??? Half sand half gravel

F

fishlover420

AC Members
Dec 16, 2006
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I hear the tire trek eel likes sand and he is a reall good bottom dweller can i do half sand and half gravel:confused: . This will be when i get my new big tank to put him in there with the gournamis. half i mean sand on one side and gravel on the other not mixed. Just so everyone is clear on that. I dont have any gravel or sand in my tank now and it stays so clean without it I would rather not put any in there.:huh: But when i had gravel in there at first the eel would hide or bury his face almost play in it. He is so fun to watch.. Oh and I finally got my gsp to eat his frozen food out of the net... He isnt scared anymore....:bday: I love this hobby
 
in my 55g tank i have 2 thirds of the bottom sand and the rest gravel. One thing i would suggest is cut some plastic to divide the gravel and sand so the sand doesnt mix into the gravel.
(currently building the stand for this tank so haven't fully set it up.)
tank.jpg
 
The only thing about fine sand is that is super hard to keep clean. It shows the nasty stuff a bit too well... and when you gravel vac [effectively] you end up sucking up so much sand that the suction is compromised, making it hard to pick up the poop.

I put play sand into one of my tanks and now I wish I hadn't. In the end, though, I'll have to replace the substrate anyway since I end up vaccuuming out lots of sand every water change.
 
You need to adjust your tactics when cleaning sand. Get rid of the gravel vac attachment and replace it with ridgid tubing. Now simply "hover" the tube over the sand and move it back and forth. All the junk will get picked up, but the sand will stay put. If you slip up you might suck up some sand, but not that much. I think sand is WAY easier to keep clean. Ever stir up the gravel in an established tank (even one that's well maintained)? All that detritus is just sitting down there producing nitrates. With sand, what you see is what you get. I've also found that the current will tend to concentrate any detritus in dead spots so that you don't even need to vac the entire tank, just the area where detritus is accumulating.
 
I used white washed sand and rinsed it well. for cleaning i just made my own vac out of pvc tube thats about 10mm round with hose attached.
 
eel is no longer with us so post is dead

i wanted to do this for him in his bigger tank but he slithered out and got on the floor in the middle of the night. I found him in the morning:(. So unless i can find another one, and i havent seen them since i bought him then i will do the sand and gravel thingy .. so thanks to you all:dance2:
 
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