Why Sand? How Sand? Sand?!

[SandraNewbie]

So Every fish keeper I talk to tells me sand is best as a substrate (except one guy who loves peat...). But it seems to me like it would be a tonne of faff. When I clean my small gravel I lose some of it up the vac, surely with sand I'd lose more.

I get that some fish prefer it, but really, what's the deal with sand? Why should I have sand as a substrate? How do you clean sand? How do you avoid cloudy water?

Basically, sell me on sand!

 

[JHR]

If you use sand then as long as you rinse it through until the water runs clear, you won't get cloudy water!

Also, when in tank and filled with water the sand compresses which means that as any dirt/poo etc. hits the floor it will sit on the top so when you come along with your syphon it just gets sucked right up..

And sure you lose a but of sand on the way when cleaning but the stuff is so darn cheap it doesn't really matter!

Also, fish love it and the main part of fish keeping is happy fish

 

[dbanner]

I used to use gravel but went over to sand and it was the right decision. It's easier to clean as the waste stays on top of the sand rather than going in between as gravel does. Meaning its easier to see and you don't have to push the vac into the sand as you would with gravel, instead you just hover the vac a couple of cm's above the sand. You will lose a bit of sand but not much. I find sand looks better than gravel and it also means you can keep a wider variety of fish like corys and plecos just to name a couple. Also sand is cheap... You can use play sand if you wish.

Avoiding cloudy water is straight forward. You just need to rinse the sand a few times in a bucket before adding it to the tank.

 

[fluttermoth]

You get the hang of hoovering sand very quickly. You might pick up a bit of sand, but you just give it a clean in the bucket and tip it back in.

Some fish much, much prefer to be kept on sand, and it's much better for them. Corydoras catfish, for example, like to sift through sand looking for bits of food. They take mouthfuls of sand and blow it out through their gills, while they swallow any food. It's one of their natural behaviours, and they just can't do it on gravel. Loaches are the same (they evolve to exploit the same areas, in their relative habitats).

Gravel traps more dirt, where you can't see it, than sand does. Trapped food can lead to bottom dwellers developing fungal infections. Gravel is also often too sharp and can lead to catfish's barbels being worn away, and left open to infections.

If you wash the sand properly (in a bucket, under a running tap, swirling the sand around and tipping out all the particles that don't sink within a count of five), it won't make your tank cloudy.

 

[msasa19]

sand is so much easier, you can see when u need to vac it, i do it with my water changes, and its easier for the fishys to look for food, also looks nicer. i got argos play sand for £2.99, i have a 3ft tank and i covered the bottom and still have some left over, yes i do lose some when cleaning it, but not much you just have to get the hang of how far away from the sand to hold the vac

 

[Zikofski]

i used expensive sand in my tank but again if i did cleaning once a week it would take me probably 50 years to suck up all my sand barley a teaspoon comes out each time, just wave the syphon about 1 to 2 cm above the sand and the poo lifts off so you can suck it up its that easy to keep clean looks amazing and most bottom feeder fish prefer it as they filter it through there gills and thats natural for them to feed and have fun

 

[Steve76]

sorry to hijack I have gravel at the moment can anyone advise how I might switch to sand the process I would need to go about adding the sand and removing the gravel ?

thanks

 

[NickBFC]

I recently bought a new tank and ditched my gravel for sand. Really glad I did, as it looks much better and my fish seem far happier. I say go for it.

 

[JenJ]

sorry to hijack I have gravel at the moment can anyone advise how I might switch to sand the process I would need to go about adding the sand and removing the gravel ?

thanks

All I did was remove about 30% of the water, scooped out the gravel with a fish net, and scooped the sand in the same way, making an effort not to shake it everywhere but rather 'dump' it at the bottom. Worked fine

 

[Steve76]

sorry to hijack I have gravel at the moment can anyone advise how I might switch to sand the process I would need to go about adding the sand and removing the gravel ?

thanks

All I did was remove about 30% of the water, scooped out the gravel with a fish net, and scooped the sand in the same way, making an effort not to shake it everywhere but rather 'dump' it at the bottom. Worked fine

cool thanks, I kind of regretted the gravel once i saw tanks with sand and just wondered if it wouldnt make the water go hideous and cloudy if I tried to add sand into the water..I may well give this a go soon

 

[KCB]

sorry to hijack I have gravel at the moment can anyone advise how I might switch to sand the process I would need to go about adding the sand and removing the gravel ?

thanks

All I did was remove about 30% of the water, scooped out the gravel with a fish net, and scooped the sand in the same way, making an effort not to shake it everywhere but rather 'dump' it at the bottom. Worked fine

cool thanks, I kind of regretted the gravel once i saw tanks with sand and just wondered if it wouldnt make the water go hideous and cloudy if I tried to add sand into the water..I may well give this a go soon

As long as you wash it well and don't dump the sand in from the top of the tank (pour it gently at the bottom) then you'll be fine .

 

[IainMac85]

ive been contemplating it for a while now aswell, one thing that kind of put me off is that ive read about dead spots and black sand etc how would this be avoided and what is the optimum depth etc?

 

[rachcake]

I am SO glad someone else has posted this topic because i was thinking the exact same thing!!! I thought when cleaning the tank, the sand would end up everywhere and clouding the water up!

 

[SombreroBanana]

ive been contemplating it for a while now aswell, one thing that kind of put me off is that ive read about dead spots and black sand etc how would this be avoided and what is the optimum depth etc?

If you get Malaysian Trumpet snails, they dig around in the sand and stir up any gas bubbles, so that prevents any toxic gas buildup. You can use any depth you like, but I think most people go 1-1.5".

 

[NickBFC]

Think I went for about 1.5'' too, seems about right.