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south/central american cichlids

mr george

New Member
does anyone have experience with sand in their tank? i have had gravel for years and was thinking about switching to sand. is it harder to maintain? filter clog? what type of sand? any knowledgeable advice would help.. i have beautiful fish and sometimes grow them out in my 125 and take them h.o.t. i am not a novice but have always used gravel.
 

Andrewtfw

Global Moderators
I switched all of my tanks to sand about a year ago. Since doing so, I have seen my cories dig more and have longer barbels. My cichlids sand sift, where they couldn't with gravel. My plants also grow well, though I add root tabs to help.

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Harleyrider5

Members
I have sand in 3 tanks. I dont have a problem with it clogging my filters. Easy to clean left over off the top. Over all a much cleaner look. I want to invest and switch more tanks to sand

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festaedan

potamotrygon fan
I switched all of my tanks to sand about a year ago. Since doing so, I have seen my cories dig more and have longer barbels. My cichlids sand sift, where they couldn't with gravel. My plants also grow well, though I add root tabs to help.

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Same, except for my bare bottom fry tanks, all my tanks have sand.
Play sand might clog a filter but pool filter sand shouldnt be a problem.
I have a nice layer of pfs in my 120 and I have 2 canister filters on that tank. In the year or so that that tank has had sand, I have never had either filter clog.
 

jonclark96

Past CCA President
Like others, I switched most of my tanks over to sand as well. I find it easier to keep clean, as debris will sit on the surface (and most likely get sucked into filters) instead of settling in the gravel. With cichlids that like to dig, I've had a few issues with them spitting sand into the intake of HOB filters that gummed up the motors, but that was remedied by keeping the intakes higher in the tank and/or using a prefilter.

All in all, I would use sand over gravel any time.
 

neut

Members
I converted over to sand years ago after doing my gibberosa Kapampa tank with it and seeing how much easier it was to maintain. Gravel tanks I used to siphon every water change. My sand tanks can go months. Kapampa tank has Eco Complete and the tank can go 6, 8 months and still have hardly enough dirt to be worth the trouble of siphoning.

Kapampa tank has Eco Complete, other tanks are pool filter sand. I like both. Pool filter sand is way cheaper and a lot less silt in the tank initially-- especially if you do some rinsing before it goes in the tank.

As mentioned already, just keep intakes a ways off the bottom and/or protect them with some form of pre-filter material. Actually, with my Eheim filters the intakes are not covered and, while I expect you could get enough sand in them to do some damage, all I get is a little silt in the bottom where the intake comes in, but with the pump on the top it's no big deal.
 
I have dolomite gravel in my tanks which starts out at gravel size and gradually degrades into sand size. So my substrate is effectively sand and gravel mix. I don't want all sand substrate because sand is abrasive and can worn out filter impeller. A sand substrate does not trap waste as much as gravel so the filter can remove it more effectively. However, I don't mind and prefer some waste get trapped into gravel which I siphon off in WC, and my filters don't get clogged up as frequently.
 
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