bare, gravel or sand?
- Thread starter BRUNER247
- Start date
I have had Gravel, Sand, Play Sand, and Sand+GRavel. Sand looks Amazing, however its not as easy to clean as the gravel; Sand also show gunk better. I personally like bare its the easiest to clean.
When using sand + gravel, you need to decide on the right mix, as the sand will always go to the bottom and the gravel will always be on top. If you get the mix wrong you will only see gravel on top. I must admit if you get the right color sand and gravel and mix it so it just looks like its speckled with gravel it does look nice.
Edit: I lost $20.00 worth of black moon sand, I mixed this black sand with aquarium soil, it looked fine for an hour, then all the sand disappeared to the bottom; never to been again.
When using sand + gravel, you need to decide on the right mix, as the sand will always go to the bottom and the gravel will always be on top. If you get the mix wrong you will only see gravel on top. I must admit if you get the right color sand and gravel and mix it so it just looks like its speckled with gravel it does look nice.
Edit: I lost $20.00 worth of black moon sand, I mixed this black sand with aquarium soil, it looked fine for an hour, then all the sand disappeared to the bottom; never to been again.
I disagree,i think sand is easier to clean and keep clean because all the krap stays on top and you just suck it up,i will NEVER use gravel again,it just traps all the rubbish.
Steve
Steve
That is true, but depending on sand and the crud, you might have to gravel vac into a bucket so that you don't loose the sand. Some sand is heavy and wont get sucked out when you vac, but other sand such a black moon sand will get sucks up.
Sure you can stir up the water and try to get the gunk to float up so you can vac just the gunk up but then you trap some gunk under the sand. You can also try putting the gravel vac above the sand enough that it only sucks up the gunk, but the gunk might be to heavy and so you wont get it sucked up.
So yes grave is easy to vac gravel without worrying about anything, but like you mentioned it takes more time because every thing gets stuck in it. Sand nothing get stuck in it but you sometimes have to be more careful vacing.
And I wont even start the debate about trapped gasses in the sand.
Sure you can stir up the water and try to get the gunk to float up so you can vac just the gunk up but then you trap some gunk under the sand. You can also try putting the gravel vac above the sand enough that it only sucks up the gunk, but the gunk might be to heavy and so you wont get it sucked up.
So yes grave is easy to vac gravel without worrying about anything, but like you mentioned it takes more time because every thing gets stuck in it. Sand nothing get stuck in it but you sometimes have to be more careful vacing.
And I wont even start the debate about trapped gasses in the sand.
What about pond soil? It's coarse like crushed gravel but not too fine to get sucked up by the vacuum.
Couple things to think about not that they can't be delt with, but good to know.
Deep in the gravel is where you will have much of your benificial bacteria....depending on your setup this may or may not be important such as if you have a sump. if you don't then it's something to think about because the sand will work against you to some degree.
Sand is hard on filters, if you have a decent filter and don't mind having an intake cozy then you will protect your filter, if you are like me and don't like huge foam puffs stuck to things in the corner of your perfectly nice tank, then it's not so appealing.
Now outside of that, I have been thinking long and hard about doing a mix. I like the idea, I am not certain but if it truly offers the best of both worlds in terms of look, cleanliness and biological action then it would be a frontrunner option for me anyway.
Deep in the gravel is where you will have much of your benificial bacteria....depending on your setup this may or may not be important such as if you have a sump. if you don't then it's something to think about because the sand will work against you to some degree.
Sand is hard on filters, if you have a decent filter and don't mind having an intake cozy then you will protect your filter, if you are like me and don't like huge foam puffs stuck to things in the corner of your perfectly nice tank, then it's not so appealing.
Now outside of that, I have been thinking long and hard about doing a mix. I like the idea, I am not certain but if it truly offers the best of both worlds in terms of look, cleanliness and biological action then it would be a frontrunner option for me anyway.
For the past few years I've struck with a mix of florite and gravel.
I've found I like my tanks being live planted. It worked out well until my plecos got big enough that now they eat everything. I'm trying some cages out now so we'll see if they work.
I've found I like my tanks being live planted. It worked out well until my plecos got big enough that now they eat everything. I'm trying some cages out now so we'll see if they work.