Opinions on Sand Please

[Captain Hook]

I just bought my girlfriend a 35 gallon tank and am thinking about getting her white silica sand for it. What do you guys think of this? I'm worried it will be more maintenance than gravel. Does the fish poop just sit on top of the sand and not disappear like it does in gravel?

There will be a biowheel 330 on the tank, so filtration shouldn't be a problem. She is a total beginner and I have never kept sand before so I'm a little worried. After all, everything falls on me if things don't turn out right. I would really appreciate some opinions on this.

 

[SnakeIce]

sand can be harder to deal with... if you get the gravel vac to close you suck sand up and to far away from the bottom and you don't pick up the unsightly poo. the old suggestions for sand was to make a slope to the front so the poo would slide to the front and you could remove it...

if she is just wanting fish a quarter inch to half an inch deep of small gravel would do just fine and be easyer to maintain.

I personally have not had sand, it just sounded like to much work and hassel.

I am an aspiring aquatic gardener who happens to keep some fish and I would buy florite for a plant substrate befor I would have sand instead of my current small uncoated gravel

 

[Cichlid Guy]

get gravel

Don`t use sand in the tank. I tried it and hated it.Sand always looked dirty and it kept getting sucked into my syphon.

 

[Stephen]

I've used sand for over 10 years. Every aquarium I own but one has sand in it. I've never had a problem with it and wouldn't consider going back to gravel for anything. I don't clean my sand, never really even thought about it. I leave that up to the bottom feeders. I use it because I like the natural look it gives. If you're worried about keeping it clean toss a few cories in there and that will be solved. Mine seem to like the sand and I often see them stirring it up looking for food. Just make sure your filter intake is a few inches from the top of the sand or you'll be cleaning it out on a regular basis. Also if you are using sand make sure it's aquarium safe. Play sand or builders sand isn't a good choice for all tanks.

 

[PumaWard]

I love sand. It gives a far more natural look, imho, than gravel does (no matter the color). I have also noticed that since I moved to sand from gravel, my live plants have flourished. It's also a lot more healthy for fish like cories and loaches who like to stick their nose down into it in search of food.

Cleaning can be a pain, but I don't think it's that big of a deal, you swirl your siphon tube around the gunk on the bottom while holding your thumbe over the exit end of the tube. Then you suck it up while it's floating around in the water column.

The second biggest reason I use sand, aside from I like the look, is it is literally dirt cheap. I can buy two 50 lb bags from home depot for the price of one 5 pound bag of gravel from wally world.

Just my 2 cents though.

 

[RTR]

Not in my fish tanks. Or rather, not unless I absolutely must for a fish such as a flounder or a lurking predator puffer which wants to hide in the sand. Sand is IMHO & IME difficult to impossible to clean, shows ever speck of debris and poop, it mostly much too light in color (washes out the fish), is much harder to use for plants due its tendency to go anoxic, and also eats impellers and their drive motors. No thank you, not for me.

 

[Captain Hook]

Thanks for the advice guys. I think it will be too difficult for her first tank and go with gravel. It looks like she might want white gravel though, which is almost as bad.

 

[MrGoodbytes]

I love sand and prefer it much more than gravel. However, my aquarium with sand has been getting some brown algae in it (more than I would expect with gravel), which obviously comes from the silicates.
That's just a downside, but overall, I really like sand better than gravel because to me it looks better, and seems to shape better than gravel.

Graeme

 

[125gJoe]

Originally posted by RTR
Not in my fish tanks. ... ..... ... No thank you, not for me.

I have found the perfect combination of sand and gravel -- and it's called Onyx Sand from SeaChem. The grains are not too small and not too big like gravel. Another plus is it's great for live plants. It does cost a little more - but hey, the tank(s) are worth it...

(of course, this is just me ranting and raving on Onyx Sand, and some may not like the fact it doesn't come in flourescent colors - only dark grey.. )

 

[DarthV]

I have pool filter sand in my 55gal and it is SOOOOO easy to clean...well once you get the technique down... just hold your gravel cleaner about 2" above the sand and swirl it around and the wastes should lift up and get sucked up, leaving the sand ion the bottom.

The only problem I have with sand is that I have fish (new world cichlids) that seem to have washed out colors and are skittish with the bright sand. I changed my 20gal tank back from sand to dark gravel and the color difference with my carpintis is amazing. I'm going to try switching my 55gal to a darker river blend gravel and see how the fish in there change colors. But not all fish will behave the same... so you might have fish that will look better with a lighter sand.

Another option is the Black Tahitian Moon Sand... (expensive though).