gravel, sand or rounded pebbles?

[JoJo3131]

Ok, my understanding is that cory's prefer either small rounded pebbles or sand[/color] for their tank. I am thinking of setting up a tank the is predominately cory's and am wondering what is the best for them.

I gravel vac regularly in my tanks and heard that sand can't be vac'd like that, or it will suck right out of the tank with the water. Is this true? How do you clean it well?

When you say rounded pebbles, how big are you talking? I have approx. 1/4 inch mixture of epoxy coated pebbles, but it definitely looks huge compared to my cory's.

Anyway, since I am setting a tank up specifically for the cory's I would like it to meet their requirements, can't believe how much I enjoy these little fish.

[Richard B]

For corys, i don't think you can go far wrong with sand. Pool filter, or play sand is cheap & does the job as it has round "soft" grains. Instead of vacuuming by inserting the end into the gravel, the end can be held an inch above the sand to suck up debris that sits on top of the sand insted of debris getting in between the particles of gravel

[andywoolloo]

agreed. Sand is beautiful and they love to snuff around in it. Don't be scared of it. Just rinse it like the dickens before you put it in and keep your intake at least 2 inches or more above the sand. Toss some malaysian trumpet snails in there and you're home free.

[JoJo3131]

Malaysian Trumpet Snail? That rather sounds squishy and slimy.... , but why would I need them in the tank?

I'm hoping to find sand that is colorful, or at least a natural beige/brown color. I have seen blue, but wonder if it would look yucky after a while from algae and stuff in the tank.

Fish are so much easier to care for now with the newer bio filters, not nearly as much work as 20 years ago, although undergravel filters still work well. I am really enjoying getting back into fish....

[MatsP]

In all my newly set up tanks, I have used play-sand, which you get from your local DIY-shop or even super-market. It should be an inert sand (that is, it doesn't change the chemistry of your water), rounded grains, and "sand-coloured". The manufacturers intention with this sort of sand is to use it in childrens sand-pits - but it works excellent in a fish-tank, and thanks to it being "child-eye friendly", it is also nice and friendly to the fishes. Just make sure you don't lay it too thick - half an inch or just above unless you have "larger diggers" (such as my 7" Satanaperca that take a mouthfull of gravel/sand and carry it around for a bit). I'm sure Pool-filter-sand is available in the UK as well, but it's not available in the DIY and supermarket shelfs.

You can also get sand from your LFS - what they carry will vary depending on the local demand and supplier choices - I've seen almost every colour of "gravel" you can imagine, bleah! But most LFS have natural colours available too. If not, ask for some - they should be able to get some if you are not too much in a hurry - or find somewhere else to buy it.

There are white and black "sand" too - usually man-made (or man-modified) materials intended for other purposes, such as sand-blasting in preparation for painting. Usually a bit larger grains than that of the natural sand described above.

--
Mats

[Richard B]

Toss some malaysian trumpet snails in there and you're home free.

The reason for this is that they keep sand stirred up by burrowing through it - thi is of course if the bed is deeper than 1/2 inch or so, which is perfectly adequate & then there is no need for snails (which can take over!)

[OldMan]

Jojo, if you go with sand, you need to be aware that a UGF will not work properly with sand. Sand will fall right through the grid on a UGF and fill the space under the plate.

[bslindgren]

I gravel vac regularly in my tanks and heard that sand can't be vac'd like that, or it will suck right out of the tank with the water. Is this true? How do you clean it well?

You CAN gravel vac sand as long as it is not too fine, and if it is you probably don't want it in the tank. I use pool filter sand and a regular off-the-shelf" vac around 1 1/2 inches in diameter. The only difference is that you have to hold the vac at a ~45-50 degree angle, so that there is about half the space available for free water flow. I get some minor sand sucked up, but it is negligable. You can also use the method described above where you just "hover" above the surface, but you should stir the sand on occasion. I saw a video demo posted on Loaches Online which originated on some cichlid forum where they used that method, but they then used their hands to stir the sand. If I can find it I'll post the URL, assuming it still works. I move it around with the vac, however, and have no problem as long as the vacuum is at an angle. If you stir a lot, you should watch so small sand grains don't get sucked into the filters. They can ruin the impellers.

