Question for those with sand...

[BcBerri]

I have a 5gal that right now is housing baby mollies. They are soon leaving the nest and I am wanting to change this tank a bit. I like the look of sand but have some worries. The filter is a Whisper in-tank, and the new fish will be a betta and some otos. I would like one or two very low light plants aswell. (I only have 1.5 wpg) My questions are will the sand settle or will it get sucked up by the filter? Is sand ok for otos? And can I plant anything in sand or will no plant be happy in it? Any advice on this would be great. :duh: I am at a bit of a loss on this.

 

[manna]

The sand will settle, unless something is stirring up the sand. How high is the intake above the bottom of the tank?

I keep my intakes a few inches above the level of the sand to help keep sand from getting pulled in when the cories are snuffling sand everywhere. However, sand still gets into the filters. Generally it's not a problem, unless a grain or two get stuck in the impeller. Then you want to get it out asap to keep from sanding down the impeller shaft. You can usually hear when a piece of sand is caught in the impeller. It doesn't happen often to me.

I have ruined impellers with sand, but it has taken many years to do so, and I consider it a fair trade-off with the benefits of sand.

If you don't have any fish that keep the bottom stirred up a little, all the gunk is going to end up sitting on top of the sand, and will look unsightly, so keep that in mind. My cories keep the stuff stirred up so the filters can pick it up.

 

[tomm10]

I have sand in my tank and have never had a problem with it getting sucked up by the intake. Just keep the intake a couple inches off the sand as suggested and you should be fine.

Tom

 

[nursie]

I had 2 whisper in tank filters and as I recall they said on their papers not to use with sand...and I did anyway. they stopped working and I tossed them...

 

[Spykce]

I just converted to sand in my 46 gal. My intake is about 3 inches above the sand and no problems yet. My ropefish and bichirs like to play in it, so it's stired up a lot. It has been 5 days.

 

[BcBerri]

Thanks guys. I will probably switch to a HOB filter then. I have on on my 20gal. and love it. Aquaclear makes a small one. Which do you think is better for this tank otos or cories? It is only 5 gal. so I don't want to overstock it. I have my heart set on a betta for it. :clap:

 

[knashash]

Thanks guys. I will probably switch to a HOB filter then. I have on on my 20gal. and love it. Aquaclear makes a small one. Which do you think is better for this tank otos or cories? It is only 5 gal. so I don't want to overstock it. I have my heart set on a betta for it. :clap:

get both

 

[Roan Art]

I currently have 2 otos and a Gold Mystery Snail in my 6 gallon. The snail seems to eat anything on the bottom, so he's good for corycat work, and the otos -- well, they're otos! They rule

I've found that my betta, Jakers the Tormentor, likes to bug anyone I put in the tank. I had a couple of corries and he drove them nuts. When I took the corries out and put the otos in, he drove THEM nuts. Last night I added the snail and he's so befoggled by it that he's pretty much leaving the otos alone. He follows the snail all over the place. He's tried to nip it, but ended up bruising his nose. I hope he doesn't figure out WHICH part to nip

The only fish I've had in there that totally phased him was the pleco. Was a temporary thing, since the pleco was too big. If he bugged the pleco, the pleco would whap him with his tail. There was mucho respect there on the betta's part. For once!

Roan

 

[BcBerri]

I didn't even think about snails. Well that settles it. New filter, Betta, a snail, and 3 otos. No one really touched the question about planting in sand... can it be done? What kind of plants would you recomend for 1.5 wpg and snails, otos, and a betta? If all else fails I will stick to the silk that's in there already...Thanks for the help guys! :dance:

 

[Sploke]

One thing that helps with sand is to rinse it really well. What you can do is dump it in a clean bucket and fill it with water, and stir it up til its all cloudy. Dump the cloudy water out, and repeat 10 or 15 timesm until when you stir it, anything left settles within a few seconds. You lose some volume, but it ensures that only the heavy particles are left so anything that gets stirred up will settle quickly. Do that and keep the filter intake well off the bottom and you should be set.