Gravel or sand in aquarium?
I have a 10g tank with a filter, heater and a bubble stone. I have a male betta and 3 cories in it. I don’t like the corries so I’m giving them to my brother. I was thinking of changing from gravel to sand. I like the way it looks but I don’t know much about putting sand in aquariums. It’s a freshwater tank. I have fake silk plants. I was also interested in putting real plants in my tank too. Questions:
1. What are the pros and cons of sand?
2. Which is easier to manage in your oppinion, sand or gravel?
3. How do you clean sand and is it harder or easier than gravel?
4. I want a whiteish sand, where should I get it, and what type is it?
5. Are plants easy to grow and manage, give me some tips!?
6. Can I use my bubble stone in with the sand or will it stir it up?
7. If I were to decide to keep the cories do they work well in sand?
8. Tell me your opinion on my tank setup and what you think I should do with it.
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wtf? neither.
pebbles
ok get the little colored or natural colored pebbles. easy to take care of. simple clean up. and if you can, dont get the bubbler for a tank cuz thats what killed a lot of my fish… and no heavy objects they could get stuck under…
1. What are the pros and cons of sand? Sand is very fine and can sometimes be hard to clean because it is light weight and gets sucked up. It also does get sucked into the filter so your filter will need to be monitored and cleaned regularly.
2. Which is easier to manage in your oppinion, sand or gravel? Gravel
3. How do you clean sand and is it harder or easier than gravel? Answer 1
4. I want a whiteish sand, where should I get it, and what type is it? Most people use sandpit sand (washed really well). We use coral sand for the cichlids but this is also to keep the water chemistry correct for the cichlids. I wouldnt recommend it for a Betta.
5. Are plants easy to grow and manage, give me some tips!? No, plants tend to need specific conditions to thrive including light and fertiliser. If you are after an easy plant to grow you could try Java Moss however this plant has a habit of getting out of control if you can get it to grow.
6. Can I use my bubble stone in with the sand or will it stir it up? You can use bubble stones however the more sand you stir up the more sand gets into your filter.
7. If I were to decide to keep the cories do they work well in sand? Sure, cory’s like to shuffle around in sand, it is actually better for their barbels.
8. Tell me your opinion on my tank setup and what you think I should do with it. No idea, sorry. This is a very personal thing and really it is about what you like.
Hope this helps
I am doing this myself
1. What are the pros and cons of sand?
Pros: looks natural, plants and most fish love it
Cons: if algae starts to grow on it it’s tough to get it clean
2. Which is easier to manage in your oppinion, sand or gravel?
Gravel
3. How do you clean sand and is it harder or easier than gravel?
You clean sand just like gravel… With a syphion but you just try not to stir it up.
4. I want a whiteish sand, where should I get it, and what type is it?
Honestly not sure about this one. Check your local fish store and I know you can use play sand like kids play in, but you have to make sure that theres somthing thats not supposed to be in it I can’t remember what sorry.
5. Are plants easy to grow and manage, give me some tips!?
Yes, if your using a ten gal tank setup from walmart you going to want to buy some flouresant bulbs they sell them there too.
6. Can I use my bubble stone in with the sand or will it stir it up?
It will at first but its no big deal
7. If I were to decide to keep the cories do they work well in sand?
Yea they will be fine. There isn’t any that really doesn’t get along with sand
8. Tell me your opinion on my tank setup and what you think I should do with it.
I think if you want it to be fully functional ditch the silk plants and get real ones. Try some java fern and java moss. Also moss balls work good too. Also get some drift wood. It will keep the ph lower and if you do it just right the java fern will grow on the driftwood and look amazing. You wont have antiquate lighting in your tank so just make sure you buy hardy plants and nothing that already looks dead because some plants are alot harder to keep them flourishing than other. Well good luck I hoped I helped.
Sand bites….
the way sand compacts no water flows threw it. Fish waste just sits on top so it’s always visable.
plants die in it because of no circulation around roots
you can barely vacuum it (theres a technique to it “hovering”) with a small vacuum (1 inch diameter)
it mangles filter pumps
but………..
if its for a tank with like only a few fish with no live plants it can be managble.
