Sand Or Gravel

[guppi]

Thinking of changing to sand, but need advice which is best. Your opinions please.

 

[electropunk06]

Hi, what fish/plants do you have in there? Just for aesthetics i would say sand but thats my opinion.
Lloyd

 

[rdstars]

For me its Play Sand every time.

 

[twodoctors]

I recently changed from coarse gravel (I didn't know better) to fine gravel/sand. I will go fine gravel/sand everytime now as I find that food (and other stuff) tends to fall between the gaps with gravel and cause pollution. With sand/fine gravel it stays on top and you can vacuum it off later. Also allows you to keep corys.

Adrian

PS I bought Unipac black fine gravel. It was a doddle to clean as it wasn't dusty at all. Obviously a lot more expensive than play sand.

 

[curlyriff]

I would always go down the fine gravel route with 2-3mm piece such as the Unipac mentioned above. It't not extremly expensive and I got some nice white quartz fine gravel 25kg for £22 from my local MA which is alright. As said easy to remove pollutants. Looks good and perfect for planting.

 

[frankie2]

have recently changed to play sand !! am very hppy with result as satated in earlier post everything is much easier to clean and looks a lot more natuaral than coarse gravel . and price wise £6.00 for 30kg has gotta be a bonus !! good luck in wahtever you decide , but definatly way forward in my eyes

 

[Aqua Tom]

Play sand is the way forward.

 

[trianglekitty]

I'm also considering switching to sand because I plan to have cory cats, but I have a silly question...

Wouldn't the sand get sucked up when you "gravel" vac? How do you clean it without that happening? My gravel vac can suck up small snails, so I'm thinking the sand would just pass straight through.

 

[electropunk06]

i just hover the gravel vac above the sand and disturb the water to get all the dirt floating and suck it up, i get a little bit of sand as well but not too much.
Lloyd

 

[guppi]

Thanks for the replys, going for the play sand.

 

[rdstars]

I found Argos was the cheapest place when I bought it.

I've used it for about 3 years now, for me what I find is I only put a thin layer down as some fish will shift it about alot and also some keep getting into my filter. Also when doing water changes I can just scoop some of the old up and chuck and sprinkle a little down after. Will look a little hazy for an hour but soon clears.

So much easyer to keep clean than gravel I find and my last bag has lasted my 350L+ tank over 1 1/2 years and still have more, not bad for under £5.

 

[Harlequins]

I use argos play sand also,and found it fab,if i do end up sucking it up during cleaning,i just use a sieve and sieve the sand back out the bucket into a jug, it catches any debris in the sieve,then i pop it back into the tank

 

[mmccx]

how easy/hard is it top change the substrate when its already filled with water?

 

[Aqua Tom]

how easy/hard is it top change the substrate when its already filled with water?

Its not easy at all if the tank is full up.

Best bet is to rehome your fish for a few hours in a big plastic container like you get from hardaware stores. syphone most of your water into it, then add heater, filter & ornaments, plants etc. Then add fish, then empty rest of water. Change substrate, then do the above in reverse.

 

[mmccx]

how easy/hard is it top change the substrate when its already filled with water?

Its not easy at all if the tank is full up.

Best bet is to rehome your fish for a few hours in a big plastic container like you get from hardaware stores. syphone most of your water into it, then add heater, filter & ornaments, plants etc. Then add fish, then empty rest of water. Change substrate, then do the above in reverse.

That doesn't seem too hard cheers for the heads up tho! I'm starting my first tropical fish tank with a gravel substrate but intend move over to sand at some point I just want get used to cleaning first and I hear gravel is the easiest tonstart with but give ne a few months until my tank is secure and I will change to sand!