Nearly Ready To Setup...sand Or Gravel?

[Cheffi]

Totally confused now...the more you read the less you know syndrome.

Nearly ready to think about filling new tank so bearing in mind I want a natural looking tank with wood, rocks and couple of plants which is best to use sand or gravel? I've just read few articles of peeps changing from gravel to sand but not other way round. Then someone said it's harder to syphon up debris with sand and also that that fish waste is very obvious to see on sand as opposed to gravel. Is this true too?

Which do plants grow best in?

Thanks in advance you wonderful people.

 

[flumpit2]

hi cheffi,i changed from gravel to sand many months ago & its the best thing iv ever done!theres no way id ever go back to gravel!!!

yes you can see all the fish waste & uneaten food on the top of it but thats good cus it gives you the incentive to do your weekly substrate vac plus your filter removes some of it anyway and just imagine that with gravel it all goes between the stones-yuk.

as for the vac,i hold the vac just above the sand & it picks up all the waste easily without much of the sand.its just a trial & error thing.

my plants thrive in the sand the same as in gravel.i do make the sand slightly deeper where the plants are going to go tho.

all in all i prefer sand as gravel is almost impossible to keep totaly clean,my weekly vac time is cut in half cus all the crap stays on the surface instead of going between the gravel,it looks much more natural & my fish love it (exspecialy he cory catfish).

its a personal preference i think.give sand a go & i bet you wont regret it!just remember to wash it loads of times to start with so it doesnt cloud your water!!!

shaz

 

[nmonks]

I have some of my own opinions and experiences here:

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=131373

There are a couple of other pinned topics here:

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=141592

Probably enough to be going along with!

Sand is, broadly speaking, better insofar as many fish prefer it. But there are potential hazards and it does need to be handled in a certain way if you want things to work out well. The reason people rarely go from sand back to gravel is that once you've seen your catfish burying themselves in sand, you won't want to go back!

Cheers,

Neale