Sand Vs. Gravel

[White Whale]

I was thinking of blue sand for my red bettas...

 

[Laughncat]

Well, I was planning on hunting this thread down to post another questuon, but Eelzor done saved me the trouble by linking to it

I am quite happy with my sand tank (although I'm in the process of cutting a plastic lid to fit it since one of my cats broke my glass top by hopping on it and knocking it AND the light into the tank. The culprit has yet to be brought to justice... )I've got to LARGE chunks of driftwood in it and I'm thinking I might go with fake plants for it. If not then I will go with some sort of sword, but not too many. Just enough so the Rainbow celebese won't freak out every time I even glance in their direction. (maybe one of the cats has been watching them a little TOO intently while I'm away... )

Anyway, my question is this: What is the best way to clean the dung from the sand when doing my weekly maintenance? Obviously, just sticking the siphon/gravel cleaner tube into the sand doesn't work like it does with gravel (quick way end up with a bucket of sand ) and I've tried the little swirl motion just above the sand to try and get the poo to lift off the top and go up the tube. Unfortunately, some sand still gets sucked up and when it tumbles out it takes the poo I wanted to remove back back to the bottom with it. Neither seem to very effective. Any suggestions?

On another note, I'm planning on adding some malaysion trumpet snails (LFS said she would give me some) to this tank to help keep the sand from compacting as much. I've been reading up on them and they seem to be a nice addition to a sand tank (if you don't mind wild snails that is.) Personally I like wild snails (even if they are poop machines and asexual maniacs) and have spread them to all my tanks (common pond type). I can already hear the sounds of jaws dropping in disbelief that some would actually willing add wild snails to their tank. From what I've been reading though, the malaysion snails spend most of their time under the gravel or sand tunneling around and only come out at night. I figure this could be helpful in case a miss a spot one week


Oh yeah, one last thing. Has any of the moderators considered pinning this topic, or could some one perhaps condense all of the info contained in this post into a much smaller post to be pinned? The whole sand issue seems to be a fairly common question that pops up...

 

[Eelzor]

Ok, laughncat to set your questions straight

Anyway, my question is this: What is the best way to clean the dung from the sand when doing my weekly maintenance? Obviously, just sticking the siphon/gravel cleaner tube into the sand doesn't work like it does with gravel (quick way end up with a bucket of sand ) and I've tried the little swirl motion just above the sand to try and get the poo to lift off the top and go up the tube. Unfortunately, some sand still gets sucked up and when it tumbles out it takes the poo I wanted to remove back back to the bottom with it. Neither seem to very effective. Any suggestions?

Just siphon the sand by putting the tube lightly on the surface of the sand but not completely buried - just on the surface area.

On another note, I'm planning on adding some malaysion trumpet snails (LFS said she would give me some) to this tank to help keep the sand from compacting as much. I've been reading up on them and they seem to be a nice addition to a sand tank (if you don't mind wild snails that is.) Personally I like wild snails (even if they are poop machines and asexual maniacs) and have spread them to all my tanks (common pond type). I can already hear the sounds of jaws dropping in disbelief that some would actually willing add wild snails to their tank. From what I've been reading though, the malaysion snails spend most of their time under the gravel or sand tunneling around and only come out at night. I figure this could be helpful in case a miss a spot one week

I'm not the king on snails, but I think they would be a great addition and fine.

Oh yeah, one last thing. Has any of the moderators considered pinning this topic, or could some one perhaps condense all of the info contained in this post into a much smaller post to be pinned? The whole sand issue seems to be a fairly common question that pops up...

Hey, if anyones going to get a good sand topic up I'm ya man! I have been extremely bored in the past few weeks and I am on holidays so I would love to write a report on it. Then again - like laughncat said, you could just pin this topic.

HTH

 

[Lithril]

Gotta say I'm totally with Eelzor in this, I love sand as the substrate, got a 30 gal and an 8 gal set up with it and apart from the initial washing (which doesn't take that long - several rinses whilst moving your hand through it then a soak over night before last water change), its actually just as easy to keep as gravel, admittedly I keep malaysian trumpet snails in mine to keep it turned over.

