Black Sand Or Black Gravel

[Ruskull]

Okay, here's the scenario:

I'm starting a new 36 gallon bow front for my Gold Gourami that's currently in another tank. I just got (2) 5 lb. bags of black sand and that's all they had. I think I'll need another bag at least and that store didn't have anymore and they weren't sure when they'd be getting any more. They did have nice black gravel though and I was considering returning the 2 bags of black sand for gravel instead but maybe I should just add a bag of black gravel to the 2 bags of black sand.

Does anyone have any experience or pictures? Any comments or opinions highly appreciated, thanks in advance.

 

[onidrase]

Sand is my own personal preference, as gunk settles on its service making cleaning it simple and painless, and the filter has a better time picking it up.

 

[Caprichoso]

If you mix sand and gravel, the sand will sink and you'll be left with the gravel on top so I would opt for whichever you like the look of better. The above post is why I don't like sand. I don't want to see the waste on the top, I'd rather it sink into the gravel where it can fertilize my plants or I can hoover it out with the python later.

 

[Ruskull]

Thanks for the responses but now I'm even more confused since one post was positive toward the sand & the other was against!

I definetely won't combine the sand with the gravel after reading that it will separate anyway.

I plan to grow and keep live plants, is one better than the other for keeping live plants? How thick should it be, I've heard as thick as 2 inches, is that correct?

 

[cynic]

I have tried mixing the 2 in my goldie tank and the results are quite good i think. The gravel does mix in to the sand but it does give a very natural look. The poo isn't visible either as the gravel brakes up the look of the bottom of the tank. Just need to shuffle it about every few weeks to keep it mixed, it certainly doesent happen overnight. Even then its not a linear separation, like i said its a very natural look.

I may add some gravel to the big tank in the living room.

 

[Ruskull]

Well I picked up the tank, stand, heater, Penguin 200 Bio Wheel filter & 30 lbs of black sand. After setting up the tank in it's new home I began rinsing the sand in a small 1½ gallon bucket. What a pain in the rear! It's messy, there's no where to pour the floating residue either, unless of course you like pouring sandy junk down your sink drain. I then slowly poured the cement like sand into the tank and it looked like hot asphalt. I put a plate in the middle & began slowly pouring water in and what a disaster! It looks like the Exxon Valdez dumped oil in my tank. $30 worth of crap that looks like toxic waste, never again. I should've gotten the black gravel instead.

 

[willowstwin]

oh dear Well, after putting sand in the tank at work I don't ever want sand at home (which means me never getting the pygmy corys my heart so desires). The poo etc sits on top and I guess it's my filter not doing a proper job, but I have to vac way more often than with gravel in my home tank which gets done once a week with the water change. I really want black sand, but a) I can't find any and b) I don't think I could handle all the poo on show.

One way I found of adding sand (thanks to another member) is to fill a bottle with sand. Submerge it, and tip it upside down "pouring" the sand onto the bottom (making sure the bottle opening is close to the bottom). This way, when the sand comes out, water rushes in and not only gives it a little extra clean, but all the crud that makes the water cloudy ends up in the bottle A bit late for you now though Whatever you do, DONT have your filter on. Sand ruined my brand new filter because I was a noob and though it would help clear it quicker.

Hope you get it sorted.

 

[Ruskull]

oh dear Well, after putting sand in the tank at work I don't ever want sand at home (which means me never getting the pygmy corys my heart so desires). The poo etc sits on top and I guess it's my filter not doing a proper job, but I have to vac way more often than with gravel in my home tank which gets done once a week with the water change. I really want black sand, but a) I can't find any and b) I don't think I could handle all the poo on show.

One way I found of adding sand (thanks to another member) is to fill a bottle with sand. Submerge it, and tip it upside down "pouring" the sand onto the bottom (making sure the bottle opening is close to the bottom). This way, when the sand comes out, water rushes in and not only gives it a little extra clean, but all the crud that makes the water cloudy ends up in the bottle A bit late for you now though Whatever you do, DONT have your filter on. Sand ruined my brand new filter because I was a noob and though it would help clear it quicker.

Hope you get it sorted.

Thanks for the advice but I'll be pouring the sand out & replacing with nice black gravel. I planned to get albino & bronze corys, is that okay with black gravel?

 

[Tizer]

better off with sand if you are having corys, they like to snuffle around for food, gravel, if its not sharp can be used, but personally i like to watch them behave naturally.

 

[willowstwin]

snuffly pygmys

Ok... my upgrade MAY have to have gravel now >.<

 

[Caprichoso]

oh dear Well, after putting sand in the tank at work I don't ever want sand at home (which means me never getting the pygmy corys my heart so desires). The poo etc sits on top and I guess it's my filter not doing a proper job, but I have to vac way more often than with gravel in my home tank which gets done once a week with the water change. I really want black sand, but a) I can't find any and b) I don't think I could handle all the poo on show.

One way I found of adding sand (thanks to another member) is to fill a bottle with sand. Submerge it, and tip it upside down "pouring" the sand onto the bottom (making sure the bottle opening is close to the bottom). This way, when the sand comes out, water rushes in and not only gives it a little extra clean, but all the crud that makes the water cloudy ends up in the bottle A bit late for you now though Whatever you do, DONT have your filter on. Sand ruined my brand new filter because I was a noob and though it would help clear it quicker.

Hope you get it sorted.

Thanks for the advice but I'll be pouring the sand out & replacing with nice black gravel. I planned to get albino & bronze corys, is that okay with black gravel?

Yes it's fine for cories as long as you keep the gravel clean and don't over feed. If you don't, the cories "could" get a bacterial or fungal infection from the dirty substrate and consequently lose their barbels from an infection. I personally do a light vacuum every week just over the substrate and I do a deep cleaning(plunge into the gravel) every few weeks. The size of gravel I have is in the 3-5 mm range.

 

[cynic]

I'm moving more and more to a mix of the two. As to cleaning a big tub, hosepipe and patience were my tactics,took around 3 hours but this shows it was worth the effort.

 

[Ruskull]

I'm moving more and more to a mix of the two. As to cleaning a big tub, hosepipe and patience were my tactics,took around 3 hours but this shows it was worth the effort.

That tank looks amazing! That's the look I was going for but with black sand............

Update:

I meticulously cleaned, skimmed and ultimately discarded about a third of the sand & added 25 pounds of black gravel, slowly mixing it in with the sand. It was starting to look good so I kept adding water and skimming in between and I really like the results so far. I also added a white ribbon plant, 2 clumps of Bacopa and 3 Anubias Congensis. I hooked up the filter with some media from my son's 20 gallon and we'll see how long it takes for it to cycle.