to clean as the particles of food and crap wouldn't fit down between the gaps in the sand.

 

[thecichlidaddict]

My betta is kept in a 15 gallon planted community with sand substrate.

Sand is fantastic. As far as the betta goes it seems to make no difference one way or another. The betta could care less.

Sand is great though. Its density means that no food or debris will sink into it where it will decay, like gravel. Mulm is lighter then sand, so by hovering a syphon over the sand bed it can be picked up with minimal amounts of sand. In smaller bowls and tanks airline tubing can be used as a vacuum, simply syphon water into a bucket and hover the tube around the surface of the sand.

That I think sand looks 10x more natural then gravel, is, of course, my own personal opinion.

 

[annieka]

I also haven't had no problems with sand for with gravel.
But most of my betta's live in densly planted tanks with 60 litre or more and there are shrimps and kuhli's to clean up left over food. And I do water changes every week 30%.

 

[buggyboutbettas]

I really don't think that sand has any relation to Beta316's problem.

 

[Dreaded]

I kept sand in three of my betta tanks and it really was a pain to clean. I just stuck with gravel because I couldn't get all the food up out of the sand. My betta BURRIED it. He would swim down low and it would kick up sand. Sometimes at feeding, when he was excited, he'd dart to the top and kick up sand with his force. It was a mess. So I just went back to gravel. Sand did look very very pretty, though...