Happy Corys

[Psylk87]

I am setting up a 55 gallon tank and want some corys in it. I have read they prefer sand substrate but I am thinking that might be a bit expensive and I have never had experiecne with sand so i am concerned about vaccuming and other such maintence. So my plan was to do a pea gravel for the majority of the tank then make a small strip of the tank sand. Do you think that would work well enough? Or perhaps some of you cna get me over my fear of sand lol. The tank will have 6 corys, 2 angels, a bristlenose pleco, and then 3 schools of about 6 each. The tank will also be live planted all low light easy plants and most likely a slate structure and a piece ro two of driftwood.

Also I have never had corys (really excited I have heard such great things) so recs on which variety to get? I was thinking maybe panadas but open to others.

 

[armymp327]

ill just tell you that sand is very easy and not at all hard to maintain, imo it is much better then gravel when it comes to keeping clean because all of the stuff stay on the top of the sand and does not fall into the cracks like it does with gravel, with gravel you will never be able to get all of the crud out, but with sand you can. so cleaning sand is easy, you just hover the gravel vac over the sand and all of the fish poo, food, decaying matter gets sucked up while the sand stays put. Sand is heavier in water then you would think.

now for cost sand can be really cheap, if you goto home depot you can get play sand at about 50lbs for $5 or a pool supply store you can get pool filter sand for about the same cost (i prefer pool filter sand because it is not as dusty and easier to clean prior to putting it in the tank, plus is its heavy and no worries about it getting into the filter), if you want black sand then you can goto tractor supply and get black diamond sand blasting sand fine grade that is also very cheap.

cleaning prior to putting in the tank is easy, just put the sand in a bucket outside, and fill it with water while mixing the sand with a hose or your hand, this will cause all of the very fine light particles you dont want to rise to the surface, then you dump the water a repeat till it runs clear. This is the only hard part about sand as it can take a few hours depending on the type of sand you use (play sand comes to mind) but once its clean then its good to go! you can also find videos on youtube that will show you the process so you have a better understanding, be patient when cleaning the sand.

all in all sand is not as hard as it may seem and imo much better then gravel. after switching to sand a month ago, i will now never use gravel again.

cory types are really personal preference they are all great imo, but pandas to stand out, i also enjoy false jullii corys as i like the pattern

 

[Psylk87]

This is great info thanks! Sand has always seemed really intimidating to me but maybe its not such a bad choice. And live plants do well in it? I assume its the same as gravel you just have to remember to fertalize?

 

[foster53]

After you clean your tank(sand) be sure to let it settle well before starting your filters back up. Sand, and impeller magnets aren't a good mix.LOL

 

[Cactuspixie]

My favourite corys are corydoras sterbai.

They are a good sized, hardy little fish, that is happy in hot water. And beautiful when shoaling together.
I too am switching to sand with my next tank. I'm using two grades- play sand, and a coarser, heavier river sand from my lfs. The play sand from the hardware store was about $6 for 20kg. The river sand was $25 for 20kg.
Not sure how I can best use the two colours and textures to aqua scape, but it should be interesting!

 

[Sillyfishies]

There's an easier way to clean sand

1. Get a 2 liter bottle
2. Full halfway with sand.
3 put it in your tank right side up.
4. Wait until bubbles stop coming out of it
5. Dump sand out
6. Keep it upside down until its almost to surface
7. Turn right side up and pull out

All the light floaty pieces stay in the bottle.

 

[laurieb]

I can't comment on the sand but I have Juli corys and they are wonderful, playful, little fish.

 

[lovemyguppies]

For corys i recommend albinos. They're very cute and very active. I really love mine

 

[armymp327]

This is great info thanks! Sand has always seemed really intimidating to me but maybe its not such a bad choice. And live plants do well in it? I assume its the same as gravel you just have to remember to fertalize?

plants are fine in sand, you can take a look at my pictures and see that my plants to fine, you will need to supply root tabs though has sand is inert. also i recommend the sand to be at least 1 1/2 to 2 inches deep so the roots have plenty of room