So I have a couple Khuli loaches and they keep trying to burrow into the rock so I was thinking about putting in some sand. I have a clay pot saucer (the part you put a pot on to catch water) and was thinking about sinking that into the rock and then adding sand to it. Has anyone tried anything like this? Pros/cons? Cleaning tips? Anything would be great!
Sand pit for loaches?
- Thread starter sbland26
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At work currently. I'll try to get a pic on here by tomorrow.
EDIT:
Actually here is a thread I started that has a pic of my tank. I have blue sand on the left side and blue/white fine gravel on the rest of the tank. I think it works well. http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/marineland-led-hidden-21-a-244674.html
Cleaning sand is different than gravel. You dont sumberge the syphon in the sand, rather hoover it above the sand till you see the debris going up the tube. Food and poop sit on top of sand and dont go down. I rarely have to submerge my syphon into the sand.
EDIT:
Actually here is a thread I started that has a pic of my tank. I have blue sand on the left side and blue/white fine gravel on the rest of the tank. I think it works well. http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/marineland-led-hidden-21-a-244674.html
Cleaning sand is different than gravel. You dont sumberge the syphon in the sand, rather hoover it above the sand till you see the debris going up the tube. Food and poop sit on top of sand and dont go down. I rarely have to submerge my syphon into the sand.
Last edited:
Kimlafeiet
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I think adding a "sand pit" is a great idea. I thought about doing one myself in my geavel tank with dojo loaches, but ended up getting another tank which I put them in with sand. They LOVE the sand. You could use a clay pot bottom, or a shallow tupperware type item (just make sure there are no sharp edges). Yes, it will probably get a little messy, but you should be able to gravel vac well around the pit and keep it in check. Your loaches will totally love you for it 
Magicmarymac
Aquarium Advice Freak
I put in a sandy area for my cory and they seem to love it enough that I am thinking of replacing the substrate with all sand. The gravel does infiltrate the sand, but I just sift as much as possible out.
It is all worth it to see them bury their heads up to their eyeballs to sift the sand!
It is all worth it to see them bury their heads up to their eyeballs to sift the sand!
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Cornstar
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Would the sand and rocks get mixed together? If so, how would you separate it?
dlongbeach
Aquarium Advice Regular
My fish don't burrow but I was thinking of adding some sand for a beach area. Following!
TheAmlinals
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I love my loaches and have been thinking about changing my gravel substrate to sand for them, but I keep hearing warnings about how stirred up sand will destroy my filter. How do people get around this issue? (I have a regular aquaclear filter, btw.)
Kimlafeiet
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I don't think the loaches toss up enough sand to jam up your filter, at least mine dont. They do dig and bury in it, but it really doesnt kick up when they do this. Just make sure to keep the intake tube on your filter a few inches above the sand. I have an aquaclear filter on my sand tank and the intake sits about 4 inches above the sand........never had a problem.
Kimlafeiet
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Oh, and make sure to turn your filter off when cleaning, vacuming, water changes or moving things around. Give the tank a few mintues to let the sand settle afterwards, and then turn the filter back on. Never leave it running when you are stirring the sand up, that will help.
phin
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Use the "shovel" attachment and you can "rake" gravel out of the sand and leave the sand behind. Aquarium Algae Scrapers for Glass & Acrylic Aquariums: Algae Scrapers
phin
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I've got about 4" of sand in my mbuna tank. I when I clean my canister filter I get a couple teaspoons of sand out of the bottom of the canister. My impeller works fine though, doesn't rattle, I haven't had a filter wrecked by sand yet.
I think the main danger is when you first fill up your tank or if you cloud the water up a lot with a water change. Some sand floating around is ok. If you have no visibility in your tank because of sand in your water obviously don't turn your filter on.
TheAmlinals
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Thanks guys. I was just wondering, is there any other kind of substrate I could use that might be in bigger (non-filter-suck-up-able) size but that would be softer, maybe even rounded? Or even some kind of soil? (that might get sucked up But maybe wouldnt be as likely to damage the filter if it did)
I'm really not fussy about appearance, I just want my guys to be happier if I can manage it.
While making suggestions, please indicate if there's any other problems that other substrate is known for, and if it doesn't need to be rinsed a hundred times like gravel and sand does, that's a big selling point too. Lol.
I'm really not fussy about appearance, I just want my guys to be happier if I can manage it.
While making suggestions, please indicate if there's any other problems that other substrate is known for, and if it doesn't need to be rinsed a hundred times like gravel and sand does, that's a big selling point too. Lol.
Tetra1990
Aquarium Advice Addict
You'll be fine with sand. It's well worth the change over. I switched over and I rarely vacuum any more because I have soo many plants. But my 10 gallon is still gravel, so I vac that tank.
Bigfish99
Aquarium Advice Freak
Sand is the way to go, i use pool filter sand. Looks great and less maintenance. I have a 20g with gravel, one gourami and 2 mystery snails and i need to vac the heck out of that tank every time i do a WC. I have a 55 gallon with about 25 fish and every week it takes a few minutes to just skim over it with a vac. With sand you need to turn it so you dont develop gas pockets, so i employed about 20 trumpet snails to do the job...in fact, they may be another reason why i barely need to clean the 55.
PVC pipe to add sand..wish I thought of it!
I am a newbie so be warned however I have been reading up non stop for weeks on everything from substrate to feeding and all that lies in between. I put gravel in my tank and realized that I want sand for my beautiful clown loaches but need to wait for my tank to fully stabilize. However I came across someone that I thought had a fantastic idea on how to add sand with fish in the tank. They used a tall PVC pipe to drop the sand more directly onto the bottom area where you want it. They said you just sway the pipe back and forth to layer the sand. Make sense? I haven't tried it but it sounds great. They also suggest doing your tank only in thirds to minimize the pollution. Hope it helps.
I am a newbie so be warned however I have been reading up non stop for weeks on everything from substrate to feeding and all that lies in between. I put gravel in my tank and realized that I want sand for my beautiful clown loaches but need to wait for my tank to fully stabilize. However I came across someone that I thought had a fantastic idea on how to add sand with fish in the tank. They used a tall PVC pipe to drop the sand more directly onto the bottom area where you want it. They said you just sway the pipe back and forth to layer the sand. Make sense? I haven't tried it but it sounds great. They also suggest doing your tank only in thirds to minimize the pollution. Hope it helps.
Forgot to mention
I have read some debate about pool sand versus aquarium sand and something that pool sand while it works is a fine grain and light whereas aquarium sand is heavier and therefore won't get sucked up filter as easy. It sounds like it doesn't matter as so many use pool sand but in case anyone has input.
I have read some debate about pool sand versus aquarium sand and something that pool sand while it works is a fine grain and light whereas aquarium sand is heavier and therefore won't get sucked up filter as easy. It sounds like it doesn't matter as so many use pool sand but in case anyone has input.
Bigfish99
Aquarium Advice Freak
I read all the samebut went with pool sand because i liked the color and the price. It cleaned very easily and works great. I can stir it up and it falls right back down, not too light in my opinion. No ilter issues, but like someone mentioned earlier, if you are cleaning or stirring it up for any reason just turn the filters off. If you have big fish that thrash around in the sand then it could be a problem but for most fish it works great.
