What to do Sand or Stones?

[sub.z]

Is it just personal preference?

Also can you use any sort or sand?

Will be for a 5 foot tank

[smidey]

i put an inch of sand & two inches of stones in the base of my community tank, crushed marble for the africans.

[sub.z]

What happens when you gravel vac? Do they all mix up?

Is sand better for messy oranda fish?

[bdspider]

I like the look of sand better, but my gravel tank is far easier to clean. Plants prefer sand though. I suppose it's personal preference. In future, I think I'd probably stick with gravel, just cos it's so easy to vacuum (although some people say that vacuuming gravel isn't important?)

[Milet]

im trying to find a substrate that is finer than small pebbles but not as fine as sand so it doesnt get sucked up by gravel vac. im picky

[Afrikan]

I prefer sand, yet a heavier based sand, not too fine. I use Daltons Propagating Sand, it's excellent and easy to gravel vac 8)

[Caryl]

Goldfish tend to burrow through substrate and have been known to swallow small stones. Don't know if they would eat the sand?

[sub.z]

Yeah thats sort of what im trying to figure out. I wonder whether its worth just keeping stones?

When is sand better than stones?

When is stones better than sand?

[fishy_t]

I collect my own river sand - that way I can find sand that isn't too fine, which means it easy to vac - but also looks good and the fish can play with it (my fronts are always sifting trough it looking for food!).

Its really easy to collect - in any river with a sand bar, the sand is naturally sorted into different grades so there is always a good patch of the right sized grain.

[smidey]

i have never had the sand come through the stones that are two inches thick

[SpidersWeb]

Stones are certainly easier to work with. Simple to gravel vac etc and in all honesty I prefer stones.

But sand is cheaper, and some species prefer the sand (fire eel, geo etc) which are the only two reasons I'll use sand in my tanks. I wouldn't worry about goldfish eating sand, lots of coldwater ponds have sand in them and the fish don't die. If they do swallow any, it'll pass.

Proper sand like river sand or propergating sand is awesome, kind of a cross between stones and standard sand, although I always end up with that cheap '0-5mm' coarse sand which needs one hell of a wash, and half of it is too small to use. Fine sand pieces are a pain in the bum, so try to get sand that is 3-5mm.

Biggest downside to sand is it can clamp up and become anaerobic (sp?) in patches. Stones always have gaps between them, so the water around them stays oxygenated, so even if you forget to gravel vac there, it wont be too much of a bacterial-wonder-land. I prefer the look of sand, but always found stones easier for maintenance. Sand also makes digging a little TOO attrative for some of my fish at times.

I temporarily put my jag cichlid in a planted sand tank, within a few days it was totally destroyed, and he'd dug the sand so much rocks fell over. With stones the digging was a bit of a slower process.

[sub.z]

Good stuff

I like the look of sand alot but may just stick with stones if its going to be easier to maintain

Thanks heaps

[smidey]

what about arogonite or crushed marble as a substrate. what fish you keeping in this tank. only thing with this is that raises the ph although mine is around 7.8.

[sub.z]

Ryukins orandas and lionheads

Do you have a pic of what it looks like smidey?

[KELLYMAN]

Here is an idea, I used "Sure shielding sand" its the stuff they use in the dairy industry to coat the floors mixed with an epoxy resin, the sand is golden in colour and the grains are the size of raw sugar not to big and not to small look up in the yellow pages maybe floor coatings ?? I bought some off a local company here i wouldnt imagine it to be difficult to get hold of ( "Sure Shielding" sand)

[Milet]

i got bedding sand the other week. Once you THOROUGHLY wash it with water and put it in your tank it looks awesome! And U can shove the gravel vac straight into it and u wont lose any of it

[KELLYMAN]

Hi, I vac my tank and hold my finger over the end of the hose so as to limit the water flow should it look like im going to suck everything off the bottom of the tank ....