Sand in the Tank

[ditron]

Hi brains trust....
Im about to set up a 100cm(L) x 46cm(W) x 45cm(H) tank. My design is going to incorporate sloping height to the back using mainly sand, with soil on the side...
My question is....having so much sand at the back, does that cause too much weight there & less in the front...
I'm not too clever with weight ratios...
Thanks in advance for any help...

 

[Magnum Man]

I don’t think the weight will be a concern… I don’t personally like sand more than an inch to inch and a half deep… but that just may be me…

 

[Colin_T]

Don't mix different types of substrate because they end up blending in together and it looks crap and makes a mess. Use sand or gravel or a plant substrate but do not use more than one type of substrate in the aquarium.

Unless you have 6 inches or more of sand on one side of the tank and 1/2 inch on the other side, it's not going to make any difference and won't make much difference anyway because the tank is full of water.

 

[ditron]

I don’t think the weight will be a concern… I don’t personally like sand more than an inch to inch and a half deep… but that just may be me…

I agree with you. What else could I use to get height front to back...thanks

 

[Magnum Man]

I’ve found sand, to make it’s self flat faster than other substrates, but over time, all seem to end up flat… so even if you put something solid ( a wedge of plastic ) for example… the sand will continually move down the hill, piling up deeper at the bottom, and exposing the wedge at the top… if you were just after the look, and not wanted to plant on it, you could use silicone ( or a resin, or something) to glue it to the wedge… but you would never be able to hold enough, to plant in it…

I pump my water into my tanks, and one with sand, the pumped water pushes out a valley, and a ridge of sand that is as moved out of the valley, but within a few days everything is flat again… maybe the school of Cory’s move that much sand??? I would guess that if you found any pictures of anything but flat sand bottoms, the owner has to sculpt them every couple days