Sand Or Stones?

[Rickster]

Hi,

I currently have a sand substrate which I am very happy with, however I am getting a new tank in a few weeks and looking at some of the posts on here came across a similar question. The reply was basically that sand is good, but will wear down the filter mechanics quicker than having stones, i.e the insides of the filter itself. As I said I have been happy with the sand, and the corys I have prefer it, but I have a new fx5 filter which has been running about a month now, and if the sand can cause quicker waer and tear, should I go back to stones in my new tank?

 

[Ben M]

hi, personally i'd go for sand. if you have the filter inlet about 4" above the substrate then you shouldn't get any sand wearing the filter down, and it can only wear down some types of filter (not sure which ones). although it really doesn't matter unless you have bottom dwelling fish, as some prefer sand to sift through, and gravel can hold bad bacteria which can damage fishes barbels.

cheers

 

[KAISER]

Where did you get the sand Rickster? What type is it? It looks good

 

[Rickster]

Where did you get the sand Rickster? What type is it? It looks good

Hi Kaiser and thanks, it's play sand from Toys'R'Us, £4.99 for 25kg bag, it's already washed and seived, but I still washed it just to make sure.

 

[Monty-2010]

i wanted sand but was worried about getting it settled, i went for some really small gravel about 3mm and i'm glad i did looks really good

 

[flix_cw]

can you have majority sand, and add some gravel in there to bulk it out? i've seen it, don't know what people opinions are but i quite like the look of sand with the odd little pebble in with it.