So I Finally Did It

[snake007]

I cleaned my gravel thoroughly then put the sand on top - reccomended by my lfs to do so since my gravel is really small and tight so no sand would go through, When will the water clear up, right now it isnt so bad but what should I do to speed it up?

 

[soybean]

Im afraid they probably will mix - no matter how fine the gravel. But actually this can give quite a natural look.

How many times did you rinse the sand? It shouldn't be that murky if you did it long enough. Turn your filter off for a few minutes to try and get the worst of it to settle and avoid too much being sucked in the filter. If it is taking ages, do a waterchange.

 

[Spurry]

Hi i would still say that the sand will fall through the gravel and all mix up, as for the water to clear up i never had cloudy water when i did my sand and when i added more sand, a washed and washed and washed and washed and washed and even more washing lol so it settled very fast.....

i dont think you can speed it up m8...

 

[snake007]

Well its not that cloudy, just a little bit cloudy so should be cleared up by tomorrow, Is sand good for plecos or would they swallow it?

 

[soybean]

Which tank have u put it in, the 39?

Plecs are fine on sand but you are going to see A LOT of waste now, but on the plus side it will be easier to remove.

 

[snake007]

I put the sand in my 20 but I was thinking about puting sand in with my plec in the 39.
Do kuhlis like sand because I might get some of them or corys for my 20g

 

[soybean]

I honestly don't think there any of the fish in your sig would have a problem with sand.

Plec waste is notorious and will show up a lot more on sand - if you're ok with that, there's no other issues.

Didn't you ask about corys in the 20 last night? I think it's a bit risky with the kribs and I also reckon you're pretty much stocked in that tank now.

 

[Spurry]

I might get some of them or corys for my 20g

I sat and watched my corys last night when i was feeding them i could see them sucking up the sand and it looked like they was filtering it as it was coming back out of there gills, well thats what it looked like...

 

[soybean]

I might get some of them or corys for my 20g

I sat and watched my corys last night when i was feeding them i could see them sucking up the sand and it looked like they was filtering it as it was coming back out of there gills, well thats what it looked like...

Yep, a very natural thing for them to do - enables them to filter out bits of food in a way they can't do on gravel.

 

[Mowbz]

If you put gravel on top of sand, eventually the gravel will end up on top, and the sand on the bottom, its pretty much inevitable unfortunately. Not sure if the guy at the LFS has ever done this himself, i doubt it, or else he would realise. It would have to be tiny gravel, with almost no gap for sand to filter through

As for the Kribs and Corys mix, im currently looking at info on this right now, as i wanted the same. Its been done many times successfully it seems, but there is a lot to consider, there mustn't be many of them, and there must be a huge floor space to start. im still not sure tho. Its cichlids, some are just gits by nature.

Corys do indeed filter sand out of their gills, they find food in sand like this, as above.

HTH