compatible fish

[Mollymomma]

Les,

I thought about going with sand but so many feel it's a pain to deal with..I Thought sand would look more natural than the gravel...seeing as most ocean's , lakes & ponds are sand bottoms...

Sell me on the sand lol before I set up the new tank...
Live plants, do they do better growing wise in sand.. I know Allie said once the sand settles it really looks awesome.. and kick butt awesome is the look I wanna go for lol

I think I'll have some researching to do...I hate homework lol

 

[LesGerber]

Ill tell you what Molly, I will snap some pics tonight after I get away from natural light in my living room. And then post some before and after shots. The sand gets moved around by the fish and the current from your filtration.
Yes plants do better in sand as in my opinion its better for root development. The only downside I can see to sand for plants is that the waste doesnt make its way to the roots as they did on the UGF but thats nothing that fert tabs cant handle.
Another thing I would recommend with plants is CO2, you can DIY and its really easy. For your tank I would think a 3 2liter bottle set up would work great.
Also something else popped in to mind......lay out your tank the way you want before you put anything in it. That way you can decide where you want air lines and then you can silicone them in the tank before you get any water and then cleaning and fish and have you wont be bringing them up, not to mention you can silicone them to the corner so they arent as unsightly...lol

I hope I have given you some ideas.

Les

 

[Pufferpack]

Hi Mollymomma.

I am a big fan of sand as substrata, it looks better, the debris sits on the surface rather than getting trapped down in the gravel so less chance of nitrate pockets building up, there is less chance of fish injuring themselves on sharp rocks, and the selling point for me....it's cheap! I buy playbox sand from the hardware at the cost of $3.95 Cdn for 25 Kg. and for color variations I like to mix in the colored aquarium sand from the lfs. Also it is funny to watch the Cichlids dive into the sand up to their gills and come out spitting sand, they are always digging around and building little ramps and hollows. Even the Mollies in the community tank love to shove their heads into the sand and root around.
Cleaning your tank with a sand substrata is a little different, but no more difficult, check the post about sand as substrats by Charliefish.


HTH.

Don

p.s....Common plecs leave a great amount of waste...our 6" plec constantly has 8-10 inch stringers hanging off him.

 

[Mollymomma]

I'm starting to fall for the sand idea.. watching the head in the sand stuff sounds pretty cute. My kids would love it..

now if I can convince hubby to agree with the sand ..
He has said to me I don't know how many times.."When I was a kid, my mom would do this...or that"... / or the ever popular" we never changed the water in our tank as kids that's why you have a filter"...
Husband's & their mother's can be detrimental to a marriage LOL

Geez There is NO way I will ever stop water changes! And he has been politly informed he shall leave the fish to me.

Everyone with relationships where both people are into the hobby are better off lol

 

[playfulalliecat]

Hi Molly,

I LOVE the look sand has given our set up. It looks brand new all over again. The lighter color really sets off the green of our plants and the colors of our fish and watching the little corys go around digging in it is so CUTE! Even the pleco is enjoying it, he goes down and kind of trails along on it, something he didn't do with the gravel. He never got on the bottom with gravel in it. All of our fish seem to enjoy going to the bottom now!

As for the plants, it makes sense to me that it would be easier for them to take root in the sand than in the gravel with it being much softer. I know ours look better already! If you are thinking about it, I definitely recommend going with it from the start as it is a pain to change over after starting the tank up. We lost one of our female swords after she got injured during the move when we were changing it over.