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Hey guys,

I picked up a 70g-ish tank setup (I'm guessing as it's a 48x18x24), the guy had it for sale claiming it was a 55g but when I arrived, I knew I was getting a phenomenol deal so I brought it home that day. It was pretty filthy and contained a 10" pleco, a 5" white goldfish and a 3" weird spindle looking type guy that I've never seen before. I've been weaning them into better water slowly over the past week in a different tank.
The fluval wasn't working when I view it but looked fairly new, I cleaned it all out, shortened up the hoses that were way too long and dragging down and got it working.

As I was cleaning it, I was thinking of salvaging the gravel and driftwood, I threw out the bigger rocks and fake plants as they were basically disintegrating but after sifting through the grungy gravel, I found safety pins, pennies, etc in it. So out went the gravel!

Now I'm thinking of trying sand instead of gravel, I've always had gravel but when my little hifin paroons grab food from the bottom, they suck up gravel and try to spit it out so I'm thinking that sand would be better. Currently the tank is cycling and has nothing but the cleaned driftwood in it. I'm splitting up the hifin's into this tank and the ID's to the 120g which I get back this week. I'd like to get the sand in if that's a good choice soon.

Also what do u think about a bare bottom tank? I've tried it before in a smaller tank years back but maybe I didn't have the filter and current positioned correctly as their feces seemed to gather and stay on the bottom instead of sucking up the filter. I ended up sucking it out every second day with the vacuum.

I should add that the other fish that came with the tank are awaiting their new homes after they finish an herbal medication cycle.

Sand. Always sand

Gravel is coarse - which is not good for the fishes when they swallow the little stones, but it also contains large holes between the little stones where food en excrement can sink into. Then it starts to rot

Sand does not allow this and thus no rotting food/excrement in the tank. Normally it rolls into the pump and then into the filter - but if not ,one can siphon the detritus out of the tank.

Some people say sand is not wel suited for growing plants. Well, I use sand I got from a road builder in all my tanks and some of them are heavily planted, while I started with only a few plants. So plants can not be an argument against sand

Bare bottom tanks are not a good solution to ANY problem in my opinion, and certainly not for fish that live on the bottom.

Sand is my preferred substrate, and I have one or another form of sand (or a mixture of more than one) in all of my tanks. It looks natural so I like it, and the fish "like it".

--
Mats

Hi all,
I like sand for all the reasons that "Bas Pel" & "MatsP" have mentioned.

MatsP wrote:Bare bottom tanks are not a good solution to ANY problem in my opinion, and certainly not for fish that live on the bottom. Sand is my preferred substrate, and I have one or another form of sand (or a mixture of more than one) in all of my tanks. It looks natural so I like it, and the fish "like it".

I only keep planted tanks and sand is fine for these. You can still have sand in tanks with high flow, if you have a "sand in the filter" problem this is easily rectified by having a pre-filter sponge on the intake, and the flow problem by using a mix of sand and and fine gravel. As the flow distributes the sand around the tank the coarser grains will be left in areas of high flow, and the finer grains in areas of lower flow. Areas of very high flow will have a bare bottom, and you can put larger rounded pebbles or cobbles there.

cheers Darrel

Thanks for the info, I ended up putting sand in. Though I wasn't prepared with how to clean the tank as I ended up sucking sand up the syphon and not the actual poop, lol.

I've youtubed ways to clean the tank and now I use a tube to syphon and skim over the sand rather than the large gravel cleaning vacuum that I had. Any one else have tips for keeping sand clean?

I've also noticed that the fluval 405 seems to not suck up at a fast enough rate. Just seems sluggish. Do you think this is because of a suction problem?

Hi! I too have a sand substrate in my tank and 50 lbs. worth; it's all HTH brand pool filter sand. I got fed up w/ gravel and its horrible trait of collecting gunk. To siphon off detritus, once a week I'll just use a plain rubber tube (originally a gravel vacuum); I hold it just about .5" above the sand's surface. Some sand gets picked up, but one'll get better with practice.

Personally I like Quartz gravel seems to give me no issues. Once a month gravel clean not at same time as doing a filter clean.

I may go back to sand for small fish as they cant make such a mess with it. Corys really grew fast on sand and loved filtering through it.

Small test I did with a PH meter and TDS on sand, quartz and just tap water.

Add to plastic cups and left for 24 hours. Checked the PH sand and quartz same so no advantage. Checked TDS sand was lower. Gave both a stir up and left for another 2-3 hours. TDS was much higher in the sand. Now this could be a little unfair or indicate something was built up in the sand. Sorry don't have an electric meter for nitrates having trouble locating a reasonable priced one.

I use silica sand #20/#30.
When using a substrate vacuum I crimp my siphon hose enough to reduce the flow enough to leave the sand in the tank.
It is a simple way of calibrating the suction as needed to remove detritus but leave the sand.

I use sugar-size silica sand only: it is a requirent for several of my fish and to please my eyes. I would only recomend this. please stop using ugly and unsuitable gravel. We are in 2013, not in 1973! I wouldnt use quartz, I did when I started, and advise people not to use it.

Silica sand is apt and good substrate for most aquarium plants.

Hi all,

Silica sand is apt and good substrate for most aquarium plants.

I agree with this.

I wouldnt use quartz, I did when I started, and advise people not to use it.

But so we don't have any misunderstandings, silica sand is just fine grains of quartz (SiO2) that have been rounded and reduced in size over time.

cheers Darrel

But so we don't have any misunderstandings, silica sand is just fine grains of quartz (SiO2) that have been rounded and reduced in size over time.

Quite right! Unless it's pure, elemental Si, but I doubt that's ever the case. It's also sand if it's just been crushed, as I've got coarse sand, fresh pool filter sand, and can also be formed in a couple seconds if you've got a hammer!

Hi all,

It's also sand if it's just been crushed, as I've got coarse sand, fresh pool filter sand, and can also be formed in a couple seconds if you've got a hammer!

Sort of, but the advantage of pool filter sand is that the grains are rounded, this means that it doesn't pack together the way that angular fragments can.

Also quartz shows a conchoidal fracture, which led to both the Stone Age and very sharp edges on freshly crushed bits.

cheers Darrel

Yeah, I considered getting some used pool filter sand, but I don't trust that stuff, even if it's cleaned off. I was able to get new PFS and my fish don't seem to have had any damage at all to skin, fins, and gills; that was my #1 worry when trying to find the right sand, that quartz is essentially glass and has that type of fracture. Thankfully, it has all worked out nice, but it does have a tendency to really pack down over several weeks.

Safety pins and pennies???? Still can't get over that part.

I've never had good luck with sand by itself. It traps too much gas and I have diggers, so I've always stuck with gravel with "natural planting" substrate under it. I also like the aesthetic contrast of the black and tans (artist problems). I have had decent luck with sand on top of a gravel, as the sand filled in between the gravel bits, and I'm still able to use the gravel vac. I just try to ignore all the sand I get with it.