Sand Or Gravel Question

[fishyfreak]

[/quote]BTW - what do you use now?
[/quote]


I'm using a coarse gravel, but mainly because it came with the tank and because I had to transport everything about 30 mins away including the fish so I wanted to re-use everything it came with so I wouldn't screw up the chemical makeup too much, I even managed to transport half of the 180 gallons of water that was in it. So far everything's worked out nicely, maybe in the future I'll switch back to sand but the gravel looks nice and I'm not having any problems, so if it ain't broke....

 

[Madam Macaw]

I have a little over half of my 55 gallon tank small pea gravel and the other part sand. I have noticed when cleaning that the sand is so much easier to clean. The pea gravel seems to let waste and debris settle down further, while not in the sand. I do have cories - so maybe they are helping keep the sand free of fallen food. If this turns out to be the case, I might just replace my pea gravel with sand. Suggestions?

nice tank, please excuse my ignorance but are they real plants ? If so what are they called ? Only asking cos i saw something similar in my lfs recently and after i'd said i wanted some i was informed that they were for a coldwater tank and not suitable for mine, despite feeling a bit of a pr@t i was a bit gutted cos i really like the look !!

cheers

charlton

It is called Anacharis and they were wrong - according to the following website, they can go into tropical to cold water tanks. I can tell you that these are thriving in mine and I keep it at 76 degrees with a bit of salt.
http/www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Di....cfm?pCatId=780

 

[Madam Macaw]

BTW - what do you use now?



I'm using a coarse gravel, but mainly because it came with the tank and because I had to transport everything about 30 mins away including the fish so I wanted to re-use everything it came with so I wouldn't screw up the chemical makeup too much, I even managed to transport half of the 180 gallons of water that was in it. So far everything's worked out nicely, maybe in the future I'll switch back to sand but the gravel looks nice and I'm not having any problems, so if it ain't broke....

I understand. I really wouldn't have thought anything about my current setup, until I actually looked at everything really closely. I couldn't believe how much "stuff" came out of the gravel when I vacuumed, but then when I looked at everything through the glass, I could still see a bit of "stuff" that was in the gravel, whereas the sand looked beautiful.

I think I will still keep some gravel - since I like the way it looks now (70% gravel on one side and 30% sand on the other), but switch it around (20% gravel and 80% sand).

I have never used sand until recently, i decided to try it because i can get free sand. So i switched my 20 gal. from gravel to sand and i really like it. Another reason i decided to switch, because i was planning on getting Cory's, i knew the sand would be better for them.
Your tanks looks nice half/half but i don't thing i could do that only because it would drive me crazy if the two started intermixing. i would not want gravel pieces on the sand side.

Actually, it doesn't mix much at all. I was wondering about that when I first started also. There is a bit of a mix where they meet, but nothing too drastic. I think I will definitely make most of it sand, but have gravel still on one side, just not as much.

 

[fishyfreak]

I have never used sand until recently, i decided to try it because i can get free sand. So i switched my 20 gal. from gravel to sand and i really like it. Another reason i decided to switch, because i was planning on getting Cory's, i knew the sand would be better for them.
Your tanks looks nice half/half but i don't thing i could do that only because it would drive me crazy if the two started intermixing. i would not want gravel pieces on the sand side.

You could always have a small piece of glass or slate cut about 3/4 - 1" high and put it up as a divider, just make sure you take the edge off. I've seen show tanks with 4 or 5 different types of substrate divided with gravel, although this doesn't really work with fish like Cichlids who like to move it around.

 

[San O Fisher]

I have a little over half of my 55 gallon tank small pea gravel and the other part sand. I have noticed when cleaning that the sand is so much easier to clean. The pea gravel seems to let waste and debris settle down further, while not in the sand. I do have cories - so maybe they are helping keep the sand free of fallen food. If this turns out to be the case, I might just replace my pea gravel with sand. Suggestions?

I am thinking about doing the half gravel, half sand as my girl friend and i are areguing over the substrate, i heard the sand seaps into gravel and the sand level slowly goes down as it settles into the entire tank, have you found this to be the case? i was thinking just to take a divider, cut it to level and place it in between the sand and gravel. if any one has other suggestions that would help.

 

[Madam Macaw]

I have a little over half of my 55 gallon tank small pea gravel and the other part sand. I have noticed when cleaning that the sand is so much easier to clean. The pea gravel seems to let waste and debris settle down further, while not in the sand. I do have cories - so maybe they are helping keep the sand free of fallen food. If this turns out to be the case, I might just replace my pea gravel with sand. Suggestions?

I am thinking about doing the half gravel, half sand as my girl friend and i are areguing over the substrate, i heard the sand seaps into gravel and the sand level slowly goes down as it settles into the entire tank, have you found this to be the case? i was thinking just to take a divider, cut it to level and place it in between the sand and gravel. if any one has other suggestions that would help.

My sand levels have not gone down at all - not that I can tell anyways. Of course, where the sand and gravel meet, it will get mixed up a bit - but to me, that makes it look more natural anyways. Even if you put a divider in - assuming it would come up to the level of both, you will probably have some mixing.