PlanetCatfish.com

I wanted to ask whats better for plecos?? sand or gravel?

I know they like to play in the sand and thats why I really would prefer it but what about cleaning all their poops from it? Is it hard to clean so much poop from sand?

Would it be easier to clean the poop from the gravel?

Thanks.

This question is best answered by the fish.
Many fish have sound reasons why they would prefer one form of substrate over another.
Some fish need to burry in a soft sand due to several reasons , some use this burrowing to await prey some to hide during daylight ,and some just find it easyer to feed in soft sand.
Some fish need fine gravel for the same reasons apart from hiding in, they have mouths developed to “Pick” out food or plant matter.
Many fish have developed spawning habits that need a certain substrate or decoration.
My self before setting up a tank I read and check all information on the fish I wish to keep / breed and then I go about setting up the tank to fit the needs of the fish.

I am lucky in that I can have several tanks but for my main tank in my house I use fine gravel.
You also need to think about plants some plants can’t grow in sand so a pot with the plant placed in along with a media that will assist growth can be a solution.
The main problem with sand is it will pack and allow the growth of bacteria, having said this keeping the sand as a thin layer or disturbing it at regular opportunities is a solution.

macvsog23 wrote:This question is best answered by the fish.
Many fish have sound reasons why they would prefer one form of substrate over another.
Some fish need to burry in a soft sand due to several reasons , some use this burrowing to await prey some to hide during daylight ,and some just find it easyer to feed in soft sand.
Some fish need fine gravel for the same reasons apart from hiding in, they have mouths developed to “Pick” out food or plant matter.
Many fish have developed spawning habits that need a certain substrate or decoration.
My self before setting up a tank I read and check all information on the fish I wish to keep / breed and then I go about setting up the tank to fit the needs of the fish.

I am lucky in that I can have several tanks but for my main tank in my house I use fine gravel.
You also need to think about plants some plants can’t grow in sand so a pot with the plant placed in along with a media that will assist growth can be a solution.
The main problem with sand is it will pack and allow the growth of bacteria, having said this keeping the sand as a thin layer or disturbing it at regular opportunities is a solution.

thanks for posting but did you even read my post or did you just read the title??

I have never cleaned poo from my tanks I use natural setup as I was trying to explain
If you have a lot of poo why not look at your tanks loading. Or your feeding

I have sand in all my tanks, and I don't have any real problem with poo on the substrate. Sure, there's a few bits now and again, but that's just part of nature.

--
Mats

macvsog23 wrote:I have never cleaned poo from my tanks I use natural setup as I was trying to explain
If you have a lot of poo why not look at your tanks loading. Or your feeding

Plecos are poop machines, if they poop alot it actually means they are healthy and are getting enough to eat

I do not use sand or gravel but NutraFin PlantGro substrate about 1/4 inch thick.
I also use as my potted plants substrate plus their line of PlantGro timed release timed release fertilizer sticks which remain useful for up to a year depending on the plant species.
It is pleasant looking and fish wastes do not show up well. Pleco feces do not seem so obvious on this hard clay, rounded particle substrates. I like it also because it s a earth tone color. For particle size reference consider the F1 Sturisoma aureum in the photo I was raising at the time I took the photo. are only about 2-1/2 inches. particles are rounded so that makes it a very desirable Corydoras substrate as well.
It is rather expensive to use in thick layers or pots.

Ok let me explain about poo in my tanks.

I have never vacuumed or removed Poo or any waste for that matter dead leaves, plant matter, old food, dead snails or any thing.
I breed mainly Hypans and would not say I am a very experienced or successful breeder but I have a few Species/ variants / L Numbers under my belt.
I always have quite a lot of mulm in my tanks; I do however have massive filtration ie an Eheim 2128 on a 2 foot tank an Eheim 2324 on a 18” tank. Along with a power head with a large foam filter pad that I change weekly. This seems to break down the waste.

I empty my tanks around every 3 months to remove all the fry and move them to grow on tanks.
I do not believe poo is a problem or needs to be cleaned up removed. Once the Ammonia and other components have been “neutralised” by the nitrification process of the filters its only harmless gunk in my opinion.
I only clean my filters once a year and that id to remove the sand or small gravel from them, the media baskets get a rinse out in a bucket of tank water and the foams get changed for new ones.
I do believe if you get a balance right you don’t have to clean up or vacuum in any way.
Small fish loads ie 2 foot tank with 6 x 2” Hypans at the most, feed once a week and daily when you have fry. 10% water changes a day using RO and HMA mix.
I have never had any problems and I prefer to concentrate on getting the tank to mimic nature.

With ample canister filtration and modest stocking levels it is easier to reduce maintenance down to just routine water changes. The filters macs uses are excellent if you can afford them but for multiple set ups one is looking at a considerable investment in expensive filters.( I also have a strong bias for Eheims).
It wouldn't be feasible for me to buy one for each of my 15 aquariums. I do use Eheims in conjunction with 1000gph wet/dry filters on my two display tanks, 75 and 125 gal displays.
Most of my tanks are are more heavily stocked and I use just 2 sponge filters, per ever 20 long to 40 gal breeder tanks. I use Azoo OxygenPlus BioFilter #6 which are comparable to a HydroSponge IV. One uses the OEM sponge in the air lift mode but the other is a DYI adaptation using 1 inch thick, 20 pores per in coarse, open cell filter material cut to 24 X 4 inch strips and wrapped around the filter core and held in place with re-usable zip ties and driven by a MaxiJet 600 power head like the one shown below:

I also supply additional aeration with an air stone. The coarse, open cell foam is easily rinsed clean with a garden hose using a nozzle attachment. I have to clean my coarse filter the most often in my most heavily stocked tanks. I try to change about 70% of the water about ever 4 or 5 days. In most of my breeding and grow out tanks, I only have to clean my filters 3 or 4 times a year. The frequency goes up with the tank loading.
There are very many ways to go about breeding and fry grow out as there are fish breeders but one thing aquarium filters and home aquariums in particular, lack is a means other than siphoning out detritus. The mulm not removed by the filters does contribute to the system's biological oxygen demand(BOD) despite the fact it appears to be inert it isn't. It is still subject to BOD if it enters our filters and it contributes to reduced flows.
I sometimes slack off with my routine water changes but when I do perform them I siphon any mulm/detritus while I'm at it because every bit helps. Just as as you compensate somewhat by using large volume filters.
In some instances it is helpful to have such material available for fry to sift in search for edible microorganisms
Ideally, fecal and over particulate matter should be removed by settling basins or high tech mechanical screen systems which remove the waste before it can begin to enter the biological filtration systems as is a common practice in commercial aquaculture. These are too difficult to scale down for hobbyist breeders' tanks but is a very desirable first stage in a filter system. But if that is attempted at the hobbyist level it is too much work. If more of used your approach of using what may appear to some as over doing the filtration more people would become successful breeders. By no means am I a fastidious cleaner of my aquariums which probably look pretty messy by many hobbyists' standards but their function is primarily utilitarian.