Sand Vs Gravel? Yes, this conversation again. Lol

Hello!

So, I am sure this question is asked a lot.
Well, I want to ask it again, Sorry!

So, my one of 10 gallon and my 55 gallon has sand. My other 10 gallon has gravel, well river rock.
So I had both in the past, and now in the present, getting back into the hobby. As of now I am planning on a few more tanks, some that I have up and with the water running, and I honestly don’t know what to choose. It’s a hard decision for me.

I don’t know exactly what fish I plan on putting in the tanks, I have ideas, but nothing solid yet.

Are there any tricks or tips about cleaning sand or something, that I missed, that makes it easier to clean?


Compare:
I like the look of sand better, but to me, gravel is easier to clean.
My cories love sand, but my loaches love the gravel.
Sand gets everywhere, but I am always scared one of the animals will get hurt on the gravel.
Sand can get in the filter easier, gravel has less chance to.



Same:
Both have to be cleaned really well before put in tank.
Both can make it hard to see the fish.
Sand and Gravel can look dirty all the time

Needs:
I want to be able to see my fish, so nothing where they blend in too much.
Easy to clean.
Not expensive.

Things I Don't Need:
Live Plants. I don’t need to be able to grow live plants. It isn’t important to me, I don’t prefer live plants.



IF I choose Sand; Should I get Black or a lighter color?
I have black in one fish tank, and it makes it hard to see my darker and smaller fish. But easier to see my albinos.
I have whiteish sand in the other, and it's fine, but not my favorite. But I can see my fish better.


So what are all of your guys opinions on this topic?
And what do you think I should us?
Any advice on which is technically better?



Thank you for any tips and advice!

 

A couple more options MarFlower819 if you don’t mind me not just giving you a quick answer?

Bare bottom and soil . Soil covered in sand. Live plants growing in pots full of good quality soil.

As you are asking about a 10 and a 55 we can forget about large cichlids of 14 inches and the poop that comes with them.

You can have a very thin layer ( 1/4 inch ) of sand or gravel and still have plants in pots. If fact many plants grow well floating without any substrate.

I have gone round in a circle and come back to a little sand as my preferred covering .

When you are familiar with the two handed way of vacuuming substrate being able to stop the siphon with one hand means sand is no harder to vacuum than gravel. Bare bottom allows you to remove all mulm fast and a deep bed dirt tank is never vacuumed.

Sorry if I reply asks more questions than it answers .

My vote is for sand. But definitely not white sand.
A snapshot of an old tank of mine that was almost bare bottom with a little sand covering the glass with all plants in containers or stuck to wood etc.

I am still running this tank because everything can be removed in 5 minutes. Sure makes catching fish easy.
Or you can make a feature of the plant pots?

 

I'll vote white sand over a base layer of aquasoil/small gravel mix, just to be difficult!

 

3-5mm sized gravel 38-50mm deep on top of an undergravel filter. Color of your choice. Vacuum when you feel like it, you'll never see wastes on top and will have crystal clear water.

 

A couple more options MarFlower819 if you don’t mind me not just giving you a quick answer?

Bare bottom and soil . Soil covered in sand. Live plants growing in pots full of good quality soil.

As you are asking about a 10 and a 55 we can forget about large cichlids of 14 inches and the poop that comes with them.

You can have a very thin layer ( 1/4 inch ) of sand or gravel and still have plants in pots. If fact many plants grow well floating without any substrate.

I have gone round in a circle and come back to a little sand as my preferred covering .

When you are familiar with the two handed way of vacuuming substrate being able to stop the siphon with one hand means sand is no harder to vacuum than gravel. Bare bottom allows you to remove all mulm fast and a deep bed dirt tank is never vacuumed.

Sorry if I reply asks more questions than it answers .

My vote is for sand. But definitely not white sand.
A snapshot of an old tank of mine that was almost bare bottom with a little sand covering the glass with all plants in containers or stuck to wood etc.View attachment 858020
I am still running this tank because everything can be removed in 5 minutes. Sure makes catching fish easy.
Or you can make a feature of the plant pots?

Yes! Potting plants really opens a tank up when wanting to catch fish lol. We do this with breeder tanks. Although I'm always iffy on using terracotta it provides a great surface for bac and algae

 

Probably coarse river sand or pool filter sand. Too coarse to compact easily and too fine for waste to penetrate easily. My tanks are usually planted and I don't vacuum.

