gravel or sand?

what are better? sand, gravel, or what? does it depend on the fish?

i like sand better myself but i will kill your filter system. but if you have a tall tank it will make no differance

Sand is better for bottom dwellers like loaches and cories. If you raise the intake on your HOB filter you shouldn't have an issue with it sucking it up. Sand is also better for plants.
My 75gal has 1/4in well cooked potting soil (w/o ferts) mixed with laterite and then capped by 2 inches of well washed silica pool filter sand. My plants are very happy with it. My Dojo loaches love burying themselves in it. I also have Malaysian trumpet snails to help stir the sand so that it doesn't get compacted.
I have gravel in my 20gal along with an under gravel filter. the only plants that will grow there are anubis, Java moss, java fern and hornwart.

thats the kind of answers i like to see. keep'em coming.

Will do :face:

i use sand in all my tanks but the tank with all the fry (too much poop for that lol). i just like the look of sand better.

so how do you clean sand

i place some in a bucket and keep running water through it until the water is clear.

I used a maxwell house plastic coffee container, The big blue kind with the handle. Put in 2-3 cups of sand add water put on the lid, shake like hell pour off the excess water then repeat till you get clear water.
I think this method uses less water than others but your arms get tired quick.

i think that methode would take a lot longer if you were to clean sand for a large tank. i have 150 lbs in my 125. and 100 in my 75. i would be there all day if i were to clean 2 cups at a time. your methode probally does a better job cleaning it tho and you get a better work out.

Use an old pillowcase!!!!! Just fill the sand about quarter of the pillowcase and run a garden hose in it and move the hose around until the water runs clear. This will save you alot of energy!!!

tropheus 1 wrote:

Use an old pillowcase!!!!! Just fill the sand about quarter of the pillowcase and run a garden hose in it and move the hose around until the water runs clear. This will save you alot of energy!!!

I will try this

your more likely to have a better bio filter with gravel since the gravel bed houses alot of bacteria and the sand doesnt