Pleco with sand

[Skittle]

Ive heard that common plecos with sand substate will be fine ive also heard they can have trouble gtting the natural algae they need cuz they would just suck up the sand. Can a common pleco go in a tank with all sand substrate?


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[Achill3s]

Yes, I have had many plecos with sand substrate.

 

[Skittle]

Thanks i always thought theyd be fine too until someone told me about the not being able to get the algaething


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[rwellbaum]

yes i have also had plecos with sand... and i will never do it again... not because of them sucking up sand or getting algae, but because they are messy and the poo just sits on top of the sand

 

[Achill3s]

yes i have also had plecos with sand... and i will never do it again... not because of them sucking up sand or getting algae, but because they are messy and the poo just sits on top of the sand

Thats the reason that i changed from sand substrate to pea gravel and river rock. Sand looks great for a while but eventually gets dirty and looks like crap, no pun intended. lol

 

[rwellbaum]

Thats the reason that i changed from sand substrate to pea gravel and river rock. Sand looks great for a while but eventually gets dirty and looks like crap, no pun intended. lol

lol yeah i have only had the problem with plecos i would never go back to gravel though

 

[Inglorious]

I've found that a couple of well placed powerheads will eliminate waste sitting on the sand. If you have enough water movement then the waste won't settle and will remain in the water column until it is removed by your filtration.

 

[rwellbaum]

I've found that a couple of well placed powerheads will eliminate waste sitting on the sand. If you have enough water movement then the waste won't settle and will remain in the water column until it is removed by your filtration.

very true i only have a little bit of poo that will sit in one corner of the tank other than that my sand is perfectly clean
(except when i had a pleco lol)

 

[Achill3s]

I could probably use a bit more circulation, right now I only have one powerhead in the tank so that is probably why it built up. had one spot in the tank no matter how I set it up that it would lay on the sand.

 

[tigerjace]

They love sand. Poop sitting on surface of sand is a plus, its better than sinking in between the gravel and pebbles. If you have proper circulation as stated, your filtration will rid of it. As you can see my sand is pretty clean and I have no problem whats so ever. I only do water changes once a week 50% and no siphoning of sand. My tank does have overflows and a sump.