Sand Vs Gravel

[Inchworm]

Hi Fisses

Why? What's the matter?

 

[Fisses]

don't get me wrong, im sure the catfish love it, but the sand is just ging everywhere and my filter is gettin clogged straight away and its going all over the ornaments, theres bits floating around everywhere, my media is gettin clogged, i just dont like it!

so ive got hold of some roman gravel in a light brownish colour which is about 2-5mm in various sizes so going to give that a go and see how we get one....

 

[Fisses]

Now with Roman gravel once the dust had settled which took about an hour:

opinions?

 

[keenonfish]

Now with Roman gravel once the dust had settled which took about an hour:

opinions?

I think that looks much more natural

Not a fan of sand myself.

 

[DJ ArKaDaRkA]

Ive just changed to sand and its the best thing ive done tank wise my corys take the sand in through their mouths and it comes back out their gills and this is something they cannot do with gravel so IMHO sand surley must be better for corys and it looks ace

 

[Fisses]

i agree, sand is so much more natural, but i hated it probably after the 2nd day of having it, and they seem just as happy now darting about the tank as they normally do

 

[SuperColey1]

i agree, sand is so much more natural, but i hated it probably after the 2nd day of having it, and they seem just as happy now darting about the tank as they normally do

Like everything in fishkeeping patience is needed. The sand would be more much natural similar to the sand/silt beds of natural waterways where the fish naturally thrive.

the problem you had was that the sand even when washed will still have particles in it. Needs to take time for the filter to remove this (a week or so) and then afte that sand will go up, come back down, no cloudy water etc. I had no problems when I usedto have a Fluval3+ in my 125Ltr. About 1½" to 2 inches from the bottom.

The sand would be bright white when fresh and eventually 'naturalise' to a mellower colour.

However if you like that gravel then it should be OK for the Corys. Looks the same colour to me as the sand though and you won't have Corys 'sand sifting' which cleans the excess food from the substrate!!! You will have to clean the gravel more often and with that small 1-3mm grade that isn't as easy a job as large pea gravel!!!

AC

 

[Fisses]

the gravel i used to have was a bit bigger and an absolute doddle to clean, there was just something about the sand i just really didint like

im hoping this stuff will do the job just nicely, and although in the pictures it looks same colour, in relaity its a much darker brown so looks good

see how i get on with that till i change my mind again

 

[SuperColey1]

Is it not 'natural highland blend' roman gravel?

If so that is the same colour if not lighter than my sand is after 'maturing'

AC

 

[Fisses]

it is indeed but its much smaller stuff, but i prefer it over the sand anyway

i had to give it a go though or i'd never have known, and ive always got the option of adding sand to the gravel

 

[Cory_Dad]

Hi Fisses.

Sorry the sand didn't work for you. But the Corys really do like the sand better.

I think you just didn't give it enough time. The way I set up a new tank with fresh sand it to wash the sand several times (like you did) then to dump the sand into the tank (unlike you did). Yes, this causes the water to go quite cloudy but then I add some water clarifier (double the amount it say to add). I push the sand to one side so 1/2 the tank is now bare bottom. Then I go to bed. The next morning that tank looks relatively clear with the bottom covered with the fine particles trapped in the clarifier. I then siphon out the clarifier, give the sand a nice stir, move it to the other side of the tank and wait several hours then repeat the siphon process. By this time the water is pretty clear. I turn on the hob filter and put fine filter material in to get the last of the clarifier.

I don't have mush trouble after that. Sure, dumping a pail of water into the tank is gonna cause a sand storm over everything but with a little care it becomes quite manageable. And my Corys sure do love it.

A lot of work? I guess it is but then if I wanted something easy I would have turned on the aguarium screen saver on my computer.

Cheers.

 

[Inchworm]

What is Roman Gravel? I'm not familiar with that name.

Sand has it's good points and its bad. It's tough on the impellers of HOB filters, but if you turn them off when you fill the tank, it settles quickly. If it's too deep it could get gas formations, but if it's not deep enough it migrates away from the edges of the tank.

I had sand in almost all my tanks for a while, but am replacing it with #1 and #3 gravel. These are fine natural gravels. They look nice and they are a lot easier to manage.

 

[DJ ArKaDaRkA]

i used block paving sand and it settles within 1 minute i washed it for about 20 minutes prior to putting it in the tank also i left the fish in to do this and had no noticeable problems

 

[Fisses]

What is Roman Gravel? I'm not familiar with that name.

Sand has it's good points and its bad. It's tough on the impellers of HOB filters, but if you turn them off when you fill the tank, it settles quickly. If it's too deep it could get gas formations, but if it's not deep enough it migrates away from the edges of the tank.

I had sand in almost all my tanks for a while, but am replacing it with #1 and #3 gravel. These are fine natural gravels. They look nice and they are a lot easier to manage.

Roman Gravel:

http/images.google.co.uk/images?um=1&amp...vel&spell=1

comes in lots of different colours: i got the Natural Highland one, but what i found was that if i got it in 2kg bags, it was smaller than the bigger 8kg pack

 

[7755matt]

I had large gravel but wanted sand, then came up with an idea to do some sand and some very fine gravel

looks quite good imo