Gravel Or Sand?

[Floyds mum]

Im buying a small tank for quarantine/fry/hospital use.
Which substrate do people reccommend?
Please take into account the cleaning and upkeep of both, wether either gets mucky quickly etc
Thanx

 

[Bigpig]

I would leave it bare if its just for the above uses

 

[VictorMeldrew]

Yep, thats what i would do

 

[Floyds mum]

Ok thanx, if i do decide to use it as a normal community tank which would be better?
I mean i know id have to do more water changes with sand as dirt sits on top.

 

[marcybeth0281]

definitely keep it bare for hospital/fry use. the fry like to hang around on the bottom and it can be a royal pain to clean gravel when the fry are hanging around down there.

I have gravel in my 10gallon and sand in my 46gallon. I will tell you that when the sand is clean, there is NOTHING prettier than that tank. We have a very blue-toned fluorescent light and it makes the sand so brilliant white - just gorgeous. BUT - it gets dirty as can be. I siphon the poo on the bottom every 4 days regardless of a water change because it just looks so gunky.

Sand is a bit more maintenance, but worth it in looks. So I guess it would depend on what you want the tank for. Also, if you have plecs or loaches, they have fun burrowing in the sand - so that's something to consider.

 

[Floyds mum]

definitely keep it bare for hospital/fry use. the fry like to hang around on the bottom and it can be a royal pain to clean gravel when the fry are hanging around down there.

I have gravel in my 10gallon and sand in my 46gallon. I will tell you that when the sand is clean, there is NOTHING prettier than that tank. We have a very blue-toned fluorescent light and it makes the sand so brilliant white - just gorgeous. BUT - it gets dirty as can be. I siphon the poo on the bottom every 4 days regardless of a water change because it just looks so gunky.

Sand is a bit more maintenance, but worth it in looks. So I guess it would depend on what you want the tank for. Also, if you have plecs or loaches, they have fun burrowing in the sand - so that's something to consider.

Ok thanx i have a 64L tank atm and i have 1 otto and 2 dwarf corys, the otto stays on the sides of the tank and filter body where the corys stay more in the gravel. if i decided to change substrate which would be better? the gravel i have in atm is very smooth.
Also the more often water changes are done does it improve the water quality?

 

[mattlee]

i was considering a change to sand as i have several cory/loaches but i found a sandy/gravel substrate at the lfs that is a mixture of very fine gravel and sand made by unipac called zambezi, its quite a dark brown in colour with lighter specs of orange,white,brown mixed into it it looks really natural and im sure my bottom feeders will love it, also wont show poop and can be vacuumed like gravel..... best of both

 

[Floyds mum]

ah thanx might look out for it then