 

If you want the substrate to be a big part of the denitrification process of the aquarium environment, go with a deep bed of small grain gravel.
If a truly beautiful substrate is what you want, sand is the way to go.
Benificial anaerobic bacteria will inhabit a deep sand bed, but not nearly to the degree it will in a deep layer of gravel substrate.
I haven't gravel vac'd in years, but that's a debate for another day. Lol.

 

If you want the substrate to be a big part of the denitrification process of the aquarium environment, go with a deep bed of small grain gravel.
If a truly beautiful substrate is what you want, sand is the way to go.
Benificial anaerobic bacteria will inhabit a deep sand bed, but not nearly to the degree it will in a deep layer of gravel substrate.
I haven't gravel vac'd in years, but that's a debate for another day. Lol.

This is my approach as well. I don't vac; use a 2-4" deep substrate. I use sand or small gravel. For some reason my substrates don't ever look dirty (never see fish poop) even though the tanks are heavily stocked. Water is crystal clear too.

You could have a section for sand and one for gravel in the tank. Designed to look natural of course. They could be kept separate with hardscape.

If you only keep a thin layer of sand or gravel, say 1", you can easily vac the whole depth of it and not just the surface as is usually done. You will have no plant roots to be concerned about disturbing and there will be no deep bed bacteria to be disturbed either.

EDIT: To vac the sand this way you need to use a weak siphon so you don't suck the sand out of the tank.

 

If you only keep a thin layer of sand or gravel, say 1", you can easily vac the whole depth of it and not just the surface as is usually done. You will have no plant roots to be concerned about disturbing and there will be no deep bed bacteria to be disturbed either.

Right. I figure this is almost like running a bare bottom with frequent cleaning out of wastes like many breeders do with great success. No potentially nasty stuff like disease causing bacteria needs to remain and fester in a healthy tank. This is my approach but with just a bit more gravel for hiding the base of artificial plants. Gravel gets deep vacuum every 2 weeks. Tank is always clean, nitrates low, and fish are healthy. There are plenty of ways to do this fish keeping thing right. Swim On!

 

I hate sand ! . I use gravel that looks natural and the smallest size sold 1/8”. Next is bare bottom. But I think pics would help most .

 

I hate sand ! . I use gravel that looks natural and the smallest size sold 1/8”. Next is bare bottom. But I think pics would help most .View attachment 858033View attachment 858034View attachment 858035View attachment 858036View attachment 858037

Not sure how to leave a reaction other than a thumbs up so :

tanks!

 

I have either pool filter sand or Black Diamond sandblasting sand in all my tanks. I don't want gravel.

If you go with sand we can't tell you which color. It depends on the stocking. For example, I have black sand in the tanks with red and yellow shrimp, because they show up better. Blue shrimp would be difficult to see against black, so those tanks have pool filter sand.

 

Thank you everyone!! I appreciate all your advice. It's been very helpful.

I have decided to go with the play sand, which is a light brown, for my new tank.

I love cory's too much to not put them in my tank, and while they can live in gravel, they love sand too much for me not to choose sand.

Once again thank you everyone!

 

Thank you everyone!! I appreciate all your advice. It's been very helpful.

I have decided to go with the play sand, which is a light brown, for my new tank.

I love cory's too much to not put them in my tank, and while they can live in gravel, they love sand too much for me not to choose sand.

Once again thank you everyone!

I assume you know it will need a lot of rinsing? It's a little cheaper than pool filter sand, but my time is worth something too.

 

I assume you know it will need a lot of rinsing? It's a little cheaper than pool filter sand, but my time is worth something too.

Oh, I definitely know! I have used it in my tanks before. So much rinsing! It's a pain.
Thank you for letting me know though!

 

if you insist on corydoras, pea sized smooth gravel can work, what you don't want is rough and sharp gravel. i'm sure river rocks can work, but like the ones I have they would be too big and whatever hits the bottom sinks in where they can't get to it and cories can't move them around. small and smooth, but heavier particles than sand. I think, but if cories aren't in the plans, lots you can do really.

Also I've seen people do some amazing things with food containers and a couple cans of "Great Stuff" pond expansion foam and a razor knife and some sand or dirt to give the foam a natural surface and build large cave structures and just a foam "rock like" mountain for a tank or foam a background for the tank on the inside.
I don't see why you couldn't do something similar with a little research into it on the internet, build some foam rock hills that hold potted plant in them, or spray foam the bottom with pockets and have a sand box and a gravel box and a river rock box in different sections so it doesn't take a ton of sand, or gravel or rock and worst case, vac out the pound or so of sand and just replace it in that area if you want to. or scoop out the pound or two of gravel or rock and replace it with something else later you want to try.

best part of a new build is thinking outside the box and building the next tank different from the last one!