Can I Put Sand On Top Of The Gravel I Have?

[This Old Spouse]

I'm fairly new at this. I have a 3-month tank setup that I started because I got the 55 gallon setup free. Didn't know a heck of a lot about ANYthing but have learned tons and tons of good things on this site!

I've noticed that many of the established folks here have a sand substrate. I didn't even know this was widely used, and am now wondering if it would benefit the fish I have.

I also have a 10 gallon setup for a female fiddler crab (the male mysteriously died) and a Chinese algae eater. I did have guppies in that tank as well and everyone got along well until I introduced 2 female guppies, then the CAE started attacking them. So I started a whole 'nother tank with just guppies. Anyway, wondering about the sand for the crab tank too.

Any help appreciated!

 

[walkers101]

just start over i tried this and after a few days i just ended up with the sand sinking through the gravel and it was too much of a pain to clean

 

[fluttermoth]

Your corys would definitely prefer a sand substrate. You'll have to take the gravel out though, as otherwise, the sand will just work it's way down and you'll have sand with gravel on top, which sort of defeats the object!

You can either strip the tank down, or you could try syphoning the gravel out with a large bore tube, like a hosepipe. I'd go the strip down method personally; I replaced substrate in one of my tanks, leaving the fish in last year and wouldn't do it that way again! Too stressful, for both me and the fish; I had my first outbreak of Whitespot for about 20 years a couple of days later.