Can you set up a tank with just gravel, or do you have to have subtrate (sand)? I saw some white sand at Pet Smart. Does color of sand make a differance, or is it just for looks? Right now all I have in my tanks are crushed corol, and slate.
How important is subtrate?
- Thread starter Flexxx
- Start date
well all substrate is anything you put on the bottom of your tank and i have heard that gravel works better for biological reasons but sand or gravel either way is good and no the color doesnt matter
i think color is all personal preferance. I know that lots of people use pool sand because it's cheaper. They sell them in 50lb bags and in multiple colors... you can also try lowes or home depot for pool sand
ive used grravel in my big tank and pool sand in my smaller one, if yur gunna use sand id say pool sand is best, its heavier and less likely to blow all over the place, plus the granulates are round so if sucked into your filter would not destroy your imepeller, but in the end its your chocie
Imo, barebottoms are awesome. keeping them clean can sometimes be a hassle, but other than that they have a classy look. but all my tanks are sand bottom, i love the look. you can also mix like all purpose gravel and aquarium sand like i did, its the most natural look ive ever achieved.
as for color... depends what your stock is. usualy a light color substrate is good for darker fish and dark substrate is good for lighter colored fish. personally i like sand, and i use pfs from leslies... good stuf, its a nice tan color also.
I keep no substrate in my rtc tank. I think it looks 10 times better without. I would really like to experiment with sand though. I love the classy look of the bare bottom but I have definitly been wanting to spruce up my tank a little bit.
Substrate is nice, as long as you don't mind gravel vacs.
I tried to skip them on a 22-gallon-cube with massive 50% water changes DAILY and no gravel vacs.
About 5 months later on this tank nitrates were on the rise, even with the 50% DAILY changes, started losing cardinal tetras.
Placed all of the fish in a rubbermaid box with tank water, then moved substrate around and tons of poop/food/gunk turned the tank brown.
Substrate looks nice but it really stinks in larger setups, it catches all the poop.
I'd rather do daily water changes on a bare bottom were I can see and remove the poop then have to gravel-vac.
If you want substrate, you will have 2X the work.
Since that time on my cardinal cube, I have removed the gravel, kept the weighted silk plants.
Doesn't look as nice because the plants move all over the place during each water change, but I can remove lots of poop that sits on the bare bottom with the pump during the water change in a flash, instead of farting around with gravel-vacs.
I tried to skip them on a 22-gallon-cube with massive 50% water changes DAILY and no gravel vacs.
About 5 months later on this tank nitrates were on the rise, even with the 50% DAILY changes, started losing cardinal tetras.
Placed all of the fish in a rubbermaid box with tank water, then moved substrate around and tons of poop/food/gunk turned the tank brown.
Substrate looks nice but it really stinks in larger setups, it catches all the poop.
I'd rather do daily water changes on a bare bottom were I can see and remove the poop then have to gravel-vac.
If you want substrate, you will have 2X the work.
Since that time on my cardinal cube, I have removed the gravel, kept the weighted silk plants.
Doesn't look as nice because the plants move all over the place during each water change, but I can remove lots of poop that sits on the bare bottom with the pump during the water change in a flash, instead of farting around with gravel-vacs.