# Gravel or Sand?



## Sea Turtles (Sep 13, 2011)

I've got a 10 gallon I'm in the process of setting up, and I was looking for advice on whether I want to put sand or gavel in the tank.

I'm leaning towards sand because I think it looks really nice, but aside from aesthetics, I don't really know what the main differences between the two are. I know sand needs to be stirred to avoid gas bubbles, but that's it.

I don't plan on having live plants in it right now (except a marimo ) but I would like to add them down the road. Does that make a difference?


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## fightergirl2710 (Jun 9, 2011)

SAND! Good you know the air pocket thing.  Apart from that its very easy to care for and all the debris like fish poop lies on top of it instead of getting stuck between the pebbles of gravel, so its easy to siphon.. You just have to give it a good rinse before putting it into the tank. I personally love it


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## Littlebittyfish (Jan 5, 2011)

Sand! I think it looks lovely...and I find it easier to clean than gravel. 
Which is why I plan on picking up a bag of pool filter sand the next time I am near a pool store...:lol:....I switched my tanks to gravel not too long ago and I just really don't like it...:-?
If you decide to get plants with a larger root base I would go with a thicker grain type of sand...pool filter sand or petco has a nice grain sized sand now and it comes in cool colors like black brown and blue.You will also need some sort of root tab fertilizer if you have rooted plants in just plain sand.


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## Pitluvs (Jun 22, 2011)

I have gravel and sand tanks, I prefer sand. I have trumpet snails that mix up the sand for me as well.


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## Sea Turtles (Sep 13, 2011)

Well, sounds like I'll be getting sand! I'm glad to hear its not secretly a pain in the neck to clean 

How much do you need for a 10 gallon tank?


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## Pitluvs (Jun 22, 2011)

I have no idea myself, I bought a large bag of playsand from my Home Depot for $9. I've filled my 29g and my 5g twice and still have enough to fill my 16g with some left over.


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## Fieldz (Apr 6, 2011)

I prefer gravel because I do 100% once 2 weeks in my 5 gal which is what everyone should do, and gravel is much easier to remove than sand, surely.


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## Littlebittyfish (Jan 5, 2011)

I believe it is 1-2 lbs per gallon..So a 10lbs bag should do.


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## fightergirl2710 (Jun 9, 2011)

The first time cleaning is annoying but what I do is, I put the sand in a bucket, and start filling water in it, I swirl it around with my hand and then let the bucket overflow for awhile so all the lighter impurities get out. Then empty the water, and repeat 2-3 times till the water gets clear and you can see the sand in the bucket clearly through it.

If you get pool filter sand, you don't need to to do this, its already pretty clean.


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## Princess Penny (Aug 26, 2011)

Fieldz said:


> I prefer gravel because I do 100% once 2 weeks in my 5 gal which is what everyone should do, and gravel is much easier to remove than sand, surely.


I disagree. I find sand much easier to clean because the debris just sits on top of it, it doesn't settle down into all the cracks and crevices like with gravel. You don't need to vacuum it and you don't need to remove sand when you do a 100% water change. Just use a tube to remove the water and the suction will also remove the debris. You can gently swirl the tube around just above the surface of the sand to stir up debris to suck it up easily that way also. 

I use the Petco brand sand and I love it! It is very clean, I rinsed it just in case and nothing came off of it, it's not dusty at all. It's kind of expensive but for a small tank, you shouldn't need much and to me, not having to rinse it over and over was worth the cost!

If you don't plan on having live plants, you don't need to worry about gas pockets. But they do fair better in sand than in gravel, especially rooted plants.


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## quyllur (Aug 17, 2011)

I put pool filter sand in my new 20 gal long. I bought one bag for about $15 and I still have well over half of it left with about an inch of sand in the tank (that's a 20 gal long, so bigger footprint than a regular, thus more sand) I disagree with the person who said you don't need to rinse it, although there is a possibility that some brands are cleaner then others. I gave mine a good rinse and I still had cloudiness when I filled my tank. I figured I'd let it sit for a few hours and see if it would settle but I got impatient after maybe 3 and just siphoned all the water out and then siphoned clean water back in. It took a long time, but luckily my tank is within siphon tube distance of my sink so no big mess. Still, I like it much better and I think it looks really nice with plants and a scattering of large smooth stones or chunks of rock.


