sand or gravel?
- Thread starter Piper
- Start date
Depends.
Going for planted look or just fish and a few plants?
What type of fish?
IMO if this is your 1st tank I'd go with gravel. Sand isn't hard to clean (atleast not once its in the tank ) but if left alone to long builds up gasses that could kill your fish. I only recommend sand to those that have been keeping fish awhile and know that its something they want to do.
To many times a person new to fish keeping get in over their heads starting out and its the fish that suffer.
So go gravel and you could always switch over to sand once you get the hang of tanking.
Going for planted look or just fish and a few plants?
What type of fish?
IMO if this is your 1st tank I'd go with gravel. Sand isn't hard to clean (atleast not once its in the tank ) but if left alone to long builds up gasses that could kill your fish. I only recommend sand to those that have been keeping fish awhile and know that its something they want to do.
To many times a person new to fish keeping get in over their heads starting out and its the fish that suffer.
So go gravel and you could always switch over to sand once you get the hang of tanking.
as far as color...research the kind of fish you want and see what type of bottom they prefer. Some like light..some like dark.
Go with a natural color. Fish get so embarrassed with neon pink gravel. :joke:
Go with a natural color. Fish get so embarrassed with neon pink gravel. :joke:
Wouldn't this also have something, atleast in part, to do with your filtration system?
I have an undergravel filter... hence I use gravel. The sand would get sucked right throught the grid and flood the filters.
I'd love to use sand, as I think it would create a more natural environment. But, I know it's not very compatible with the type of filtration I'm running in my main tank.
If you're not using a UG system, I think it comes down to maintenance, and how you want your tank to look. You need to maintain the sand, as others have suggested. Ofcourse, you have to maintain gravel as well. But maybe not quite as much?
Joe
I have an undergravel filter... hence I use gravel. The sand would get sucked right throught the grid and flood the filters.
I'd love to use sand, as I think it would create a more natural environment. But, I know it's not very compatible with the type of filtration I'm running in my main tank.
If you're not using a UG system, I think it comes down to maintenance, and how you want your tank to look. You need to maintain the sand, as others have suggested. Ofcourse, you have to maintain gravel as well. But maybe not quite as much?
Joe
i don't think there's much difference in difficulty, just technique. gravel you plunge the siphon into it and pull it up, the gravel settles back down, but releases the stuff that was settled into it. with sand, you swirl the siphon over the top to create a current that lifts the debris but not the sand and then suck up the stuff that gets lifted up. then about once a month or so you have to stir up your sand to make sure you dont get any air pockets or whatever.
My point was more about the fish and not maintenance.
If he gets tired of dealing with the tank the chances of gas pockets forming in sand are higher than in the gravel, which when they reach the surface will kill the fish. The worst case scenario with gravel is high nitrates which are easier to deal with.
If he gets tired of dealing with the tank the chances of gas pockets forming in sand are higher than in the gravel, which when they reach the surface will kill the fish. The worst case scenario with gravel is high nitrates which are easier to deal with.
A technique i use with my sand bed in my marine tank is a coat hanger. I straightened a wire coat hanger out and I use the tip to "cut" the sand, rather then stir it all up and make the tank cloudy. Just slide the skinny coat hanger through the stand slowly and the sand stays in place yet you break up any gases forming on the bottom of the bed. Also, I wouldnt make a bed deeper then about 1-1&1/2 inches in a FW tank. Hope that helps.