Low mainance gravel?

I like sand better: it doesn't hide the fish poop so it's easier to see. A double edged sword. The dirty stuff is easier to reach with the vaccum but sand requires a more careful vaccuming than gravel.

Also, if the sand bed is deeper than 1" and left untouched for months it may start building up some harmful gas that might kill your tank. So sand also requires you to keep it stirred once in a while (unless you have digging fish that will be doing the work for you )

As everything, it has pros and cons. I recommend gravel if you don't have fishes that like to borrow, like loaches. And unfortunately there is no such thing as a mainteinance free gravel. :rant2: :rant2:

I prefer gravel. Less worry about destroying your filter in the event that the substrate gets stirred up (forgetting about the sand and dumping your bucket of water into the tank). Since gravel hides the fish poop better, the substrate will always look clean and ready for a nice display to guests even in between maintanance. Less worry of anoxic zones in the tank (under normal gravel circumstances). Though personally a nice clean sand bed does look nicer IMHO.

I've had both and I think I prefer the gravel too. I like the look of the sand but the sand is just too hard to deal with. At least in my situation it was.... but I have messy fish which refused to let the sand settle so the water just never cleared up and the sand being stirred constantly killed my filter.

TipStylez said:

i have loaches, so i guess they will have a time of their life...

So i guess 1 or 1/2 inch of sand should be ok.

Do ottos dig alot? i might get ottos for my 20gal.

Thanks
-Q

Click to expand...

Loaches will surely enjoy a sand bed. I don't think ottos are diggers, they will mostly stay on the glass, plant leaves or some wood. I had two for a very short period and never saw them gettin to the bottom.

1/2" deep is good if your fish are not very active diggers. Any fish that moves too quickly will leave you bare bottomed.