Suggestions for 1/2 gravel 1/2 sand substrate and for transitioning tanks?

[GuppyMamma91]

I'm upgrading my tank from a 30 gallon to a 75 and need some help. Mostly, I'm upgrading so that I can make a bit of a higher current for my butterfly hillstream loaches without blowing my guppies all over. (right now, it's just a 50gph small submersible pump. The HOB filter I have doesn't seem to create much of a current even though it's oversized and 300gph) But I also want room to keep them in comfortable communities.

Stock: 3 guppies , 2 butterfly hillstream loach (working up to 4), 3 albino corydora (working up to 5), 1 Platy, 1 danio (yes, I know the danios and platys should have other companions I'm looking at options of adding others or rehoming the two to tanks of their own kind.)

I also have a couple plants (sprite and I think anubias nana), but I plan on adding several floating ones, not quite set on what kind yet. definitely could use suggestions. My main question is this: I have small(ish) river rock gravel currently, so it's definitely more smooth than regular gravel and better than the rough substrate, but It's still not ideal for corydoras, So I'm thinking about transitioning to 1/2 sand and 1/2 gravel in the new aquarium. I'll also add a couple more smooth rock and platform like structures to suit the hill stream loaches. However, I've never used sand substrate before and certainly never done a half and half tank. A little nervous about it affecting my water parameters as well. (currently 8 - 8.2 ph, 0 ammonia/ nitrite, and around 5 ppm nitrates. gh is around 9/10 dgh (that's what I keep it at now through the use of equilibrium. My water source (primed tap) is naturally only 2dgh.

Does anyone have a setup that uses both sand and gravel you'd be willing to show? And maybe some tips about cleaning it and keeping the two separate? Below is the rock I have currently and I only clean it with a gravel filter. Considering using filter media floss as a barrier?

thanks!

 

[Byron]

I am going to offer advice on a couple issues here, besides the sand/gravel which I will come to.

First, I would not put Hillstream Loaches in a 75g tank unless that is the only species intended. Their need for cooler water and a good current is not acceptable to many, if not most, tropical fish species, so this is going to limit your options. It would be best to leave the loaches in the 30g and upgrade the filter if that is needed. In a larger tank, it is more difficult to get a good current, because the space is larger, so it has even more impact on fish that do not need/want it.

Corydoras need sand, smooth and inert. There is nothing wrong with a mixed substrate per say, but there are issues. First, the two will inevitably mix unless there are dividers secured to the tank bottom glass (silicone) and each other to keep the sand and gravel separate. On an aesthetic note, I always find dual substrate materials to be artificial and it draws attention to the space making it seem visually smaller, as opposed to one uniform substrate material. But it can be done, that is your choice.

You could leave the rock in the 30g for the loaches, and do a sand substrate in the 75g. Plants will grow better in sand.

I would not use Equilibrium. For one thing, it can benefit plants but not fish. For another, if you have soft water species you don't need it anyway. I would like to know the GH and pH of your source water on its own though, just in case there is another issue.

 

[Gypsum]

I tried the half and half thing because I had the wrong substrate for corys, and I thought replacing only half the substrate would minimize faff and disruption. Nope. The corys aren't bright enough to *only* dig around in the sand sections, so they still damaged themselves. And because the substrates ended up mixed together, as Byron says, I had to replace to the whole bloody lot anyway.

Shift the corys into the larger tank with a fully sand substrate and leave the loaches in the smaller one with a big powerhead.

 

[AbbeysDad]

I switched to sand years ago and I was sold. I have 3-4" of pool filter or play sand in several tanks that I never disturb. Bacteria and microbes colonize the sand and disruption would reduce their value.
Just my $.02, but I'd recommend sand only.

 

[Colin_T]

You can put a sand pit in the tank. use a shallow plastic container and half fill it with sand. Put the container with sand in the tank and move the gravel away so the sand pit is surrounded by gravel but the gravel doesn't go into the sand pit.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

I'm okay with most of the above comments, but I'd happily argue until the cows come home that 'plants will grow better in sand'.
Some might and, even then, only if certain conditions are met.

In one of my tanks, I created a sand 'beach', because I'd been told how much corys 'need' sand and that it was 'essential' for them to thrive. I used a long, suitably deep rock, to make a barrier and the beach was created. The rest of the substrate is ye olde traditional, river-rounded gravel.
My 9 Pygmy Corys will visit the beach on occasion, but they spend the rest of their time elsewhere.

With my second tank, I created similar barriers and am trying Tropica Aquasoil at the back of the tank, to see if its as good for plant growth as I was led to believe. The rest of the substrate is Argos Play Sand, purchased for my kuhli loaches.
Whilst the kuhlis are obviously content atop the sand, they also like to burrow around the plants, repeatedly uprooting them, as the plants in sand are slow at growing their anchoring root systems.
Note that this is not an issue for the plants in the gravel or Aquasoil.

Beach area in Tank 1.

Tank 2

Curse that wascally wabbi...kuhli loach.

 

[Byron]

In one of my tanks, I created a sand 'beach', because I'd been told how much corys 'need' sand and that it was 'essential' for them to thrive.

It is, as any observation of the natural habitats of all species in this family will easily confirm.

