Substrate

[Tish Fank]

what do i need to consider when making the decision on what kind of substrate to use, i would have thought it was purley asthettics but on reflection as i learn more about tropical fish nothing is ever that simple. any advice would be much appreciated thank you!!

 

[youngfisher]

I use gravel, would love to use sand though looks alot better although its alot of work and very hard to do..so i have been told.

 

[Bobtastic]

I also use gravel, I understand that sand can have an affect on the pH of your water. I'm not sure if that is all sand or just some types of sand tho...

 

[Tish Fank]

I also use gravel, I understand that sand can have an affect on the pH of your water. I'm not sure if that is all sand or just some types of sand tho...

is that your tank in your sig? it looks like a pretty sweet set up, what have you got going on in there?

 

[JustKia]

I started with gravel "because that's what everyone use's right?" and within a couple of weeks I was swapping out the substrate for sand.
If you plan on having any bottom dwelling fish like corys, kuhlis etc then go with sand as it's much kinder to their barbels.

 

[Tish Fank]

I started with gravel "because that's what everyone use's right?" and within a couple of weeks I was swapping out the substrate for sand.
If you plan on having any bottom dwelling fish like corys, kuhlis etc then go with sand as it's much kinder to their barbels.

yeah i was reading some articles on here and sand seems like a good idea, not better than gravel just different. do you do anything specific maintanence wise??

 

[Bobtastic]

I also use gravel, I understand that sand can have an affect on the pH of your water. I'm not sure if that is all sand or just some types of sand tho...

is that your tank in your sig? it looks like a pretty sweet set up, what have you got going on in there?

It's a Juwel tank 110L (i think), internal Juwel filter/heater, mixed gravel substrate, 3 chunks of rock, 2 bits of wood, 8 live plants, and a few platies! Unfortunately I didn't do my research and find TFF b4 I started so I am currently doing an fish-in cycle... Just over a week and a half in to it so far. All seems to be going well, but only time will tell...

 

[mancin]

I have a tank with gravel and a tank with sand and I much prefer sand over gravel. I've been looking for a reason to convert the gravel tank over to sand. Also, as JustKia mentioned, when you are deciding about what substrate to use you should also take into account what fish you will ultimately get.

 

[Tish Fank]

I have a tank with gravel and a tank with sand and I much prefer sand over gravel. I've been looking for a reason to convert the gravel tank over to sand. Also, as JustKia mentioned, when you are deciding about what substrate to use you should also take into account what fish you will ultimately get.

good point and from what i have read so far there seems to be more fish that are suited to sand and none that i have come accros that dont get on well with it. i think my decision is pretty much made.

does anyone know if i can use your normal silver sand or is there a special fishy kind of sand i have to get?

 

[mancin]

does anyone know if i can use your normal silver sand or is there a special fishy kind of sand i have to get?

I know many members use children's play sand in the tank. It's much cheaper than sand labeled specifically for fish tanks, but works just as well. Just make sure you wash it well before adding it to the tank. I don't believe, however, that they have play sand in black (but please correct me if I'm wrong) so you'll want to figure out what color you want and that can play into determining how much you will have to spend and what kind of sand you'll get.

 

[heartworm]

My sand used to get pretty dirty pretty quickly, get a fish which moves it around and it makes it look a lot better.

 

[millym]

sand we used gravel for our 4ft tank & wish we'd used sand, our 40L has sand & i muh prefer the way it looks and its much better for fish such as corys & loaches. we're going to upgrade our 4ft for a 6ft soon & it will definately have sand in it. it does need to be washed - even aquarium sand & also takes a day or so to settle the murk when you fist set it up but well worth it. we've found that plants also prefer it.

 

[Tish Fank]

seriously guys thanks for the responses i really appreciate it! with regards planting and the sand did you add all your plants at once or gradually over time?

 

[mancin]

seriously guys thanks for the responses i really appreciate it! with regards planting and the sand did you add all your plants at once or gradually over time?

You can add them all at once, but it's best to add plants after the tank has been cycled (not sure if yours is or not?) I haven't had first hand experience with cycling a tank with plants, but since they use the fish waste as nutrients, I've heard (and can understand why) that plants could interfere with the cycle.

I have been adding plants to my tank gradually for the past couple of weeks because not one location had all of the plants that I wanted.

 

[pippoodle]

If you're going to add plants to a sand tank and dont want to put a gravel bottom add 3" of sand to begin with , then plant the plants when the tank has cycled , the sand slowly settles and the plants stay planted

i have heavilly planted tanks with sandy bottoms ( oooo errr) and all my plants stay in the sand

i have lots of bottom dwellers in my tanks and my sand is always spotless , i dont even need to give it a vac now more than once every month just when i move the ornaments and check if anythings underneath it

So much cleaner and easier to maintain (with the right fish to help) than gravel

I've even added sand over the gravel in my tanks