Sand in a goldfish tank?

T

tyr

AC Members
Jul 25, 2009
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Hello!

I have recently add some plants to my tanks and my fish love them. I took out the gravel due to concern of one of them getting a piece of gravel stuck in there mouths (which did happen btw). So now my tank is bare. I am finding it kinda a boring and annoying cause the BNs make so much poop lol ( not a fan of all the poop shards). I have been looking online and there is much discussion about sand in a goldfish tank. For example some say its harms the gills other claim that idea is a myth and the sands such as Estes’ Marine Sand should be ok. What does everyone think about sand in a goldfish tank?
 
I dunno if its dangerous but its alot easier to have a bare bottom tank. Less maintenance. If you get a stronger filter it might take care of the poop, my filter does.

by BN do you mean bristlenose pleco? Plecos shouldn't go in goldfish tanks.
 
Bristlenose plecos are fine provided they do not harass the goldfish due to territory disputes. I keep a female long-finned bristlenose pleco with my own goldies and she is doing well so far with them.

As for sand, sand is much easier to clean than gravel. If you like it, go for it. I've kept my goldies on a tank with sand with no issues.
 
Mine are in a tank with sand, no issues there either.
 
As you already know, I too keep my goldies on sand. I have not had any negative issues with this.

I actually prefer sand for plantings, rather than gravel. I seem to get better root growth on the plants than I did with gravel.

I added a Seio M620 powerhead to my tank, and it sends current across the bottom and makes it easier for the filters to do their work at sucking up the poop. I also have began feeding my goldfish exclusively homemade and frozen foods. They take more nutrition out of the food, the food contains no fillers like commercial foods and they do not poop as much.

Kristina
 
I have sand in my tosakin pond, and although I'm not a big fan of fine sand for goldies, I adore the type I found for the pond. It's a much coarser sand than you can find at the hardware store - the grains are two to three mm across. Because of this, it's easier to clean than fine sand but doesn't trap gunk and poo like gravel. Brilliant stuff. I found it at my LFS.
 
The sand I use is coarser than normal too. It looks almost like very very fine gravel, and so far has been working very well.

Kristina
 
tyr said:
I have been looking online and there is much discussion about sand in a goldfish tank. For example some say its harms the gills other claim that idea is a myth and the sands such as Estes’ Marine Sand should be ok. What does everyone think about sand in a goldfish tank?
Click to expand...

Sand substrate is fine for goldfish. These people that think sand is harmful must think sand doesn't occur in nature or something.
 
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