Sand/pebbles?

[BethK]

I am thinking of what to do with my newer tank. I would like to try using sand as the base, instead of stones and add in some rocks.

I have seen people talking about air rocks, are they good to use?

How do you go about using sand, or is there no difference?

 

[mattlee]

I am thinking of what to do with my newer tank. I would like to try using sand as the base, instead of stones and add in some rocks.

I have seen people talking about air rocks, are they good to use?

How do you go about using sand, or is there no difference?

sand in my eyes is a more natural substrate and is much better if you have bottom feeders like loaches, corys etc etc as they dig into the substrate to get their food and sand doesnt harm them. small smooth stone/pebbles etc can also be used but carries a risk to bottom feeders and sharp gravel is a defo no no as it will damage the fishes barbels causing bacterial infections and maybe worse.....

cleaning sand is slightly different to gravel. instead of digging in to get the trapped dirt from under the gravel you just hover the vac above the sand as the poop etc sits on top. if you get too close then obviously the sand will be sucked out with the water! its advised to stir the sand every now and then to release trapped gas pockets that form underneath but do this after cleaning so no food or poop gets trapped underneath the stirred sand

before adding the sand give it a very good wash in a bucket to remove any dust/dirt then place on the tank floor. when enough is added place a plate in the middle and fill with water aiming the flow onto the plate, this will minimise the amount of sand that gets thrown into the water column and give a smaller waiting time for it to settle again.

i just changed my main tank to sand and love it, it looks so much better

 

[BethK]

I think this is what I will go with, much of a cleaner look too x

 

[waterdrop]

For the cleaning, if you use a fairly large bucket you can can get the outside hose running at a rate that agitates the dust out but doesn't spill the sand and that way you can just leave it running unattended for periods of time.

~~waterdrop~~