Sand vs Gravel

[sweeney_jones]

OK Guys,

I have a new(ish) 22g tank that I've had set-up for about 3 months now.

Contents . .

10 neons
4 female guppies
2 male guppies
2 mickey mouse platties
2 khuli loaches
2 albino cordys
About 7-10 small sized platty fry (Pinched from dads tank)
dozens of snails (I hate em !)

One corner with rocks
Other corner planted, with long planted bog wood across the back, hiding the heater.
Fuval 3+ filter

At the moment I have a standard gravel bed, the most commonly available type from my LFS. I have seen pics of tanks with sand and I think this looks MUCH better. But what are the differences ? My gravel gets full of fish crap . . . this would show up more on sand right ? Could I feasibly change to a sand bed and what is the best way of going about this ?

Also, I want to breed something different, other than livebearers. Can anybody suggest a good easy starter for 10 ?


Thanks in advance.
Bob

 

[fraservet]

I much prefer sand over gravel.

Cory's are better off on sand

"fish crap" will be obvious on the surface of the sand, but is much easier to clean than with gravel.

Whether it is worth changing to sand is another matter. It is feasable, but to do it properly will be quite a lot of work.

The main problem with sand is that it can make your water very cloudy, possible damaging your fishes gills.

Ideally you would remove everything from your tank, then start from scratch with the sand (obviously keeping as much of the existing water as possible etc.)

Even with the sand thoroughly washed, it will probably cause some cloudiness in the water and should be left to settle before putting the fish back in.

Alternatively, you could try just swapping the gravel for the sand without taking the water out, but you would have to be very careful to avoid problems.

I personally would just leave the gravel, and save the sand for your next tank (what a good excuse to get another one!)

as for breeding, you could try cory's?

 

[clutterydrawer]

i believe cherry barbs are pretty easy to breed

remember you need somewhere for the fry to grow up tho

 

[Aquamick]

There is an article on breeding Cherry Barbs in the latest issue (October) of Practical Fishkeeping Magazine, page 17 if you're interested. You can get it in the shops until October the 5th

 

[yhbae]

Try either pool filter sand (the brown ones) or larger grained sand (which doesn't cloud). If you are looking for lowest possible maintenance substrate, I personally think the brown pool filter sand is the best. Since it contains mixture of different colored grains, most poo don't show (I have 3 bristlenoses in there, and they produce tonnes of poo). Also, the grains are small enough that nothing gets trapped between the grains (if I poke into the substrate during gravel vac, I don't see much, if any that gets sucked up). As a bonus, they look nice as well...

My 25g uses these pool filter sand, my 30g uses "larger grained" play sand. (Try the links on my sig)

 

[parker313]

I switched from gravel to sand. It was time consuming, but not as harrowing an experience as I was worried it might be

I got a brand new, never used 5 gallon bucket. Two of them actually.

I put some of the sand in one of the buckets and rinsed it thoroughly.

In the other bucket, I used my regular siphon to fill the bucket about 3/4 of the way up and put an airstone in for circulation.

I removed all of the plants and decorations and turned the filter off. I also turned the heater off about 15mins before I started all of this. I hooked my python up (no way would I have done this if it meant starting the siphon new and carrying buckets!!!) and drained half of the water out.

Then, I netted the fish and put them into the bucket with water and airstone. COVER the bucket!!! (All this time, the python is still removing water)

Then, while the rest of the water was draining out. I got a cup and started scooping the gravel out. By the time I was done getting the gravel out, most of the water was out of the tank, so I started putting the sand in. It required 4-5 buckets - washing and then putting it in.

At this point, I turned the water on and started filling the tank back up, filter still off. When the water got up high enough, I turned the heater back on and put in the large tank decorations. The water was too cloudy to be able to put the plants in at that time. MAKE SURE to leave enough room for the 5 gallons in the bucket!

The fish went back in the tank and I turned the filter back on. The worst of the cloudiness was out of the water in just a couple of hours. I put the plants back in the next day and by day 3, all of the cloudiness was gone.

I used premium play sand from Lowe's - 50 lbs. for less than $3.00. If you don't have a python, I strongly recommend getting one for this job!

 

[Fiddlesticks]

I prefer gravel cuz sand can develop dead spots if it is too thick.

 

[Teelie]

So don't make it too thick or get burrowers. I have sand in 2.5 of my tanks. .5 because one of them is also have rock/gravel. There's a 5 gallon with gravel but I prefer the sand. It's so much nicer looking IMO and easier to clean.

 

[willywonka099]

Well after talking it over with my friend that has salt and sand aquariums he told me DO NOT GET SAND ...lol he said after he first switched it was cool but after a few months it was A PAiNE

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Sand, any day.

Plants don't root as well in it but that's the only drawback I know of and even then all my tanks and lots of plants (except one) and they are grand.

I syphon poo off the top of the sand when I do a water change and I have dish that stir it about for me.

And, to top it off sand looks the dogs testicles.

 

[Ben]

ahh the age old question,

sands better but more messy

 

[Teelie]

Well after talking it over with my friend that has salt and sand aquariums he told me DO NOT GET SAND ...lol he said after he first switched it was cool but after a few months it was A PAiNE

I've had it for months and had zero problems with it.

 

[cation]

And, to top it off sand looks the dogs testicles.

As an American, I'm not familiar with this phrase, and it's too funny. I think "the dog's testicles" might mean something like the "bee's knees". But I like looking at my sand WAY more than looking at dog testicles.



Thanks for the larf, CS.

 

[Teelie]

I'm not British either so I can't say for certain but I'm fairly sure it's a compliment as opposed to "bollocks" which is the same thing, only more akin to bull crap.

 

[cation]

Bollicks, that I'm familiar with. I picked up some of the slang when we had a holiday (nice, long, 3-month one... ) in the Cotswolds when I was a kid. Between that and BBC, I usually feel relatively up on the slang. However, "the dog's testicles" was a new one to me!