Gravel or Sand

Hi All,

A friend is setting up a fresh water tank he has been given. It's tall
rather than long and fits in a corner unit. He's not sure weather to go
for sand or gravel at the bottom of the tank. What are the pro's and
cons? Is sand easy clean?

TIA

wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi All,

A friend is setting up a fresh water tank he has been given. It's tall
rather than long and fits in a corner unit. He's not sure weather to go
for sand or gravel at the bottom of the tank. What are the pro's and
cons? Is sand easy clean?

TIA
=========================
Gravel is easier to vacuum clean. Sand could become anaerobic and possibly
give off dangerous gasses. My suggestion is to go with the gravel.
--
KL....
Aquariums since 1952.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö ~~~~ }((((({*

wrote:
Hi All,

A friend is setting up a fresh water tank he has been given. It's tall
rather than long and fits in a corner unit. He's not sure weather to go
for sand or gravel at the bottom of the tank. What are the pro's and
cons? Is sand easy clean?

Go with fine gravel and you have the best of both worlds. If you have a
planted aquarium, it isn't absolutely necessary to vacuum because all
the waste eventually becomes fertiliser. I have sand in all my planted
aquariums because I find plants easier to root and sand won't damage
delicate roots. Large gravel traps food and waste, requiring deep gravel
cleans. With no plants to aerate a sand substrate, pockets with no
access to fresh, oxygenated water can become anaerobic (as mentioned by
the other poster) and give off poisonous gas.

Nikki

wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi All,

A friend is setting up a fresh water tank he has been given. It's tall
rather than long and fits in a corner unit. He's not sure weather to go
for sand or gravel at the bottom of the tank. What are the pro's and
cons? Is sand easy clean?

TIA


ok I'd go gravel and yea I'm gonna do it.... set up an undergravel filter
they do require maintenence and stuff
but they look good in tall tanks

On 19 Aug 2006 09:59:19 -0700,
wrote:

Hi All,

A friend is setting up a fresh water tank he has been given. It's tall
rather than long and fits in a corner unit. He's not sure weather to go
for sand or gravel at the bottom of the tank. What are the pro's and
cons? Is sand easy clean?

TIA

I have gravel in 2 tanks, medium sand in a 75 and fine sand in a 10.
For about a year I did not use sand in a 10 gallon tank
What is better? None, they all work better with some plants than
others. I have Crypts in the 75 with medium sand and the same stock
of Crypts in a 29 gallon with coarse gravel. In the 29 they were
almost to the top of the tank, say 15 inches, they have never grown
above 10 inches in the 75. I have low light levels in all the tanks.

If your question is ease of maintenance, again I draw a neutral. In 3
years I have never cleaned the gravel, whereas the 10 with no gravel I
cleaned the bottom every water change.

I believe the secret to easy tank maintenance is changing a percentage
of water on a regular basis. I change 20% twice weekly. I change
filter cartridges only when more water is going out the over flow than
through filters.

I just re-read your comments. Tall tanks are hard to clean. I have
problems reaching the bottom of my and 29 gallon tanks. I wouldn't
even try cleaning the bottom unless it was bare.

You didn't mention plants. They can be lots of fun, but be sure they
are suitable for the tank lighting. It is measured as watts/gallon,
but I would think a tall tank less light would reach the bottom.

You certainly are a good friend.

dick

wrote:

A friend is setting up a fresh water tank he has been given. It's tall
rather than long and fits in a corner unit. He's not sure weather to go
for sand or gravel at the bottom of the tank. What are the pro's and
cons? Is sand easy clean?

Another consideration which hasn't been mentioned is that bottom rooters can
kick up sand easier than gravel. I've got sand in a tank with catfish and
I'm constantly cleaning sand off of the leaves of low plants with spreading
leaves.

If your friend is going to have live plants, tell him to go with EcoComplete.
A bit spendy, but has all the nutrients plants need.

If not, tell him to get some traction sand (also called tube sand) and sift
out the fine stuff. What's left is just about the perfect size. Might be a
bit hard to find at this time of year, although that would depend on where he
lives.

