Half Gravel Half Sand

[fish4phil]

I hope you don't mind, but I saved your pic of your tank and played around a bit with paint to see what you could do to make it flow together.. OK, I guess I'm having fun with it too!

Ou, I like it! We have an artist in the making here!
From my research, if I do this, looks like I'll pick up some Pool Filter Sand Grain #20, probably tan color if they have it.

So for design, do you think wrapping it around the left and not running along the entire front (as you have it) would be more appealing than just a few inches wide running the entire length of the tank?

Water changes will be different yeah From what I hear though, sand isn't that hard - basically you just hold your gravel vac just over the surface of the sand, and then run your fingers through it to get rid of any gases that have built up. Do you have gravel or sand?

 

[Sidman24]

Ou, I like it! We have an artist in the making here! From my research, if I do this, looks like I'll pick up some Pool Filter Sand Grain #20, probably tan color if they have it. So for design, do you think wrapping it around the left and not running along the entire front (as you have it) would be more appealing than just a few inches wide running the entire length of the tank? Water changes will be different yeah From what I hear though, sand isn't that hard - basically you just hold your gravel vac just over the surface of the sand, and then run your fingers through it to get rid of any gases that have built up. Do you have gravel or sand?

To vaccum sand take off the gravel vac and just use the end of the hose and hover over the sand.

 

[GreenLily]

I have play sand in my 55 gallon. Pool filter sand has a cleaner look I think, so it sounds like you have a good plan as far as the type of sand you're going for. You could do just the few inches in the front of the tank. The reason I had it wrapped around in my edit is because this would also accommodate some privacy for the cories if they don't want to be out in the open all the time, provided that they do favor the sand over the gravel. It might be more challenging this way during water changes, trying not to disturb the sand while you vac the gravel.

 

[fish4phil]

I'll be doing this on Sunday Any ideas on how to create a physical wall/separator to keep the gravel and the sand separate? I was thinking of cutting a milk jug into 1" tall strips?

 

[The Trooper]

I hope you don't mind, but I saved your pic of your tank and played around a bit with paint to see what you could do to make it flow together.. OK, I guess I'm having fun with it too!

I like this, looks really cool.

 

[GreenLily]

I'll be doing this on Sunday Any ideas on how to create a physical wall/separator to keep the gravel and the sand separate? I was thinking of cutting a milk jug into 1" tall strips?

You could do that with the milk jug strips. How would you keep them together? Would you seal them together with aquarium sealant? The only other idea I could think of at the moment is using resin lawn edging cut down to size. You can buy a 20 ft. roll for around $10 at Home Depot, or probably any other hardware store. The resin should be safe for your aquarium. The only downfall to that is that it usually only comes in black, so you will most likely be able to see it. I look forward to see how this turns out!

 

[fish4phil]

It's done, and looks amazing! Thank you GreenLily for the design! I created a separate "How To" post (with pictures) for anyone that is interested. Post is located here

Let me know what you think