john_s

iTrader: (1)

Just about to set up a new fish tank, and can't make my mind up whether to use gravel or sand for covering the bottom of the tank.

Just wondered if any fishkeeping scoobynetters have any thoughts.

Cheers,

John.

sti555

all down to your own perosnal preference... sand looks natural... gravels can brighten up a dull room... depends on what sort of look your after really.

If your going with bark, cork & rocks go for sand looks better..

If your going for treasure chests, skeletons & sharks go for bight chunky gravel or better still rolled glass..

Steve001

iTrader: (7)

i assume your having freshwater?

gravel DEFO and not the coloured stuff it looks cr*p and tacky

the main reason is that you will need to do a full tank clean every few years and i allways kept most of the existing water to refill afterwards.

sand will just get churned up and cloud the water. plus gravel is far easier to clean and reuse

steve

PG

sand is more difficult to keep and to grow plants in.
was going for sand in this one but think I will change my mind now.
Juwel Rekord 60 ltr


My mature tank: Juwel Panarama 200 ltr

Tiggs

i have a 350litre tropical tank with sand for many reasons:

its an amazon set up, heavily planted, with lots of logs....sand looks more like a stream bed than gravel (never seen a gravel stream!)

the plants love it- planting in gravel is like planting a rose in a bucket of rocks. I use CO2 and under gravel heating as well and the plants go nuts.

sand is easy to clean (although a have a pack of coolie loaches that tend to most bits) and doesnt go green....although 15 ammano shrimp and 6 otttos keep the algy down (along with all the proper plants)


T

PG

as sti555 said "all down to your own perosnal preference"
LOL
Know what you are saying about the "natural" thing tho Tiggs.

David Lock

Beware sharp gravel if you have bottom feeders such as plecs and/or catfish as it will destroy their barbels. DL

Tiggs

good point from david....i have lots of bottom feeders (and zeb plec) and they love to dig up the sand...which in turn helps to keep the filtration working.

ajm

Personally I prefer fine gravel from a cleaning point of view. Due to the amount of fish "throughput" in my 400 ltr tank I completely vac the the gravel once a week without fail and fine gravel keeps most of the debris on top of it, but is dense enough to sink back down whilst vaccing.

Another plus for gravel is that you can use corally gravel to buffer the pH of the water, depending on the type of fish.

I have a set up with amazonian plants and fish too and sand does look visually attractive, but is just too impractical. The fine gravel is a fairly good compromise between looking natural and being practical IMO.

Tiggs

if you use a long gravel sucker the sand has time to fall back while sucking out the rubbish....although you do loose a bit! i overfilled it with sand in the first place so loosing the odd but dont mater!

i also have no big fish so nothing gets stired up (lots of little fish)

drumsterphil

iTrader: (1)

Some nice fish tanks there!

I have two tanks at home, but a lot smaller than those shown at 30litres each. One's coldwater and the other tropical.

Coldwater tank has been running for about two years and is much harder to keep clean than the tropical tank due to having fantails which are dirty little buggers while my tropical tank has that ol' fav tetra's and a few other species.

Dark Blue Mark

Nice tanks! Lots of good plant variety. Puts mine to shame

I went for both gravel and sand in half / half blending in king of way. Putting plants in sand is ok, as long as you have a good depth.

Make sure you wash both before putting it in.

MB

OllyK

I'd say a lot depends on the fish. I keep Chiclids in a 120L tank and they are messy eaters and active diggers. With sand the water would be very cloudy, plus I have a very serious pump and filter to try and keep the water clean, this moves the gravel about so goodness knows what it would do to sand.

Smiler

Why do you need to do a full tank clean every few years?

Tiggs

my brother has cichlids in a 200l tank with sand.

its a myth that sand is murky...just clean it- after all its just very very small gravel!

ajm

Presumably he means clean the decorations and things? You should clean the substrate and do a water change at least every couple of weeks. Depending on type of filter they will also need attention every few weeks. As I said above, I clean the gravel and replace 30% of the water weekly, if you don't do water changes you can build up serious levels of nitrate in the water which cause stress/illness for the fish and promote unwanted algae.

David Lock

Just out of interest when you change the water do you use an anti-chlorine additive such as Aquasafe or just use tapwater at the right temperature? My good lady insists on it but I have never been convinced it's necessary... but I don't want to kill half the fish to prove my point! David

Gordo

It very much depends on what fish you're going to keep (and not just about aesthetics!) - we mostly have cichlids so we use coral gravel - it automatically buffers the water, making it more alkali and therefore nearer to their natural conditions.

If you're looking to keep 'normal' tropical fish (guppies, tetras, plecs, that sort of thing) then gravel is best - it's easier to filter, sand tends to collect pockets of ****e and dead water which build up unhelpful bacteria.

Whatever you do, underfeed and let tap water stand for a couple of days before you put it in (warms it up and de-chlorinates it). Build up the fish very slowly (just a couple to begin with) and don't overstock.

Have fun!

Gordo

ajm

Yes I use a conditioner to remove chorine/chloramine and bind heavy metal ions. I don't think that the levels are that high in my area, however what is the point in risking it?

Also, its not just the fish that are directly at risk from the chlorine. You risk it killing off your nitrifying bacteria which in turn will do the fish no good at all!

PG

ajm, cracking looking tank there mate !

Tiggs

lots of plants sorts out the bacteria levels. the only chem i ever put in is anti chlorine.

also i run 2 large external filters which (along with a pack of collie (sp?) loaches keeps the bottom clean and the water crystal despite the large amount of plant bits that would otherwise be floatinga aound.

T

ps- if you have things like loaches/cordys etc they will prefer sand to gravel for digging for food.

ajm

Thanks! That particular tank has only been established 3 1/2 months. Have been through most of the usual problems, brown algae, green algae etc. but have finally found a level of light that suits the fish and the plants and things seem to have balanced out nicely as both are thriving.


At the moment I have 5 small Plecs on clean up duty which seem to be the only species the piranha will tolerate (or rather the only species that manage to avoid attention!) but plecs don't half produce some pooh for their size!

The other disadvantage with sand, for me, is that piranha play rough, and if they get it in their head that they want to get through a gap that is too small for them they just apply more power until they have dug a huge hole in the gravel. If they did this with sand the tank would look like the after effects of a sand storm!

What plants have you got?

PG

My more mature tank has been set up for around the same length of time.
My bamboo set up went a bit Pete Tong !! Will have to have a good clean up as it went a bit mouldy so say the very least!!!
Anyone know of any good tropical fish forums ? I visit one that whilst good, the users are void of any sense of humour !