Sand or Gravel:

[shiftingsands]

Hi, I am planning the decor for a 3ft tank and would be really grateful for your input.
I would like to have light coloured sand(white?) in my new set up but have been told on another thread its hard to keep clean.

On another thread playsand was mentioned, is any play sand ok and do I have to wash it or so anything to it before I put it on the tank?

How do you keep the sand clean? Is it right that you have to vacuum? How often would you have to do it to keep it looking clean?

Or if you think 100% sand is tricky to keep looking nice should I go for gravel on top with some sand underneath for the plants to root into or can plants manage?

Plants: If I have real plants is there anything else I should use on the bottom, or do plants do fine in 100% sand? Houndour kindly advised me that java fern and java moss are good first plants , are there any others that are good/easy for beginners?
Thanks in advance

 

[boxman]

I would like to have light coloured sand(white?) in my new set up but have been told on another thread its hard to keep clean.

You would be wanting silica sand (inert). Definately NOT marine sand if you're looking to do a freshwater tank.

On another thread playsand was mentioned, is any play sand ok and do I have to wash it or so anything to it before I put it on the tank?

Careful, many places advertise playsand but make sure it's intert and not just beach sand.

Any sand you put in a tank would be best cleaned in a pair of tights.

How do you keep the sand clean? Is it right that you have to vacuum? How often would you have to do it to keep it looking clean?

How long is a piece of string / depends what you call clean! I have a 14gal with silica sand (see my sig), it is damn hard to keep clean, especially with mollys and otos.

It looks fab when it's just been vacced, probably within a day it'll be dirty - depends on stocking and types of fish.

I had a betta in the tank for a month before others, not much dirt as they're relatively clean fish.

Or if you think 100% sand is tricky to keep looking nice should I go for gravel on top with some sand underneath for the plants to root into or can plants manage?

Sand will go to the bottom - I personally wouldn't like it as you'd have to syphon and definately pick up more sand than poo!

Plants: If I have real plants is there anything else I should use on the bottom, or do plants do fine in 100% sand? Houndour kindly advised me that java fern and java moss are good first plants , are there any others that are good/easy for beginners?

Plants do fine, most I've seen are good. Java fern / moss are excellent.

To sum up, I personally wouldn't go for sand if you don't want the effort to keep it clean (and it will be tough).

Good luck

 

[Jen]

I have sand in my tank, and I'll never go back to gravel. I love it. I used pool filter sand which is white with a few little black specs throughout it. I am able to syphon the way I did with gravel... I sink the syphon in the sand, and when the sand gets about a 1/4 of the way up the tube, I pull the tube out. The sand sorta tumbles around in the syphon, gets all the gunk out, and the sand falls back down. It keeps the sand from getting all compacted, and changes the look of the bottom of the tank all the time.

While it does show the dirt more, I perefer the look of it, and am more likely to clean it more often than when I had gravel because I can see the dirt.

My tank is totally planted, and 100% sand. They love it. Well, I guess they love it, they are all thriving.

 

[freddyk]

make sure it's intert and not just beach sand.

If you can find bagged beach sand, it's perfect! It's completely inert, and completely dust free, and it's all I use. Check it out in my sig.

I keep it clean very simply. I try to get water moving in the tank enough so the lighter waste doesn't settle in many places. Then I simply syphon off the top in the few places it does collect. Because the waste has a harder time settling it ends up in the filter, rather then stuck in gravel. If you syphon into the bucket then you can just rinse off any sand that gets sucked up and put it back. If you syphon right into the sink you can collect any syphoned sand it in a bowl (the sand sinks and the waste overflows down the drain) and then put it back.

Sand can sometimes be a little more of a pain because it's so easy to see the waste compared to gravel, but it makes for a much cleaner long term tank.

 

[oneponygirl]

I have had my tank with sand only a few weeks but I really like it. I can't use sand in my other tanks, as much as I'd like to since they have under gravel filters. I got a bag of sterilized play sand at Home Depot, it was about $2.50 and I still have about half a bag left after putting it down in two ten gallon tanks (one for my fish one for my crabs). I did have to rinse it a lot and even after it still took a day or two to become totally clear but I haven't had a problem with cloudiness since.

I also don't notice waste on the sand and when I vacuum I just swirl the end of the vacuum around above the sand and it causes everything to float up, the sand sinks back down the waste goes up the vacuum. I am also in the process of replacing my fake plants with live and it's a lot easier to have live than fake, IMO. I can never seem to get my fake plants to ancor well enough so that they don't dislodge when I'm cleaning. Don't have that problem with the real ones.

I plan to get corys for my tank and I know that they will like the sand better than gravel and I know my crabs do too so I guess it also depends on what kind of fish you have.

 

[fishygeezer]

sand is alot nicer to look at and i reckon most fish would prefer it,i'm based in the uk and found playsand bought from argos works very well and was fairly easy to rinse clean,at two pounds fifty a large bag its very cost effective aswell

 

[Sky042]

Sand without a doubt Looks better.
I have sand in 3 of my 4 tanks and am converting the last tank over to sand on wednesday when I'm done work.

 

[paulthegreat]

I have never used sand but may try it in the next tank based on what I have read on this thread. I must say though that I like the look of gravel (2-5mm), and my plants do great. It is easy to clean and the various colors are also pleasing to the eye. I am sure my Yoyos would prefer sand(they like to dig), but the rest of them do not seem to care. Another thing to consider is that gravel does not get compacted giving anaroebic bacteria a chance to grow and release deadly gasses. Of course with regular stirring of the sand the risk of this happening is greatly reduced.

 

[abstract]

there is a good pinned topic on the subject Here


i personally didn't remove the fish, but the rest of it is very useful

 

[afireinside]

u should get sand if u wanna get some loachs or something.