Sand or gravel in Midas acrylic tank?

[Natalie]

Tomorrow my baby Midas is being moved to a 55g acrylic tank (yay!). Now I have to decide whether to put sand or gravel in the tank. I know there will be a lot of shifting and spitting as he ages. Is the risk of scratching the tank worse with gravel? I'd love your input I keep switching back and forth as to which substrate I want to go with.

 

[romanjetfighter]

i think you should go with the one you think looks better. i had loads of scratches inside of my acrylic tank, but when it was filled with water, it wasn't at all noticeable. only scratches on the outside were noticeable.

i think the scratches came from too strong powerheads, swirling tiny sand particles around, plus the oscar's nose against the acrylic when it begged for food. if you like sand and are worried about scratching, have you tried pool filter sand? it's not as fine as play sand. plus gravel's not fun for digging for your midas!!

 

[duster1971]

Probly going to have a lot of diff ansers on this but I think my Midas are more comfortable with sand I had gravel n the tank switched to sand. As for what is better for acrilic I don't know seems anything scratches it I think rock may be better if you have anyamount of curent to avoid sand particals floating around and scuffing. Or mabe even a courser sand.

 

[Natalie]

Okay I was thinking about using pool filter sand since I have a couple bags here at my house. The tank is coming with black gravel but I'm so over vacuuming gravel. You can never get it 100% clean and so much food gets trapped between the pieces. I think I'll use sand.

 

[Anubisscott]

Sand, just locks so natural and less food goes to waste as it doesn't fall between rocks and is left to rott.