Silly question, but tips on sand design?

[ScottS]

I've always had gravel but am switching to sand. Any good design elements or tips?

Will keeping it shallow prevent the gas build up?

It's black tahitian moon with a rock pile in the back left corner and a large vertical piece of driftwood toward the right. Waiting on some dwarf anubias plants in the mail, but there's a large foreground and center are of sand. I can't post a photo at the moment.

 

[jsoong]

If you keep the sand layer very shallow, you can eliminate gas build up. But then, it defeats the purpose of having the sand ... youo won't have enough depth for the plants, and also with water flow, fish digging, etc, you will have bare patches.

You can stir up the sand every week or so to prevent gas buildup, or get some MTS (Malaysian trumpet snails) to do it for you. Plant roots also aerate the sand, so if you are heavily platned, you don't need to worry about gas.

 

[beglely]

just curious will loaches and catfish stir the sand as well?

 

[severum mama]

Yes, but only on the surface mostly. MTS are a better option for stirring sand. That said, if you are interested in loaches or corys in their own right, they seem to enjoy sand a lot more than gravel so they are a great choice. Just stay away from clown loaches unless you have a huge tank, lol.

 

[Squareheads]

how do you clean the sand?

 

[severum mama]

It's pretty easy once you get used to it. You just sort of swish the gravel vac around over the sand to stir up any detritus, and then siphon the detritus out of the water column as it's stirred up. You won't need to plunge your gravel vac down into the sand- you'll end up sucking out a bunch of sand that way, plus it's not necessary. Detritus accumulates only on top of the sand, not down in it like when you have gravel.

I've kept many tanks with sand substrates over the past few years, so I can probably help you with any other questions you may have. Feel free to ask or PM anytime.

 

[beglely]

alright thanks i was just wondering...yeah I avoided clown loaches and went for yoyo's who are going to enjoy the sand bottom much better in a few weeks

 

[severum mama]

Yo yo loaches are fun fish to keep. They can be considered semi-aggressive though, so choose tank mates wisely. Super passive fish may not fare well with them, especially if they occupy the same strata in the tank (bottom half). Yo yos are more comfortable in groups, so I would recommend keeping at least 4. I'd suggest a 29 gallon as the minimum tank size for a group of these active fish.

 

[beglely]

well I have had three for about a month or so and they get along fine right now with my ember tetras. The only fish they will be sharing the bottom with when they get moved to the new tank will be my striped raphael cat and im not particularly worried about there being problems. So far they have been a great and fun fish that dont really seem to bother anyone. I do want to get one or two more tho.