Gravel or Sand or both?

[andy5898]

Can't decide if I should do gravel or sand for the bottom of my freshwater tank. I was tempted to do half and half but keep reading that it is almost impossible to keep the 2 from mixing. Just wondered what others have done and thought? Thanks

 

[Aiken Drum]

It's up to you.

Gravel is easier to maintain and less likely to get sucked out when you do a water change, or get pulled into your filtration causing excess wear and tear or jamming stuff up.

Sand is better for bottom feeding fish as its usually softer on their barbels, and it's easier to see poop than on gravel as a visual clue as to if you need to clean things. Toxic gasses can also build up in sand substrate which can kill fish if it gets released into the water. So periodically disturbing the sand will stop these pockets developing.

Half and half will mix unless you put some kind of physical barrier between them. But its not like the sand will spread from the left hand side to the right hand side. It will just mix at the boundary and you still have sand one side, gravel the other, and a blurry neutral zone where they meet.

 

[Andy Sager]

I've seen people use mesh screening between the bottom layer ( the gravel) and the top layer ( the sand ) to help keep mixing to a minimum but if you do live plants, the plant roots will go through the screen and can easily cause the whole thing to not work. :^s If you wanted to do 2 sections of substrate, say gravel on the left, sand on the right, you can silicone in a piece of thin plexiglass to the bottom and sides ( at least in the back of the tank) of the tank then fill both sides with the different substrates.