Aquarium Sand?

Question

Hi,
I was wondering could I add freshwater sand to my betta and 4 bronze cories in my 10 gallon aquarium? Currently it has 11/4" of natural colored gravel and a 10 gallon tetra whisper external power filter. I was thinking of added 2" of either black or natural colored sand for the cories to burrow in. Any advice would be very appreciated. Aslo, with sand, can I add any live plants?

Answer 1

Corys do not burrow in sand. They search through the top layer for food. Also you must be very careful not to get sand with sharp edges because when the corys are searching for food with their short whiskers, they can become damaged by the sharp sand granules. Corys do not have the best eyesight and need their whiskers to find food. They actually smell the food with their whiskers. They are much happier in tanks with fine grained, rounded gravel that does not damage their whiskers.

Answer 2

Two different opinions from clever guys, I use sand with a layer of gravel over the top, given its a planted tank and it would probably come out as a mat with the amount of root systems in it. Sand will become stable with plants, you can clean the surface of gravel much easier than they say you can clean sand, with sand you will take a little bit away each time.
For Cory's as long as the gravel is rounded it should mean no difference to them at all.
Sand if not cleaned properly will foul fairly quickly, and i have to say I've found no way of cleaning it without the use of plants.
I would say that adding sand after the tank is occupied is not a task i would want to take on, its fiddly and messy, and your going to leave sediment in the water for several days which your fish won't appreciate overly.

Overall if your tank is working and settled don't change it, we all would like it to look different at one time or another, however, we set them up for the benefit of the fish and if theyre happy dont fix what ain't broken.

I word of caution I've seen Calci sand offered for sale as aquarium sand, don't be fooled by pretty colours. Its not something I'd be using with fish whatever you decide and its your choice make sure the sand is inert.

AJ

Answer 3

Sand is exactly like gravel, plants are fine, vacuuming is easier, and it needs to be washed... very thoroughly. If it is put into the tank unwashed, it will destroy your filter with all the dust and particles. Wash the sand in a bucket, and when it is ready to go into the tank, remove your fish and put them into another large bucket. Get all the gravel out and let the filter run for about 10 minutes to allow the poop trapped in the gravel to get to the filter. When the water looks very clean, turn off the filter and add the sand. Let it sit for about 20 minutes so it can settle to the bottom. When all the sand is on the bottom of the tank and not floating around, turn the filter back on and add the fish. It will look a lot better than gravel too. Good luck!

Nosoop4u

Answer 4

Hey there

My Betta tank is sand (15 gallon) and planted (and includes Cory cats), so you absolutely can, and the cory's will love it and it's very easy to care for. You literally dip in a siphon hose and run it over the surface of the sand picking up the much lighter fish waste. Just like gravel, but much easier to get at all the waste since it just sits on top rather then sinking in. This means there will be more floating particulate in your tank then you may be used to - but despite this the water actually remains cleaner because it isn't out of sight (and out of mind).

The only thing you need to be careful of is that loose sand will get into a hanging power filter and scratch the impeller, making it very noisy, so keep the intake no more then halfway down the tank, and turn it off if you will be disturbing the sand during maintenance.

Make sure you replace the gravel, don't just add sand - otherwise the sand will sink to the bottom and the gravel will just end up on top.

The sand I use is a playsand called 'king' which is just washed beach sand and it works great and costs just a few bucks for a massive bag. Any play type sand will do the job, regardless what you might hear from those who haven't tried it.

And remember, rinse the sand. Rinse it tons. It will seem a pain, but well worth the effort when the tank doesn't get dusty and cloudy.

Answer 5

you ought to use playstand that has been washed. some sand, inclusive of argonite sand, will buffer the water, which you likely do no longer choose. i think of the two look captivating, yet i'm a sand guy myself and love the look of a sand mattress in a tank. Fish waste exhibits up somewhat extra (have you ever seen some black sand?) on white sand, even though it seems cool. you apart from would get organic drifts from the water pass. you could no longer gravel vac the sand as agressively, in the different case you will in simple terms finally end up vacing it up. so which you may rigorously vac away the coolest layer. Sand additionally desires fairly a stiring each and every as quickly as in awhile to stay away from anerobic aspects coming up. yet another determination is a superb white gravel. yet my $$ is on the sand.

Answer 6

I wouldn't advise it personally. Mixing sand and grqavel is often a mess and the corys will be fine over a reasonably smooth gravel. Sand is also a pain to clean and must be carefully maintained to prevent it from fouling.

You can have plants with either sand or gravel.

MM

Answer 7

yeah sand will work and it isnt all that hard to clean just like the other guy said just hover about the sand with the vacum the dirt doesnt sink down like the gravel does.

careful with sand im not sure what ph betta's like but most sands will raise your ph to about 8.0- 8.2 because those sand are usually made out of broken shells i think known as calcitic sand but there are sands made out of silicates that will not raise your ph be sure to find that if betta fish cant do well in 8.0+

also get the sand from lowes not the LFS because you will pay $20/ 25lb bag at the fish store and $3/ 50lb bag at lowes
a much bigger price difference.

and with sand make sure to rinse the sand over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and OVER again to get rid of the smaller dusty particles. and i wouldnt recommend doing it with the fish in the tank cause no matter how much you rinse it will still cloud your tank.

good luck
Dave Shepp
http://www.pa-cichlids.com
Come visit my Site ITs New Help it Grow

Answer 8

extremely tough matter. check out on yahoo or google. just that could help!

Answer 9

complicated thing. query in a search engine. it could actually help!