Sand Or Gravel.....

[freerunner416]

Hey,
 
My tank is still not back up after moving house and a complete re-wire but this month is the month it all goes back together and i cross my fingers that nothing is broken.
 
I have removed my old gravel and am now thinking about what substrate to use! I have had gravel and sand. The sand only lasted a short period at the time as i got fed up fast with stuff sitting on the top of it and it looking dirty, plus i found it was a pain at water change time. I am bored of my gravel and considered going back to the sand...
 
Pluses and minuses for both please?
 
Do you have to watch out for bacterial growth under the sand?
 
As somebody will ask ;-) - the tank is a Juwel vision 260. Will be having discus, a few plecs and cory's going into it.
 
thanks
 

 

[This Old Spouse]

I'd say sand for sure, considering the cory, but if you're concerned about the poo aspect, have you considered black sand? What I use is regular play sand, but the stuff I get here in the States is more a mixture of very small gravel and sand, so the color is dappled enough that it doesn't show the poo. It's also heavy enough so I'm not constantly sucking it up when I clean. It's really like lake beach sand. Love the stuff.
 
There's also very small rounded gravel, but I still think that the cory have a hard time getting food off the bottom with any kind of gravel, plus they don't have the opportunity to snuffle through it as with sand.

 

[frapadoodle]

Well I prefer sand. Good flow will help get the poo into the filter intake, and a simple swirl just above the sand sucks it up.
Plants and/or a sift of the sand during water change will take care of bad spots, or cories, loaches, snails , et. cetera to stir up the sand.

Why was it a problem during waterchanges?

 

[Lunar Jetman]

Daddy or chips?
 
I've had sand in the past and have small gravel again, both with Corys in the tanks at the time.

Sand can get compacted over time if you don't make sure you turn it over often and this can lead to a build up of nasty stuff that may leak into your tank and cause you problems.Also, sand on top of another substrate can eventually seep down through it and get mixed up. That's only really an issue if you're going to put something down under it for the plants to flourish in.
 
I think it's really personal choice. I wouldn't be adverse to going back to it at some point in the future but just remember to keep it well maintained.

 

[Royston]

Sand all the way

 

[CoryLover95]

With Corys, I'd say sand.  Gravel can crush or injure their delicate barbels.

 

[DrSlackBladder]

SAND.  I recently made the change from gravel to sand after much deliberation and research.  I was also concerned about it looking messy with poop.  And compacting.  So on advice from this forum, I used PetsAtHome Gravel Sand, which is definitely sand but with a larger grain size, so compaction isn't an issue (mine is only up to 1 inch deep, and a give it a stir round every few weeks anyway just to make sure).  And although overall it's still sand coloured, it has specks of darker and lighter grains, which does helps to camouflage the poop so it doesn't look too messy.  I vacuum it with a handheld gravel cleaner (just hovering above the sand to suck up the poop) midweek each week and then do a 20-30 WC each week, again vacuuming any poop up with the syphon held just above the sand.  My corys used to be on gravel for a few months, and they were a little lethargic.  Since changing to sand, they are always burying their heads in the sand and filtering the sand through their gills looking for small left overs of food; they seem much more active and happier.  My Amano Shrimps always hid in plants when I had gravel, now they happily wonder round the sand looking for food that the corys miss.  All in all, I'm very happy I made the change and would recommend the P@H gravel sand.

 

[This Old Spouse]

 

[DrSlackBladder]

You can see what I mean about the different shades of sand grain here....

 

[freerunner416]

Not one person has pushed for gravel....  so im guessing everybody  likes the sand idea. as do i. I just need to convince the missus! haha. 
 
Thanks chaps and chapettes.
 
Cheers