For Those Of You Thinking About Switching To Sand.

[Truck]

If your in the UK ( i dont know if they have toysrus in the US) but if your planning on doing a gravel to sand change over, I strongly recommend you give toys'r'us a visit and grab some of their play sand, its £5 for 25 kg, a bit more expensive than argos.

with my new tank im going for tropica planting substrate topped with sand ( the plant substrate obviously irrelevant for those not going for a planted tank)

so i thought oh what the hell im going to have loads over so i topped my gravel off in the 3 gallon with this sand, it looks amazing, and there was No clouding whatsoever. so if your planning on switching to sand, i suggest go with toys'r'us's play sand.

there is no silt at all, it all sank very quickly within 10 seconds, there were no fish in there at the time.(for preventative measure) i never washed the sand and its brilliant.

 

[minxfishy]

Id strongly recommend NOT changing it myself, nightmare to keep clean, but thats just my opinion

 

[Truck]

Cory's is my answer

 

[minxfishy]

Yeah they turn it over and cover up the poop, which leaves it to rot under the sand, so when you turn it over manually it stinks !!! Maybe just me that had problems with it, especially with plecs in the tanks, but I would not go back to sand again.

 

[Truck]

it kinda helps in a planted tank the poop being under the substrate as it rots down and creates a natural fertilizer come food for plants.

but its fighting of the algae that bothers me but my shrimps and corys have done a damn good job previously

 

[doresy]

OMG another thread where someone says sand is a nightmare to keep clean

The years I had gravel in my community tank when doing a gravel vac after just one week just showed how much muck was stored in it. Plunging the vac deep into the gravel turned the vac tube black When I eventually took out the gravel, BOY! talk about muck and stink!

I have had sand in it now for over a year and every morning the surface is like virgin snow. When I do a 'gravel' vac hardly any 'silt' is evident. I stir the sand right to the bottom to expel any gas and due to the density of sand still no silt.

Sand rules IMO, sand and Cory/goby perfect mix

For the science bit I think that if you have enough cory (and every community tank should, imo) they turn over the sand and the poo gets dissolved into the water to accumilate in the mechanical part of the filter (not into the sand as suggested)

or is it just me

 

[pippoodle]

i have found sand claner to use instead of gravel the corys clean the sand perfectly and any poo gets sucked in the filters and have even added a layer of sand on top of my gravel in 2 tanks with fish in and no cloudyness doing my waste shute routine

wash sand
get long gravel vac (i use 24" one) remove top
spoon washed sand into the tube
move the tube to where you want the sand and there you go done
sand gets straight to the bottom of the tank and settles right away

i like the idea of the toys r us sand i used argos sand and had to wash it really well

good to know toys r us sand is cleaner but i wont be using it at twice the price of argos sand - good tip though truck

 

[three-fingers]

Yeah they turn it over and cover up the poop, which leaves it to rot under the sand, so when you turn it over manually it stinks !!! Maybe just me that had problems with it, especially with plecs in the tanks, but I would not go back to sand again.

Solution - don't turn the sand over yourself! There's really no need to, it just interrupts a load of harmless bacterial process going on under the sand and if left too long to do can sometimes cause problems like ammonia spikes and green water.

 

[TylerFerretLord]

Id strongly recommend NOT changing it myself, nightmare to keep clean, but thats just my opinion

Malaysian trumpet snails. Problem solved.

 

[ChrisXL]

I wish I read this a few months back....

Now I'm stuck with yucky silver gravel....

 

[minxfishy]

I did just say it was my opinion/experience, maybe I had too many messy fish in the tanks I used sand with, plecs, cichlids etc, but even with 2/3x weekly changes and vacs I couldnt keep it clean enough (least not for me, I am very picky), 5 minutes after removing all poop, there would be more of it and it drove me insane. So I changed from sand to black gravel (very fine like sand) and that drives me nutso too! So new tank being set up, Im back to gravel, small sized, but gravel all the same.

Its just a matter of what you prefer, heck I have purple sand in one of my tanks, now that is easy to keep clean strangely, maybe its the colour but it doesnt show the poo!

 

[Truck]

wow! purple sand lol, my sister would love it, but not in my tank

i think it may depend on what you have in your tank, and by no means at all is your opinion incorrect

 

[shroob]

Got sand in all but 1 of my tanks, I much prefer its look though it does seem to look dirtier easier than gravel I can live with that. I also think its better for the fish I keep.

 

[raptorrex]

one way of keeping the surface of sand clean, though it works just as well with gravel, is to add a, large, air stone or air curtain at the back of your tank. this causes a current that draws the gunk towards the back of the tank. and that's where it collects. you can syphon it up or simply stir the water, as i do, and let the filter clear it out. as for the question of compaction. the advice from the most experienced, no not me lol, is not to bother turning the sand over. apparently, this actually aids planting! I'll clear that comment up, its not bad to turn your sand, it just, seems, not be necessary.

 

[Truck]

one way of keeping the surface of sand clean, though it works just as well with gravel, is to add a, large, air stone or air curtain at the back of your tank. this causes a current that draws the gunk towards the back of the tank. and that's where it collects. you can syphon it up or simply stir the water, as i do, and let the filter clear it out. as for the question of compaction. the advice from the most experienced, no not me lol, is not to bother turning the sand over. apparently, this actually aids planting! I'll clear that comment up, its not bad to turn your sand, it just, seems, not be necessary.

not very good for those with planted tanks, as it will remove CO2 from water if your injecting it, just a heads up for those that dont know,

a shoal of 6+ corys will keep your sand in good shape