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## fightergirl2710 (Jun 9, 2011)

I don't mean that you don't need to rinse it at all, you just don't need to do it as much as normal aquarium use sand..


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## snoopy (Sep 13, 2011)

I recommend you Dupla Ground is a clayey substrate very good and very decorative, Here there is a picture I took this afternoon.










Is the same substrate, but when I cleaned the substrate straining the substrate with a colander. The thickest is below and the other above.


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## fightergirl2710 (Jun 9, 2011)

Don't clay substrates tend to get cloudy? I've heard this in places so I thought I should confirm.


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## Kiere (May 9, 2011)

Ok, so now I am all interested in changing my substrate to sand. I have some Vallisneria and a moss ball. I have never used any fertalizers and littlebittyfish mentioned that you should use root tabs if you use sand and have plants. Can you please elaborate on this? Would this be necessary with my plants? Also my tank has no lid, would a snail escape?


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## fightergirl2710 (Jun 9, 2011)

It depends on what kind of plants you keep, whether you need liquid ferts or root tabs.. Plants like amazon swords, vals (I think) need root tabs, they're little tablets that you put under the roots in the substrate because these plants take in more nutrition through the roots... I don't use these because I mostly have stem plants like cabomba, wisteria and bacopa... They absorb nutrition from the water not from the roots. For these I use liquid fertilisers.. They work great for me. 

This is just my understanding of plants I could be wrong. You can check out Pew PewPew's plant guide, it will give way more info.


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## snoopy (Sep 13, 2011)

fightergirl2710 said:


> Don't clay substrates tend to get cloudy? I've heard this in places so I thought I should confirm.


If you wash the substrate, you won´t have problem with that. Dupla have to be wash with hot water and the aesthetics is amazing.

When I change my substrate I will upload photos.


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## fightergirl2710 (Jun 9, 2011)

Do that, I haven't seen clay substrate being sold here, i would love to see how the outcome is.


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## snoopy (Sep 13, 2011)

fightergirl2710 said:


> Do that, I haven't seen clay substrate being sold here, i would love to see how the outcome is.


Here there are some examples; (This weekend o next week I will show you the mine )


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## snoopy (Sep 13, 2011)

By the way, Akadama is very similar to Dupla Ground but more "dirty" and cheaper, and I´m sure that in India is sold, because is the bonsai substrate and you could find it in a greenhouse.


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## fightergirl2710 (Jun 9, 2011)

That looks good! Gives a nice earthy feel to the whole thing.  How do you clean it once in the tank, like gravel or sand?


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## snoopy (Sep 13, 2011)

fightergirl2710 said:


> That looks good! Gives a nice earthy feel to the whole thing.  How do you clean it once in the tank, like gravel or sand?


I don´t know what is the difference between cleaning gravel or sand :-(.. But I read you must clean with a siphon.


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## fightergirl2710 (Jun 9, 2011)

With sand all you have to do is rake it to remove airpockets every few weeks and siphoning is easy because the dirt sits on top of the sand. Whereas in gravel the dirt gets stuck between the rocks and goes to the bottom, making it a pain to clean. That's why I like sand better hehehe...


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## snoopy (Sep 13, 2011)

But you could use a "pipe" wider and you wouldn´t have that problem. And if you rake the sand, the water turn cloudy and then the dirty is deposited on the leafs.


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## fightergirl2710 (Jun 9, 2011)

I can't find that for a reasonable price where I live X( Or I would have never changed the gravel.. So I could never get it clean and it always stank later. 

I didn't have a problem with raking the sand actually.. I did it really really slow after removing the dirt on top lol!


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## snoopy (Sep 13, 2011)

Have you looked for akadama?? It´s cheaper than Dupla Ground but you have to clean more times.


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## fightergirl2710 (Jun 9, 2011)

No I have no idea where I can get it actually.. Maybe online.. Haven't seen any stores carrying it. they all have rocks, gravel or sand.. Is your tank ready yet?


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## snoopy (Sep 13, 2011)

In some greenhouses sell akadama.

Not yet, maybe tomorrow, but I think until the next week I won´t upload photos


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