The rest of the substrate is ye olde traditional, river-rounded gravel.
My 9 Pygmy Corys will visit the beach on occasion, but they spend the rest of their time elsewhere.

Why would this surprise you? All species in Corydoras continually browse surfaces; mine are often up on the leaves of plants, and my pygmies spend considerable time in the root masses of floating Water Sprite. Their time spent on the actual substrate is minimal. But that has nothing to do with the need for a smooth sand substrate.

As for plants growing, they will grow as well in inert sand as in any other substrate material, and usually better. The natural habitats of aquatic plants we use in our aquaria are usually mud, and/or sand.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

It is, as any observation of the natural habitats of all species in this family will easily confirm.



Why would this surprise you? All species in Corydoras continually browse surfaces; mine are often up on the leaves of plants, and my pygmies spend considerable time in the root masses of floating Water Sprite. Their time spent on the actual substrate is minimal. But that has nothing to do with the need for a smooth sand substrate.

As for plants growing, they will grow as well in inert sand as in any other substrate material, and usually better. The natural habitats of aquatic plants we use in our aquaria are usually mud, and/or sand.

Sorry...I'll try and make my point a little clearer.
The Pygmy Corydoras in my tank choose not to spend time on their 'essential' sand.

 

[Byron]

Sorry...I'll try and make my point a little clearer.
The Pygmy Corydoras in my tank choose not to spend time on their 'essential' sand.

As I said, this is normal. From the context previously, I assumed you were suggesting they do not "need" sand, it is not "essential." The quotation marks suggest this.

 

[Myraan]

The larger kinds of cories certainly seem to love sand more than your descriptions, but even they seem to enjoy all surfaces in general. Sand surface in morning looks like clean tilled fields. I assume all their activity makes all the poos fly into the water column to get sucked into filter eventually.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

I assume all their activity makes all the poos fly into the water column to get sucked into filter eventually.

A nice assumption, but mine would be that some of that poo just get buried.

 

[Byron]

I have sand in my cory tank (the others too), but in the cory tank I never touch the substrate when I do water changes. There are 35 cories in this 40g tank, plus upper characins. Whenever I move a plant or something, there is no cloud of debris. If one does not overfeed, and assuming the fish load is biologically balanced to the tank, the bacteria in the substrate should be able to handle the fish waste easily, breaking it down fairly rapidly. When I had the 70g and before that the 115g tanks with 60 cories, it was the same; I never dug into the sand as part of some "cleaning," but whenever I did it was what I would call very clean.

 

[FishHobby99]

I'm upgrading my tank from a 30 gallon to a 75 and need some help. Mostly, I'm upgrading so that I can make a bit of a higher current for my butterfly hillstream loaches without blowing my guppies all over. (right now, it's just a 50gph small submersible pump. The HOB filter I have doesn't seem to create much of a current even though it's oversized and 300gph) But I also want room to keep them in comfortable communities.

Stock: 3 guppies , 2 butterfly hillstream loach (working up to 4), 3 albino corydora (working up to 5), 1 Platy, 1 danio (yes, I know the danios and platys should have other companions I'm looking at options of adding others or rehoming the two to tanks of their own kind.)

I also have a couple plants (sprite and I think anubias nana), but I plan on adding several floating ones, not quite set on what kind yet. definitely could use suggestions. My main question is this: I have small(ish) river rock gravel currently, so it's definitely more smooth than regular gravel and better than the rough substrate, but It's still not ideal for corydoras, So I'm thinking about transitioning to 1/2 sand and 1/2 gravel in the new aquarium. I'll also add a couple more smooth rock and platform like structures to suit the hill stream loaches. However, I've never used sand substrate before and certainly never done a half and half tank. A little nervous about it affecting my water parameters as well. (currently 8 - 8.2 ph, 0 ammonia/ nitrite, and around 5 ppm nitrates. gh is around 9/10 dgh (that's what I keep it at now through the use of equilibrium. My water source (primed tap) is naturally only 2dgh.

Does anyone have a setup that uses both sand and gravel you'd be willing to show? And maybe some tips about cleaning it and keeping the two separate? Below is the rock I have currently and I only clean it with a gravel filter. Considering using filter media floss as a barrier?
View attachment 144274
thanks!

My set up is different, but used sand & gravel in same tank for the first time today. Originally used sand because I planned on more axotles. Changed & decided upon fancy goldfish. I find gravel easier to clean than sand, but use sand for the axies & my cichlids/catfish tank.

Added gravel on top of sand. Provided a very nice anchor for the plants.

 

[FishHobby99]

 

[Gypsum]

As I said, this is normal. From the context previously, I assumed you were suggesting they do not "need" sand, it is not "essential." The quotation marks suggest this.

That was my point as well. When I had a combination of spikey gravel and sand, the corys continued to dig around the gravel and injure themselves. That did not justify keeping the gravel on the grounds that "they don't seem to care, so it must be fine." Corydoras don't have enough abstract reasoning skills to work out, "corying on the gravel might be bad for me, so I'll go on the sandy bit." They are not very bright. I, however, realised that this was not going work, and I suffered through the faff of changing the entirety of the substrate in a 240L tank,