SO I have decided on doing a tank with two pairs of Cons with some other smaller fish. now my tank has gravel already but would sand be better? I have never had a sand bottom tank before... Are they harder or easier to maintain? or just the same? And as far as cleaning sand i don't know how to do that so i guess I could google it... But Opinions from the people who have been there and done it.. Which one is better... And again thanks for your guys help.
gravel or sand?
- Thread starter NinjaSkunkApe
- Start date
A couple things i noticed and hopefuly will help you out.
1 2 pairs of cons will be very agresive and most likely kill the smaller fish you wanted in your tank
2 if the tank is alredy cycled, then theres lots of beneficial bacteria in the gravel. Id stick with the gravel if its alredy cycled. Dosnt mean, howevr, that you cant recycle the tank, itll just be a little longer before you can safely house your fish
3 sand can be easier to clean because instead of uneaten food and fish waste goin and decomposin in between the pebbles, itll sit on top of the sand, allowin easy vaccumin strait off the sand
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1 2 pairs of cons will be very agresive and most likely kill the smaller fish you wanted in your tank
2 if the tank is alredy cycled, then theres lots of beneficial bacteria in the gravel. Id stick with the gravel if its alredy cycled. Dosnt mean, howevr, that you cant recycle the tank, itll just be a little longer before you can safely house your fish
3 sand can be easier to clean because instead of uneaten food and fish waste goin and decomposin in between the pebbles, itll sit on top of the sand, allowin easy vaccumin strait off the sand
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It has gravel in it that was cycled and out of an established tank.. There was little water only the water in the gravel itself left in the tank.. I have it full now but am waiting on a new filter I ordered to truly cycle it. So there is benefits to the gravel in the tank as it sits.. but I am not against doing sand.. I have never done it before and wanted some advice as to the pros and cons of sand vs gravel.
correction.. the tank was established.. I am just re-doing it... All that I have left is the gravel.. I am going to redo the Decor to suit what fish I put in it.
What about half the tank gravel then half Sand... you know like when you get toppings on a pizza different toppings split down the middle haha fat kid food reference complete. but seriously would that work? seems like it would in my head...
i had a feeling it may mix.. but it looks cool... in my head .... haha.... I may just try it for the **** of it.. something different..... Sounds fun..
What I did when I changed my 55 gal from black gravel to sand: Bought pool filter sand, and bought a trashcan (like one you put in your kitchen that can hold water) then poured the bag of sand into the trashcan and stuck a water hose in it. fill the trashcan up with water and allow it to overflow for 10-30 minutes. Do this until you can stir it and the water stays clear. Then I bought a cat litter scoup and scouped out the gravel from the tank (after doing a major gravel siphon, so no dormant waste would come up). After I removed a good amount, I simply grabbed a cup and used it to shovel sand from the trashcan into the tank. I did all of this while the fish were in it, they stayed on one side and i poured it gently on the other. I never had any complications with water quality, and the fish's health never changed.
Benefits to gravel: any color you want, fun to watch fish pick up/move gravel, easy to siphon
Cons to gravel: waste falls throughout each rock, not a "natural" look
Benefits to sand: Waste mainly sets directly on top of the sand, so there isn't much trouble siphoning up the waste, looks much more natural, it's AWESOME when fish swim around, kicking sand with their tail (if falls back down quickly) and its MUCH cheaper ($8.00 for a 50lb bag of filter sand)
Cons to sand: difficult to siphon if you're used to siphoning gravel, but it's not all that hard, just don't siphon a lot at a time.. really thats the only con i can think of.
I have an aquarium with sand, an aquarium with actual lake bottom ( boiled it for hours, then used it.. it's mainly really fine grained sand), and a pool filter sand bottom aquarium. I love all of them, but the pool filter one is the easiest to clean. The gravel sucks to clean only because every section has to be siphoned and the lake gravel sucks because it's so fine that it gets siphoned almost immediately through the tubing. After getting used to the pool sand, it is by far my favorite substrate.
As for the mixing, i intentionally left some black gravel in, just cuz it looks neat lol.
Benefits to gravel: any color you want, fun to watch fish pick up/move gravel, easy to siphon
Cons to gravel: waste falls throughout each rock, not a "natural" look
Benefits to sand: Waste mainly sets directly on top of the sand, so there isn't much trouble siphoning up the waste, looks much more natural, it's AWESOME when fish swim around, kicking sand with their tail (if falls back down quickly) and its MUCH cheaper ($8.00 for a 50lb bag of filter sand)
Cons to sand: difficult to siphon if you're used to siphoning gravel, but it's not all that hard, just don't siphon a lot at a time.. really thats the only con i can think of.
I have an aquarium with sand, an aquarium with actual lake bottom ( boiled it for hours, then used it.. it's mainly really fine grained sand), and a pool filter sand bottom aquarium. I love all of them, but the pool filter one is the easiest to clean. The gravel sucks to clean only because every section has to be siphoned and the lake gravel sucks because it's so fine that it gets siphoned almost immediately through the tubing. After getting used to the pool sand, it is by far my favorite substrate.
As for the mixing, i intentionally left some black gravel in, just cuz it looks neat lol.
I am actually going to move my 55 to another room on Thursday afternoon. I bought a 50 pound bag of PFS and after setting up my 125 with PFS, I wouldn't use anything else. It's so cheap and easy to use/clean! So I will be removing the old tan gravel and adding the PFS with a little gravel on top as well because I too think it will look good.
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