Is sand a good substrate for pacu\oscar tank?

[Mysta513]

im setting up my newly built 300 gallon aquarium for my pacu and oscars.
i want to use sand as the substrate .
would that be good for the fish or should i use gravel?

 

[smitty03281964]

For those guy I would not use sand. Keeping gravel out of the filters when I had them was a job.

 

[Mysta513]

good point.. thats what i was thinking.. but i hate the idea of having a bare tank at the bottom

 

[Greg31]

Do whatever you like. If you have big enough grain sand it shouldn't get in filters at all. I like sand best because waste and excess food sits on top and can't really hide like it can in gravel.

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[mike_sema]

Do whatever you like. If you have big enough grain sand it shouldn't get in filters at all. I like sand best because waste and excess food sits on top and can't really hide like it can in gravel.

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x2

 

[BushFishRox]

I would recommend washed beach sand, it is filter friendly, or my FX5s are beasts, you can also wrap the intakes in foam to act as a prefilter.

 

[Greg31]

Most people will recommend pool filter sand. Im one of them very easy to get a very cheap.

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[Mysta513]

thx for the info guys ...pool filter sand? ima look for that.. home depot has play sand.. i heard that was safe but is that any different than pool sand?

 

[ChiPerf]

I got Red Flint sand for my 125 and love it. Nice color, and perfect size.

 

[Sandman334]

pool filter sand is heavier than the play sand so in theory it wont get in your filters that much....i've been using pool filter sand for 4 years and rarely have to clean it out of my filters.