Some fish really like to play in it.
Some like to sand sift in it
Some fish (salt water mostly) bury themselves and sleep in it.
It’s easy on there bodies.
Looks nice clean
Your call…..
You can buy it at a swimming pool store under filter sand.
Good Luck!!!!
wow. alottta questions.
ummm, i prefer sand to anything.
i love sand as a subtrate.
Now i do not not use sand in my Bettas home. I use coloured marbles for his tropical house. I keep his house differnt looking than my other larger tank…he’s special
In my larger tropical tank i use sand.
You can find many types of sand in many colours at your pet shop!
Cleaning sand: Use a siphon as you would with any other tank clean, but hold it about 2 inches above the surface rather than kick up the surface.
Pros: My live plants do wonderful in it, Authentic looking, Holds bacteria differntley than gravel, easy on fish, fish seem to like it and welcome it, easy to manuver/manipulate in the tank for set-up, and leftover food can easily be spotted for quick removal (i found this out quickly, love sand for this reasom too)….etc.
Cons: can kick up, more delicate in the cleaning process than gravel, holds bacteria differntley than gravel.
Bubble strip should not stir up the sand…unless it is a mega crazy bubbles strip of some sort?!?
Tips for plants:
look up Aquatic Plants on the web.
It will give you a full listing of al aquatic plants and
also let you know their light level needs so that you can choose the plants that best suits what you can give them.
Anchor the Plant roots in your substrate.
Root/Plant tabs are great to place in the center of your tank under the substrate as they dispell nutrients that live plants thrive on.
I personally think a great plant that needs only moderate light is MoneyWort.
It is also a good, inexpensive plant that is very attractive.
Try MoneyWort if you can…it is worth a try and you won;t be out much money at allll if somethng goes wrong.
OH! and RINSE your plants realllllllllly well before putting them in the tank.
You wouldn’t belive what kind of little snail hatchlings or other odd living creatures that can grow they harbor!!! freaky!
Well, good luck! Looks like you have alot on your plate, as we all do when trying to figure out this aquatic world!!!!
It is fascinating though. Have fun with it! And always check your levels!!
peace.
Best of luck!!
I would not suggest sand.
Because:
it is harder to clean/ dirt is more noticeable
it won’t hold nutrients aswell as fine gravel, so live plants will struggle more.
You will notice that where your bubble stone is the sand will tend to move away and leave a patch of glass. Cories shouldn’t be kept on sand as they will swallow it accidently causing a range of digestive problems. If you were to get sand, get marine sand (no live sand though) or river filter sand (used in pool filters)
When using gravel it is easier to maintain/ keep clean and plants will grow without much aid. Add a plant food when adding new plants to help them grow neccesary roots.
I don’t use coloured gravel as I prefer the authentic look.
1.) I look at it this way, I have a tank with gravel, and a tank with sand, and I feel bad for the fish with the gravel. After you switch to sand you will never go back to gravel, its just so rough and ugly compared to sand.
2.) They are both pretty easy to manage, depends on what you do daily to keep the tank clean.
3.) A gravel vac is what I use on all my tanks, for my sand its heavy enough not to get sucked up into the vac, but if you have more delicate sand you just run the vac about an inch or so over the surface, instead of sticking the vac into the substrate like gravel. Both very easy.
4.) Pool filter sand is becoming more and more popular with fish tanks, most are whitish.
5.) Plants depend on how much lighting you have, usualy the more watts-per-gallon you have the more options but their are definatly hardy plants that grow in low watts-per-gallon.
6.) A bubble stone should be fine as the agitation happens at the surface
7.) CORIES ABSOLUTELY LOVE THE SAND! gravel can actually harms their barbells after a while, and sand they can dig in.
I got my sand from my petsmart, but they have never gotton it back in, but play sand from home depot can work also, but WASH WASH WASH WASH it or you will have a very cloudy tank. Pool filter sand is great sand also.
When you make the switch, defiantly put your fish in a bowl or tuburware tub or something. Also do not change your filter pad!! when you switch substrates you lose A LOT of needed bacteria, but if you keep the same filter pad you should be OK.