Gravel or no Gravel?
- Thread starter RUNUMHARD
- Start date
RUNUMHARD;1149343; said:
I really like sand as opposed to gravel for messy fish. Debris does not collect in the sand, it acumulates on the surface where it can be vacuumed out and it give a more natural look than bare glass. I spend one tenth the time cleaning my sand based tanks as opposed to gravel ones.
Also, if you Aro is small, add some decent sized Geophagus (Earthmovers) like G. surinamensis or S. jurupari which are generally peaceful and will keep the sand "turned over" so there will not be dead spots. They are also mostly bottom dwellers which is good in an Aro tank. Just be sure to get the peaceful species, some are nasty.
What i have are pebble stones 1/4"..
I have the birch with my aro..
as for cleaning 15% water change twice a week will keep the aquarium clear...
But i'm currently thinking of changing my substrate to silica sand or white sand.. i'm still not sure how to clean substrate...
As for no substrate.. its good for super large aquarium something over 150gal.. with couple of arowanas.. just make sure that you paste/tape black poster at the bottom glass so to give a dark effect..
Good luck with your aquarium
I have the birch with my aro..
as for cleaning 15% water change twice a week will keep the aquarium clear...
But i'm currently thinking of changing my substrate to silica sand or white sand.. i'm still not sure how to clean substrate...
As for no substrate.. its good for super large aquarium something over 150gal.. with couple of arowanas.. just make sure that you paste/tape black poster at the bottom glass so to give a dark effect..
Good luck with your aquarium
I don't care for the look of a bare bottom tank personally. I have no problems at all with tank maintaince or water quality. I keep giant pond snails and fresh water clams in all the tanks (about a dozen or so...) etween that and my fish sdigging around on the bottom from time to time I don't get any buildup at all.
rcarbonell;1152195; said:
First off I'm using tahitan black moon sand mixed with slight white sand just to mix it up a bit.
To clean sand you need just a hose and some patients. Obviously you dont want to just stuff it in the sand and suck up some exspensive stuff (20$ for 20lbs) What I do is slightly moved the end of the hose back and forth to create a (current) just enough to move the "poo" but not the sand then simply extract the "poo". Even though I take my time i think its near impossible to not get any sand but I keep a back up just in case.
Chris
RUNUMHARD;1149343; said:
nope not true. the saying "Aros keep looking at their reflection" is just but a myth.
I agree that barebottom is easier to clean but the look of dirt just sitting at the bottom after uve just done water changes is not so appealing to me.
Plus gravels makes an extra biomedias... just my .02 cents.