Pool filter sand is probably more expensive than play sand, but I prefer it because it is more consistent in quality, so you know what you get. I bought Target pool filter sand at a local pool supply company.

[bslindgren]

I found the video. It's at http://www.cichlid-forum.com/videos/cleaning_sand.php. Hope that helps. Make sure you replace the asterisks that PlanetCatfish inserts in cichlid with the actual letters!!

[JoJo3131]

That video was great! Makes it look pretty easy and the sand seems to just fall right back down, but I can see that I will want my filter intake to be a few inches higher than when I use just gravel. I actually mostly use a small natural greyish color gravel with rounded pebbles in tan colors on top for my other tanks right now. I mix the pebbles so I get a mix of 1/4 to 1/2 inch pebbles, and the much smaller gravel underneath sorta mixes but tends to stay towards the bottom.

I really like the idea of using the sand for my cory's, it sounds like they would have a blast in it. I will most likely stick to small cory's, under 3 inch size (full grown) and haven't totally decided which varieties I want. I do already have 3 pepper cory's, 3 green cory's, and 2 albino cory's. I am thinking of getting some dwarf ones, although it might be interesting to keep the cory's I have in their current tanks and only getting one variety, so that they could possibly breed.

I won't be using an undergravel filter, in fact I really like the new bio wheel filters for most of my tanks. They really make keeping the tank clean and cycling easy and problem free IMHO. Undergravel filters worked great in years past for me, but are quite a bit more work than these new ones.

This has been informative and I appreciate all your great responses.

[bslindgren]

I'd increase the numbers per species of what you have first, although mixed species schools are apparently fairly common in the wild. Check the Cat-eLog to make sure you get species with similar requirements if you add. I have lost a number of them by ignorance about their temperature requirements, for example.

[JoJo3131]

LOL, my dh is reading this and says, "So, you need MORE of each kind?" What a silly question! I knew exactly what to respond with, "Of course I need more!"

I didn't realize their were different temperature requirements for the varieties, sounds like I will need to do some more reading. I've really fallen for these little green cory's after watching them play all over the tank, quick active little ones. The peppers are active, but nothing like these ones. They all seem to run around some together, but they spend time apart too (species wise).

[pbyrley]

Jojo and all of you, thank you so much for the discussion. I have 4 green and 3 spotted corys and was trying to figure out what sand to use. I thought the play sand was too sharp for corys and was about to buy some expensive stuff. I have the play sand (for our granddaughter's little sandbox) so I will just steal some. I had been making the poor little corys swim around on the bare glass bottom of the tank while I figured out what to do. Good to know I should stick with about 1/2 inch depth also. I might have gone deeper. Also good to hear the tips on vac'ing.

Paul

[MatsP]

Paul, first a warm welcome to Planet Catfish, and I'm glad that our "old" discussions are being used. Not to mention that I'm happy you found this thread, rather than blindly start a new one (not everyone does).

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Mats

[AlaskanCorydoras]

Another thought on the "sand" issue is thus: You can buy natural color "micro gravel" from some LFS, and MANY craft stores (And often the crafts section of walmart) The sand is polished in a rock (or brass) polisher, so is nice and rounded for your cories. And it looks great. Usually it is found in the floral section.

I have large river rocks (from the same section) in my 20 gallon tank. . . it works nicely, but you have to be careful where you feed the fish that the food doesn't slip down to where they can't narfle it up.

My other 3 tanks all have plant substrate. Flourite substrate is a nice tan color, and my Pandas and Elgans really like it. My other two tanks have Biolcomplete, and my Brochis, sterbei, trilinieus, and Aenus are quite happy with that.

[peterl]

I hope this response is not too late. I highly recommend 3M Colorquartz sand if you can find a local supplier. It is used to tint custom pools and concrete floors. It is ceramic coated sand and is completely inert. There are two grades: T and S. S grade is finer, that is what I am using in my cory tank. It can usually be had for $20-30 for 50 pounds. It is available in 10 or 12 colors. I use black.

It really is wonderful sand. If you find it, just make sure to rinse it really, really well.