I think that is the case. It does fall back to the bottom of the tank very quickly, if some gets sucked into the gravel vac. It is for sure larger in grain size, and shape than say play sand. I think it is an awsome substrate to use-could not imagine using anything else. The best part is that it is spotlessly Clean right out of the bag! I checked mine first by rinsing a bowl full and it was super clean. So in the tank it went, and it has Never clouded my water.
Gravel vs. Sand
- Thread starter qquake2k
- Start date
DAVIDFBT
Extinct? Since when?
I use sand on all my tanks, my loaches really loved me for switching. I bought Playsand because it was the first type of sand I found, and I had to rinse about 20 pounds of it in a 5 gallon pail for about 10 minutes. It still clouded my tank, but it went away after about 4-5 days.
Sand:
Pros:
food debris stay on top, making it easier to clean
looks good
will not damage the tender undersides of bottom dwellers
will not get sucked up into the gravel vac (unless you try very, very hard)
Cons:
will cloud the water when first added
needs to be stirred occasionally to prevent anerobic bacteria buildup
Gravel:
Pros:
some come in cool colors
there are different sizes and shapes
accumulates beneficial bacteria
Cons:
hard to clean
may damage bottom dwellers' undersides
foods may get stuck in between crevices
Pros:
food debris stay on top, making it easier to clean
looks good
will not damage the tender undersides of bottom dwellers
will not get sucked up into the gravel vac (unless you try very, very hard)
Cons:
will cloud the water when first added
needs to be stirred occasionally to prevent anerobic bacteria buildup
Gravel:
Pros:
some come in cool colors
there are different sizes and shapes
accumulates beneficial bacteria
Cons:
hard to clean
may damage bottom dwellers' undersides
foods may get stuck in between crevices
i like the look of sand and it really is easier to clean. i have malaysian trumpet snails in my tanks to keep the sand from getting air pockets, but i still stir it when i do my pwc. my kuhli loaches are much happier now that they have sand and they don't hide anymore. sand is recomended for most bottom dwellers.
Not all sands cloud the water when first added. I use Estes' Marine Sand and it does not have any problems like that. There are other risks with non-aquarium sands.
Estes' actually does come in a few different colors.
Any surface in the aquarium has the potential to harbor beneficial bacteria, not just gravel. Except the bacteria live where it is best for them, not just randomly or evenly throughout the tank. They will live where there is the most oxygen and food, this will be in the filters.
Estes' actually does come in a few different colors.
Any surface in the aquarium has the potential to harbor beneficial bacteria, not just gravel. Except the bacteria live where it is best for them, not just randomly or evenly throughout the tank. They will live where there is the most oxygen and food, this will be in the filters.
Sand choices
I went to a pool supply store and looked at filter sand. It did look a little more coarse, but not much. But it was an ugly gray color. So I went to Home Depot and bought some of this:
http://www.jimjoey.net/aquarium/sand/sand13.jpg
http://www.jimjoey.net/aquarium/sand/sand1.jpg
It looked pretty fine, so I went to OSH and bought some of this, which looked more coarse:
http://www.jimjoey.net/aquarium/sand/sand12.jpg
http://www.jimjoey.net/aquarium/sand/sand10.jpg
While the sand from OSH does have some more coarse grains in it, it's not as uniform. There are a lot of grains finer than the Home Depot sand. The OSH sand is also incredibly dirty, like it has some sort of clay or dirt in it. The first two pics are of the Home Depot sand being washed, and the second two are of the OSH sand. You can clearly see the difference:
http://www.jimjoey.net/aquarium/sand/sand8.jpg
http://www.jimjoey.net/aquarium/sand/sand9.jpg
http://www.jimjoey.net/aquarium/sand/sand15.jpg
http://www.jimjoey.net/aquarium/sand/sand16.jpg
Here is a side by side comparison of the grains:
http://www.jimjoey.net/aquarium/sand/sand19.jpg
Has anybody here used both play sand and pool filter sand? Is the filter sand really that much heavier? Is it that yucky gray color?
I went to a pool supply store and looked at filter sand. It did look a little more coarse, but not much. But it was an ugly gray color. So I went to Home Depot and bought some of this:
http://www.jimjoey.net/aquarium/sand/sand13.jpg
http://www.jimjoey.net/aquarium/sand/sand1.jpg
It looked pretty fine, so I went to OSH and bought some of this, which looked more coarse:
http://www.jimjoey.net/aquarium/sand/sand12.jpg
http://www.jimjoey.net/aquarium/sand/sand10.jpg
While the sand from OSH does have some more coarse grains in it, it's not as uniform. There are a lot of grains finer than the Home Depot sand. The OSH sand is also incredibly dirty, like it has some sort of clay or dirt in it. The first two pics are of the Home Depot sand being washed, and the second two are of the OSH sand. You can clearly see the difference:
http://www.jimjoey.net/aquarium/sand/sand8.jpg
http://www.jimjoey.net/aquarium/sand/sand9.jpg
http://www.jimjoey.net/aquarium/sand/sand15.jpg
http://www.jimjoey.net/aquarium/sand/sand16.jpg
Here is a side by side comparison of the grains:
http://www.jimjoey.net/aquarium/sand/sand19.jpg
Has anybody here used both play sand and pool filter sand? Is the filter sand really that much heavier? Is it that yucky gray color?
