Mixed substrate?

[sillypony]

SO... i'm posting more probably obvious questions ... yay me!

People keep suggesting sand substrate to me, and I've read upon it as much as i can find. I have come to the conclusion that a switch to sand down the road, or else the addition of sand to my existing 50lbs of rather fine gravel, would not be a bad idea.

My question is

1) if anyone knows of some good articles on setting it up etc, i don't wanna mess it up.

2) is this going to ruin my cycling if i swap it out later, and force me to recycle my tank?

3) could I somehow add in say, a small/medium bag of sand, and do section of the tank in sand? would this even be worth while?

4) will my danios, plecs and any other future fish be bothered by a sand substrate?


thank you!
LeeAnna

 

[dragonfish]

I switched my 55 from gravel to sand without moving anyone. Did a thorough vacuum, shut off the filters, and removed half, replacing it with sand. When the cloud stated to settle I turned the filters back on. A week later I did the other side with no ill effects.

 

[Raul-7]

If you add sand to the gravel, eventually the sand will sink to the bottom. Happens everytime, the smaller particles will end up on the bottom.

 

[sillypony]

Would it work if i did a kind of "half and half" thing? Like one section JUST sand, and one section JUST stone, or would I have to much water flow for that? (I have 2 sponge filters, small, one in either back corner, and a 55 gall rated hob filter)

thanks,
LeeAnna