Oops. I just noticed the "uk" in the address. I don't know if either
traction sand or EcoComplete is available in the UK. But the advice to use
gravel still stands.

--
It's turtles, all the way down

"Larry Blanchard" wrote in message
...
wrote:

A friend is setting up a fresh water tank he has been given. It's tall
rather than long and fits in a corner unit. He's not sure weather to go
for sand or gravel at the bottom of the tank. What are the pro's and
cons? Is sand easy clean?

Another consideration which hasn't been mentioned is that bottom rooters
can
kick up sand easier than gravel. I've got sand in a tank with catfish and
I'm constantly cleaning sand off of the leaves of low plants with
spreading
leaves.

If your friend is going to have live plants, tell him to go with
EcoComplete.
A bit spendy, but has all the nutrients plants need.

If not, tell him to get some traction sand (also called tube sand) and
sift
out the fine stuff. What's left is just about the perfect size. Might be
a
bit hard to find at this time of year, although that would depend on where
he
lives.

Oops. I just noticed the "uk" in the address. I don't know if either
traction sand or EcoComplete is available in the UK. But the advice to
use
gravel still stands.

--
It's turtles, all the way down


You can always mix gravel or shellgrit with the sand to compact/settle it.
If I was to reccomend sand I'd go with the sandblasting 'garnet' sand
takes a bit to clean but VERY heavy and holds plants down well and doesn't
get sucked into impellors.
I say keep sand with fish that live over sand and gravel for those that live
over gravel.
that eco-complete stuff is good plant substrate tho. roots get stuck into it
hey

wrote:
Hi All,

A friend is setting up a fresh water tank he has been given. It's tall
rather than long and fits in a corner unit. He's not sure weather to go
for sand or gravel at the bottom of the tank. What are the pro's and
cons? Is sand easy clean?

TIA

I have used mixtures of gravels with success. The fine will settle to
the bottom while the course gravel will remain at the top. The
advantage is have course gravel to trap the larger debris, more aerobic
bacteria, and is easier to vacuum. The fine is better for Many plants
(but not all). Also with proper maintenance (regular water changes),
anaerobic bacteria can be useful for Nitrate removal, the problem with
anaerobic bacteria is when too much builds up, then the gravel gets
stirred up releasing too much poisonous gas at once. An example of this
on a large scale just happened at the Salton Sea in California, where
the bottom got stirred up by wind storms, causing a massive fish die
off. Under normal conditions these gases float to the surface and are
released harmlessly into the atmosphere.

Carl

On 20 Aug 2006 15:06:44 -0700, "carlrs"
wrote:


wrote:
Hi All,

A friend is setting up a fresh water tank he has been given. It's tall
rather than long and fits in a corner unit. He's not sure weather to go
for sand or gravel at the bottom of the tank. What are the pro's and
cons? Is sand easy clean?

TIA

I have used mixtures of gravels with success. The fine will settle to
the bottom while the course gravel will remain at the top. The
advantage is have course gravel to trap the larger debris, more aerobic
bacteria, and is easier to vacuum. The fine is better for Many plants
(but not all). Also with proper maintenance (regular water changes),
anaerobic bacteria can be useful for Nitrate removal, the problem with
anaerobic bacteria is when too much builds up, then the gravel gets
stirred up releasing too much poisonous gas at once. An example of this
on a large scale just happened at the Salton Sea in California, where
the bottom got stirred up by wind storms, causing a massive fish die
off. Under normal conditions these gases float to the surface and are
released harmlessly into the atmosphere.

Carl

"Stir, don't shake please."

I always wondered about possibility of sediment being toxic. I found
a dead fish the morning after doing a major plant weeding. Could be
coincidence or stress also. I know the fish take hours to days to
settle after I make a lengthy pursuit of a fish. I have actually
decided to leave the fish stay where they are even if I have good
intentions in making a move such as fish getting too large for the
tank they are in.

dick

Go for sand it looks better and is easier to clean, all you have to do is aggitate to sand. Also food dosen't get lost in gaps as it does in gravel. thus meaning it's easier to keep. Sand is also better for keeping corys who can easily find food in the sand while scavenging. While in gravel their "whiskers" can easily become infected.