Sand For Substrate...?

[Rawwrhh]

Hi there

I am going to purchase a 30 - 40 gallon for a shoal of corys and I would like to use sand as the substrate. I've heard that they love sand. Just a few questions:

Most people put fertilizer under their gravel for their plants. if I do this with sand, how do i stop the fertilizer from mixing with the sand when i clean the bottom? do i just have to be extra careful? I've gathered that cleaning waste from the bottom of the tank is easier when you have sand because they can't fall in between the particles as easily.

Do I need a certain filter for the tank if I use sand?

I would now like some opinions about which corys would look best with sand

EDIT: I would also like a shoal of mid-level fish preferably small. tetras perhaps?

Thanks.

 

[Verminator89]

You don't have to worry out fertilizers mixing with the sand, they shouldnt be affected by the use of sand to gravel per se. What i would concider is the amount of poop mixing with the sand. Although its easier to clean sand than it is gravel becasue you don't have to syphon it, it is also harder to keep clean. If you don't keep ontop of regularly cleaning up the poop it begins to mix with the sand, which is VERY hard to get out without sucking up all your sand. Theres nothing worse than looking at sand mixed with poop Fertilizers you dose into the water column should stay there, alternatively you can use root tablets to place under the plant.

Cory's love sand, true. Try to get a fine, heavier sand and keep it shallow(ish) maybe a 1-2cm deep. This way you can swirl it up somewhat if it does mix a little unpleasantly. If you want to keep plants, just leave the substrate a little deeper where the plants are for it to root, maybe using a rock or two to hold this sand in place. Theres always ways arouns catering for the cory's and plants needs when it comes to sand.

As for the filter, any will do. Just make sure the inlet to the filter if its an external isnt to close to the bottom of the sand, as it'll suck up the sand when the cory's disturb it and clog your filter. So position it a little higher up and you shoud avoid this problem. Any stirred up sand shouldnt get to high as its quite heavy and should sink quicker than it can be filtered out.

Hope this helps.

James

 

[bassbonediva]

I have sand in most of my tanks and love it. It is much easier to clean because you don't have to push the gravel vac down into it, you just swirl it around on top, about an inch or so above the sand. As for not mixing with your underlayer of fertilizer...that depends on what color sand you go with. If you do black sand and can find EcoComplete or Flourite in black, then you really don't have to worry about it too much. I've used straight play sand in several of my tanks and never had the need for ferts.

From my experience, no, you don't need a certain type of filter to have sand. Obviously an undergravel filter isn't going to work, but HOBs and canisters are fine. I have black aquarium sand in my 29gal and am running an AquaClear 50 on that tank. In my 55gal, I have pool filter sand (which I LOVE) and am running a Cascade 1000 canister filter. Just be careful when you do your water changes/vacs that you don't stir up the sand too much or it'll get sucked into your impeller and cause MAJOR problems (some people solve this by shutting their filter off while they do water changes).

As to which cories look best with sand...depends completely on what color sand you're using. I have a couple of panda cories in my 18gal tall (admittedly doesn't have sand, but the color principal is the same) which has black gravel and they really stand out. I have peppered cories in my 29gal with the black sand and you kinda have to hunt for them, but they look really cool once you do find them. Albino cories would look awesome against black or red sand, but against, say, my pool filter sand, which is white, they'd just be lost. Same with the pandas and the pool filter sand.