Sand Or Gravel?

[Tomegoodwin]

Sorry if this has been posted before but I keep getting mixed messages on google ect...
At the moment in my tank I am using gravel. Some plants are thriving but some last a couple of weeks. I am wanting to add big fake plants in the back ground and real ones in the middle and foreground.
However I like the look of sand and that's the substrate I really want to use but I've heard it's hard to clean and plants don't grow?
Any help would be greatly appritiated!!

 

[Mikey1]

At the moment in my tank I am using gravel. Some plants are thriving but some last a couple of weeks

it probably has nothing to do with the substrate, its more likely to do with the water conditions or how well or not your taking care of the aquarium

 

[Zikofski]

i agrea with Mikey, in that it all to do with the conditions of the water and what your doing for the plants in the form of its food, plants need the right amount of fertiliser, the right amount of co2 the right amount of light and flow in the tank, but sand is easier to clean, yes it looks dirtier but it is far easier to clean and keeps the aquarium cleaner in the long run, sand in my eyes looks great don't think i will ever go back to gravel, there is so much to choose from in what colour you want from sand either pale white play sand or my slightly more expensive sengal sand which is a mix of black and orange look in my sig for the pic ,

personally i would go with a full planted tank not half and half with fake plants but thats my own opinion

check my journal if you want any more info and if you have more questions feel free to ask more we try not to bite here on the forum

oh and another thing with sand, if you have any fish with barbels like loaches or cory's they ideally need to be on sand you will notice a HUGE difference in the behaviour as they love to filter the sand through there gills

 

[Tomegoodwin]

The pic in your sig is exactly the style I want I've just had to do with what I had though. I am now of to go get some sand and some wood like that and maybe some new rocks

 

[Zikofski]

aah thank you i am glad it was of use haha, the wood i found in my back garden not from my LFS if that helps

 

[copps321]

i prefer gravel no reason really apart from i like the look better

 

[shepherd88]

Just now finished treating myself to sand.....emptied all my gravel and out the sand in...waiting overnight for the sand to settle...already full of poo on top lol

 

[Zikofski]

haha ye that is an issue, to help with the poop you can increase your flow and if its right the poop will generally congregate into one small area which helps with cleaning it out, depending on what sand you have also helps darker sands hide the poor but allot of people use play sand which is almost white and ye poop shows up really badly on that

 

[abandonedbrain]

aah thank you

i am glad it was of use haha, the wood i found in my back garden not from my LFS if that helps

On a side note, I've been wondering about this. I live next to a river, and have wooded areas all around (in Midwest US, oak, maple, choke cherry and poplar for the most part). If I find pieces of interest (either on dry land or near/in the river), are those safe to put into a (new) tank (75 gallon)? Would I have to soak them or boil them before dropping them into the tank? This will be a lightly-planted tank with smaller fish (barbs, assorted tetras, maybe corys).
 
Thanks!