Tips for Sand and Gravel together

20g currently is standard aquarium gravel but it seems my Bolivian ram is finding it difficult to locate food in the gravel (a lot of it slips down between the pebbles). Thinking about making a small area of the tank a sandy bottom, most of it would still be gravel. Any tips on how to do this: divide the gravel and sand; keep it divided as much as possible; add sand to an already established tank...??

Thanks

 

I don’t think it matters all to much how you do it I’ve seen a mix and separate but personally I would do a mix.

 

I did this in a storage container I was using for a grow out tank for some pleco babies and some rabbit snails. I put gravel in half of it and sand in the other half. It mixed where to 2 met but both pretty well stayed where I put it. I had an oversized HOB filter on this tank thus the reason for having gravel on the filter end of the container. The water coming out of the filter would have kept the sand stirred up. Since rabbit snails like to hang out under the substrate they needed sand. I actually liked the looks of the way it turned out.

 

Mixing is much less maintaince in my experience.

 

Thanks, just curious if there are any good ideas for borders to separate the two substrates. This is supposed to be the kids tank so not looking for perfect display.

 

If I were needing to keep it separated I would probably cut a strip of plastic from something as wide as my substrate was deep and use it as a separator. Glue or silicon would hold it in place but would be difficult to do in a tank that was already up and running. The second best thing to do in this situation would be to hold it in place with suction cups.

 

It would not be as good as a plastic strip, but maybe a border of small river rocks? You can make terraces with small rocks, they should work alright for a divide. The bonus being that you could do it with the tank already set up.
You could scoop most of the gravel to one side, build a retaining wall with stone, and then cap the other side with sand. Might be fun

 

Thanks. Stupid question but no problem just reaching in there to do that right? With the water drained a bit during a change.

 

Thanks. Stupid question but no problem just reaching in there to do that right? With the water drained a bit during a change.

No problem doing it that way at all. Do it during a water change so the water level will be lower. Well, that is the way I would have to do it because my tank is so deep. If I didn't lower the water level I would be up to my armpits in water

 

Hmm...
Some "Good" ideas. I agree "Sand" is best for "Bolivians" they are sand sifters by the way. When I started out, I wanted to move my pair to the 55g Planted community which had "Eco complete" as the substrate.
How?, without draining tank.
I ended up using a long neck funnel, I added enough until all the nooks/crannies were filled in then added more. Just remember to rinse it throughly and let dry first. Easy, in fact I just used the same method a few weeks ago when adding more sand to my African build.



Good Luck!

 

Hmm...
Some "Good" ideas. I agree "Sand" is best for "Bolivians" they are sand sifters by the way. When I started out, I wanted to move my pair to the 55g Planted community which had "Eco complete" as the substrate.
How?, without draining tank.
I ended up using a long neck funnel, I added enough until all the nooks/crannies were filled in then added more. Just remember to rinse it throughly and let dry first. Easy, in fact I just used the same method a few weeks ago when adding more sand to my African build.

View attachment 744456
Good Luck!

Jmaldo, did you cap your entire eco substrate? Or just parts?

 

Thanks, just curious if there are any good ideas for borders to separate the two substrates. This is supposed to be the kids tank so not looking for perfect display.

Black garden/weed fabric is aquarium safe and can make a good barrier/ layer for the sand.

 

did you cap your entire eco substrate? Or just parts?

I added the sand to right side of the tank about 14" front to back.

 

I like the long funnel idea. I only have a 20g so if I do this during a water change, I won't be too deep of a water level to deal with. How do you dry sand after washing it? I get why you'd want to (can't see wet sand going down a funnel easily).

 

With regard to separating substrate I use pieces of lexan (basically plexiglass) and have the store cut to size based on how deep I want the substrate or alternatively got a special blade for my table saw and now can cut it myself. I use a string to measure out rough length. Once properly sized it can be slightly melted using a blowtorch, just enough to make it malleable. Then just bend it into the shape you desire and insert. After that you can scoop out the area of substrate you want to become sand using a plastic scoop or Tupperware or whatever makes sense that you have on hand. If a large area it helps to do this a bit at a time to build up similar pressure on each side depending on how you configure it. I usually just put the sand I want to add in same Tupperware, and dip it in to let it slowly fill and not scatter the sand, then lower to the bottom.

It mostly works but is impossible to keep fully separated, especially if you have bottom dwellers. I use a stainless steel scoop designed to clean reptile cages that sand will pass through but my other substrate won't to reset during cleanings.

The 'retaining wall' idea is also solid if you have décor that facilitates doing it that way.

 

Wow, that sounds cool but way above my skill level/free time. I think I'm going to try to make a decent border with some river stones we have in there already. It will probably end up being less than a third of the tank floor as sand, I just want an area I can drop the cichlid food that the Bolivian can find it easier.

 

Added the sand today. Think it came out ok for a rookie. Rinsed the sand over and over so the water stayed fairly clear. Not sure it is enough to save my bolivian but I like the look.