communty tank should i use gravel or sand?

Answer 1

Small and medium Gravel all the way.

Sand is such a pain in the butt and it doesn't benefit many fish. It usually does more harm than good. It will tear up your filter impeller, make noises when it goes into the filter (which it will alll the time), cloud up your water when its disturbed.

Its a pain in the butt to clean also since tons of it goes into the vaccuum water. You end up throwing tons of sand down your toilet if you put your tank water down the toilet, eventually clogging it up.

Aquib is also right about the phosphates on some types of sand... I had phosphates over the range of the doc wellfish testing kit. As soon as I added the test material, it turned murky blue-gray.. the top color that's supposed to develop after 2 mintues of reaction.

The only fish I've seen that really do better in sand are flounder and rays. Most other species can do just fine in small gravel.

Answer 2

It really depends on the type of fish you're housing. But gravel provides a better medium for all kinds of fish. Some fish that are bottom feeders need gravel to root in, as sand can be dangerous. Too, sand can cause irritation to the gills in some fish. The only thing that you need to be careful about with gravel is that you don't have too thick a layer that allows for leftover fish food and other debris to become lodged at the bottom. As that deteriorates, it can cause anabolic bacteria to colonize which can kill your fish. Just make sure that whatever media you use that you don't just plunk it in your aquarium. Rinse, rinse, rinse. Get all of the fine, powdery stuff off of it. And make sure that you let it sit for at least a few days before adding fish. Of course, letting your tank cycle would be the best, but that's a whole other topic.

Answer 3

Unless your fish have a particular requirement, it's up to you.
Sand tends to be a little more work to keep clean, but if you love the look of sand then go for it.

Because it's so dense, sand can form solid hard plaques, under which toxic gases can accumulate; and, if released suddenly, can kill your fish. You can fix this problem by either getting some malaysian trumpet snails, which burrow into the sand, or simply using a wooden chopstick to stir up the sand on a weekly basis.

Sand is more difficult when you want to gravel vacuum, too, because it's so light is just gets sucked up into the gravel tube. If you don't mind a sand storm in your tank, you can just dump the water out of the bucket and keep the sand, and put the sand back in. Or you can stir up the sand before you syphon, then just syphon water and not go into the sand with the tube.

Also, algae and fish poop tends to show up much against white sand, so if you have waste producing fish like plecos, you might find it looks ugly.

Plants can grow well in either substrate.

So, yeah, it's up to you :)

Answer 4

Never use sand in a freshwater tank. This is not a natural environment for freshwater fish and these fish like to rummage around in the substrate, whether playing in or blowing or burrowing or rearranging their surroundings and if the sand gets in their gills, and it will, it is like sharp little shards of glass that can cut their gills, injure them and cause infections and maybe death. Plus, beneficial bacteria doesn't grow well in sand. I prefer fine gravel. It holds a lot of beneficial bacteria but doesn't allow the gunk to fall through to the bottom of the tank like larger gravel.

Answer 5

i have 2 tanks both 60 litres. 1 with gravel and 1 with sand. i find the fish like the gravel more. however if u want to breed cichlids it is easier to use sand as they will borrow eggs under sand

Answer 6

Sand is good if you have bottom dwelling fish like cory cats and loaches. But it is harder to clean and can ruin a filter if you are not careful. It also compacts so tightly that plants have trouble growing roots in it. So my vote goes for gravel.

Answer 7

My vote is gravel. Sand offers some benefits to certain fishes, but unless you are keeping a fish that needs a sandy bottom, its minuses outweigh the pluses for me big time.

MM

Answer 8

i used both before. but id have to say gravel. sand looks really good. but its harder to clean. if i were you id go with a really fine gravel. but it all depends on the type of fish your getting

Answer 9

I think sand would be alot harder to clean. I would recommend gravel.

Answer 10

Gravel because sand could be ingested or inhaled by larger fish and can be fatal. Also, make sure you get the natural gravel, as the painted ones sometimes loose paint and can be ingested or inhaled by the fish causing death.