sandbox sand

Many of the old timers here will say, stay away from Sand. IT causes to many problems and you have to stir it all the time to keep out the dead spots. If you do use sand, keep alot of kuhli loaches in your tank along with some either Malaysian Trumpet snails or Cories for the stir up.
 
tricksterpup said:
Many of the old timers here will say, stay away from Sand. IT causes to many problems and you have to stir it all the time to keep out the dead spots. If you do use sand, keep alot of kuhli loaches in your tank along with some either Malaysian Trumpet snails or Cories for the stir up.
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I actually haven't seen too many ever say too much against sand. You don't even have to have snails, loaches or cories. By simply refilling it and intentionally stirring up the substrate every week you avoid the anaerobic pockets. This actually stirs up more sand than cories will with their snuffling. As far as the couldiness issue after stirring it up, my tank settles quickly and I have more problems with pearling making the tank look cloudy thna I do with sand. In fact, I always shoot my tank after water changes. Usually only 5-7 hours has past since I did the change from the time I photograph it. The proof, as the say, is in the pudding.
 
I like to mix sand with gravel and only use the sand as a filler between the gravel. It helps anchor the plants better and allows you to use a larger size gravel if you plan to gorw live plants.

Play sand is ok, just make sure its new. I don't think you want any suprises from the neighborhood cats in your tank :-p.
 
I will hear some in my filter every so often, I just take out the impeller and syphon the little bits out with an air line. I actually like sand.....

Pro's:
Looks better IMO, I find it eaiser to clean because my cories help stirr the debris up and then the filters will catch it, some fish LOVE to dig and burrow in it.

Con's:
Its messy, some fish will be hard to remove from the tank(if you ever want too), some fish will move it around, if you get the wrong kind it can cause algae and possibly be too coarse on some burrowing fish, sand also needs to be stirred every so often. But having burrowing fish and MTS, and thinner layers of sand will help aleviate this.


I have a 75g with gravel and a 55 with sand. I personally prefer gravel for ease of use, BUT if its a planted tank it is absolutely a blessing in disguise, because it makes it MUCH eaiser to plant and/or replant. All in all if you dont have burrowing fish, dont want to invest a little extra time during cleanings your tank isnt planted...just go gravel. Another thing, I personally wouldnt mix sand and gravel....for many reasons.
 
Mainly for aestetic reasons. But it can also compact eaiser, and is harder to keep looking uniform, plus all my sand stirrin critters would have a hard time moving larger rocks.
 
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