180 gallon tank
- Thread starter flavis05
- Start date
That's completely up to you, but quite a few people here will recommend sand over gravel. What's the stock going to be?
of course its up too you, put something on the bottom though, tanks look so tacky empty like that, i'd say sand over gravel personally though
You can pick up some cheap PFS (pool filter sand) from home depot for cheap and it looks great. What fish are going in?
Maybe I live in the wrong area but my home depot does not carry pool filter sand, just play sand which is too coarse for my liking, sorry for the high jacking.
Bare bottom is easier to clean, gravel looks nice and take more work to clean, Sand looks the nicest ( I think) and is the most work, sort of. But yeah totally up to you. Do you plan on having fish that like to dig? A lot of chiclids like to dig around so it's kinda nice to have something for them to do.
Bare bottom is easier to clean, gravel looks nice and take more work to clean, Sand looks the nicest ( I think) and is the most work, sort of. But yeah totally up to you. Do you plan on having fish that like to dig? A lot of chiclids like to dig around so it's kinda nice to have something for them to do.
You can't use a gravel vac to clean it because it will just get sucked out. But i just stir everything up when i do a water change. Also you can just carefully run a hose over the top to suck up the light debris without getting sand.
A good trick is to have your drain hose in a bucket outside, water a debris overflow out the bucket and the bits of sand you suck up mostly stays in the bottom of the bucket. Then you wash the sand and toss it back in the tank.
A good trick is to have your drain hose in a bucket outside, water a debris overflow out the bucket and the bits of sand you suck up mostly stays in the bottom of the bucket. Then you wash the sand and toss it back in the tank.
+1 for Pool Filter Sand aka Silica Sand. Make sure you rinse it thoroughly before adding into your aquarium!
I found the best way to deal with sand is to keep an extra bag on hand($5) and just go with it. I add more sand over 3 or 4 months to compensate what I vacuum out, lifes to short to worry about loosing 50 cents of sand a month.