dirtyblacksocks;1774627; said:
Thanks, I have a big syno and a walking catfish in the tank I want to convert to sand. Thinking of adding some loaches.
Sand vs Crushed Coral
- Thread starter Robertshadow
- Start date
Thanks, I have a big syno and a walking catfish in the tank I want to convert to sand. Thinking of adding some loaches.
mike dunagan;1774536; said:
Thanks mike, that really helps. Aside from that, all I need to know is were to buy. I know they sell little packs of sand in my lfs for like 5 bucks a pound, seems over priced. What would happen if I just drove down to my home depo and picked up a big bag of sand? (anything I should avoid using?) Oh and I only have about 1 inch of bedding in the tank currently, 3 filters, changing the sub shouldn't cause any kind of cycle right?
Loaches are pretty messy eaters, not a good choice for a cleanup crew, FYI. Cory cats are really the way to go if you don't mind them - aenus especially are like vacuum cleaners.
I have a 100 gallon hexagon tank with blue sand and its seeded with a lot of snails. It's just a show tank with a bunch of angelfish, a long finned oscar, an oil cat, a parrot fish, a spotted raphael cat, a royal pleco, a king tiger pleco, 2 L-114s, a whiptail and a jet black upside down cat. I run one filter on it that is rated for a 60 gallon tank and an air stone under the sand. I ran the gravel vac through it last night and didn't really suck anything out but small snails. I have to change the filter cartridges once a week but other than that now that I put sand in it it is pretty much maintenance free. And everyone knows oscars are messy. Crystal clear water too.
oh really? I find that they do a good job picking up the things the bigger fish don't get because of their small mouths. Everyones experience is different, for me at least a group of loaches works pretty well in most tanks, for getting rid of snails, eating extra food and what not. I have an 7 inch weather loach in with a 2 foot long tire treck eel, and the eel is a really messy eater the loach always gets peices of food that the eel rips apart and leaves.dirtyblacksocks;1778208; said:
Put an oscar and some loaches in a bare bottom tank and you'll see how much the loaches leave behind - they're good at rooting around and getting food out of cracks, but they're still messy eaters.
Cory cats on the other hand eat just about everything but poop. Just my experience - if you like the look of loaches then they're fine for a cleanup crew, it's not like they'll be making things worse. Just thought I'd throw that out there =)
Cory cats on the other hand eat just about everything but poop. Just my experience - if you like the look of loaches then they're fine for a cleanup crew, it's not like they'll be making things worse. Just thought I'd throw that out there =)
I clean my sand a little differently. I put the gravel vac tube down into the sand. The crap comes up, the gases are released, and the sand starts to rise. I then kink the hose. The sand drops but the crap stays put. Once the sand drops I unkink the hose and the waste is whooshed away...
I used a combo of crushed coral sand and black sand. I mixed it about 2 to 1, crushed coral sand to black. It's a lot more expensive than pool sand but I wanted that black and white look. The added black sand also hides the crap that sits on top of the sand. It basically camouflages it.
I used a combo of crushed coral sand and black sand. I mixed it about 2 to 1, crushed coral sand to black. It's a lot more expensive than pool sand but I wanted that black and white look. The added black sand also hides the crap that sits on top of the sand. It basically camouflages it.
Oh, and I will never set up another tank with anything other than sand as substrate. I absolutely love it. I've been keeping tanks for more than 20 years. I will never go back to gravel...