Cleaning is a doddle if I'm doing a water change I'll use the syphoning effect to run over the top of the sand (just high enough to stop it being sucked up) otherwise I'll use and electric gravel cleaner.

I do have a 10 gal set up with gravel but not happy with it, too course and ugly IMO but then I don't like brightly coloured gravel either so thats just me

 

[BlueAngel]

I just recently switched one of my 29 gallons and my 55 gallon over to sand. I put a couple dozen of the Malaysian Trumpet snails in there that I saved from the gravel, plus I hae the 29 set up as a planted tank. The snails are a great addition and I hope to get a good sized colony going soon. The sand I used is silica sand which is really quartz, that was recomended to me by a plantgeek/god friend of mine. The only thing with the plants and sand was that I was told to leave a small layer of peagravel under the sand for the roots... and if I really wanted to spend the cash to use flourite instead of peagravel. was told that the mts would do enough stirring up of the sand that it wouldn't go anaerobic on me. I was really pleased with the change over and the sand only took a couple of hours to completely clear up..... was able to put fish back in in a matter of maybe a half hour or so. And as for my fish...... they LOVE it! It's like a whole new world for them, the corries play, the plecos dig and sift and the water stays clear! am sooo happy with it I have enough sand left over I plan to do my fry tank as well. Oh yeah I bought 100 lbs of it for just over 6 dollars at a home improvement store this was all last weekend.... spent less than 30 dollars and that was getting buckets and sand and plants and ghost shrimp..... Was truely a good day

 

[Eelzor]

I just recently switched one of my 29 gallons and my 55 gallon over to sand. I put a couple dozen of the Malaysian Trumpet snails in there that I saved from the gravel, plus I hae the 29 set up as a planted tank. The snails are a great addition and I hope to get a good sized colony going soon. The sand I used is silica sand which is really quartz, that was recomended to me by a plantgeek/god friend of mine. The only thing with the plants and sand was that I was told to leave a small layer of peagravel under the sand for the roots... and if I really wanted to spend the cash to use flourite instead of peagravel. was told that the mts would do enough stirring up of the sand that it wouldn't go anaerobic on me. I was really pleased with the change over and the sand only took a couple of hours to completely clear up..... was able to put fish back in in a matter of maybe a half hour or so. And as for my fish...... they LOVE it! It's like a whole new world for them, the corries play, the plecos dig and sift and the water stays clear! am sooo happy with it I have enough sand left over I plan to do my fry tank as well. Oh yeah I bought 100 lbs of it for just over 6 dollars at a home improvement store this was all last weekend.... spent less than 30 dollars and that was getting buckets and sand and plants and ghost shrimp..... Was truely a good day

Yea, some sands cloud when you mix and some sands settle instantly (my sand/good sand ) The only way to see if a specific sand is good or not is to try. You learn from your experience.

 

[Eelzor]

Something I tried recently with my live bloodworms is that they bury themselves in the sand and the clown loach dig in when they smell something to eat it! Ahh, watching natures ways really soothes the eye. I was just wondering - with other people that have sand - do you experience anything weird when your live food hits the bottom of the sandy tank? Do your bloodworms bury? What about brine?

-Laughncat, I see your online - why are you not in the chat room!!!!!

 

[Alien_spawn]

I've always used sand in Freshwater tanks, I think it looks more natural, tried gravel once was a right pain to clean the gravel, the only think though I one a week move the sand around to keep it all healthy, other than that its quite low maintenence using sand--- I would buy "Live sand" nowdays if i was starting up

Plus my spiney Eel loves the sand he buries himself in it---cool

 

[Eelzor]

Plus my spiney Eel loves the sand he buries himself in it---cool

I had a spiny eel but it never buried itself for somereason. Probably the sand was a bit too thick.