Poll: Which Do You Prefer: Sand Or Gravel?

[vancouver]

gravel.. easier to clean.

 

[chibi]

I think sand look nice, but gravel is so much easier to clean. It's best to have fine gravel... has the effect of sand but you can clean it!

 

[freerunner416]

I have a tank of each and wish i had never changed to sand. Finding it hard to keep tidy!! It does look good though i will give you that

 

[VidVid]

i think gravel because its good at anchoring plants...its also good at hiding fish wastes whereas in sand its much more visible...easier to clean also..

 

[PinkyPerky]

Gravel - easier to clean, although having said that, most of my tank is actually bear, with just some gravel and pebbles weighing down the plants - I personally have found the tank easier to clean by doing this.

 

[flumpit2]

sand any day.its much easier to keep clean because all the mess settles on the top plus it looks better!!

 

[wendywc]

I think sand look nice, but gravel is so much easier to clean. It's best to have fine gravel... has the effect of sand but you can clean it!

yeah, I have fine gravel too! I think it looks much more natural because of the varing colors.

http/users2.ev1.net/~wendywc/favpics/sep...1-Images/48.jpg

 

[Griz]

Sand.

Gravel just hides the waste better than sand does. Sand doesn't take any more time to clean, and cleaning gravel properly makes more of a mess IME. It stirs up a ton of crud into the water column, this doesn't happen nearly as much when siphoning crud off of sand. Sand works better for a lot of fish and plants. And sand just looks a whole lot better IMO.

 

[skiltrip]

IME, the fact that sand doesn't "hide" the waste works to your advantage. See, it does look ugly when you see a really long pleco present draped across your sand bed, so your more apt to clean it up more often. when i had gravel tanks, it would all slip down, out of sight, out of mind, then when i did do a good vacuuming, it was insane how much black was being sucked up out of the gravel. just gross.

sand really isn't hard to keep clean when you get the hang of swirling the vacuum over the surface to pick up the poop. i dont even worry about losing a little sand now and then in the process, though usually the sand is heavier than the waste so i don't suck much up.

if i ever need to replace a little sand, it's 50lbs for $3 US for playsand, so one bag could probably give me "top off" sand for a lifetime.

not to mention, sand looks awesome, and fish, especially cichlids love to play around and dig in it. my synocat likes to just sift thru it lookin for food. it's awesome, he just sucks it in and sand comes flying out of his gills like the grass thrower on a lawnmower.

the best part about sand is watching the fishes natural behaviors.

 

[Egmel]

I think it depends on your fish.

I really like the effect sand gives and my plecs like it because they sort of 'snuggle' down in it when scared.

Also I'm hoping to get Panda Cories at a later date so sand is almost a must in order to see their natural behaviour.