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I currently have an all gravel bottom in my 55 gallon tank. I am wondering what efforts it would take and how to go about making it a gravel AND sand bottom. I want to create a natural looking tank without too much cloudy hassle. I hear sand is a real pain in the neck to get going. Let me know what you come up with for me. thanks.
C.

I have a sand and gravel bottom in my tank it works well though you do find the sand moves around alot especially if you have large bottom feeders.I have to rearrange my sand or hold it down with gravel on top.Also if doing a mix it doesn't need to be very deep mine is about half inch ,that way no worries about anaerobic spots in the sand at a later date.

Gibson SG you know you want one!!

IME sand and gravel mixed can be a huge hassle to maintain. Like krige mentioned especially if you've got bottom feeders, or active fish.

Sand needs to be washed before placing it in the tank to remove any dust and fine particles that will clog your filter. Normally when people complain about sand turning their tank cloudy it's becuase they either didnt' rinse it well enough or that they didnt keep enough of the old substrate that contains the bacteria. In the case of a newly set up tank there is no bacteria present.

Sand does either need to be shallow enough that anerobic pockets cannot develop (less than an inch) or you need to keep it turned. This can be done either by hand after regular maintence, or by keeping MTS (malasyian trumpet snails) in the tank to do it for you.

^_^
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Hi,
To have a successful gravel and separate sand area, you
will have to create a wall between the two, and even then
over time some of the lighter sand will find its way into
the gravel. You could use some flexible plastic as the
wall or use some pebbles, and rocks siliconed together
to form a wall. Use a carpet plant like glosso or
micro sword or some other plants in the gravel and at the
edge of the wall to grow along on the gravel side of the wall
to hang over it and break up the "wall" into something
that looks more natural.

Frank


Last edited by FRANK at 13-Dec-2004 14:05

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excellent comments from all!

however, I have set it all up. I think that I didnt wash the sand out well enough because the water is a little milky. I am going to wait until morning until I turn on my fluval 304.

okay. What I did was, I went to Home Depot and picked up a 40lbs bag of Magic Sand for 13.99. I brough it home and washed it off. than I moved the gravel all over to the right side of the tank so that the sand could dominant the left side and encroach apon the gravel side to naturally blend at around 24-30 inch mark. I think it will look sweet and I will try and get pictures up by the end of the week or when the milky water clears, whichever comes first.

C.

is this an established tank? was there fish in it while you did this? or before? and you plan to put back all those fish?
your fluval is now dead, no bacteria is allive in it. all the water inside it must be drained, it has no o2 left in it, bacteria used it all before dieing off.
if the fish wernt put back in ( if there was any ) then anythign on the gravel is more then likely dead also. you will need to cycle the tank again.
the biggest thing is the fluval, you absolutly need to dump the water in it out if this was running with a fish load.its a toxis dump and you dont want it in your tank with fish.

Sin this tank was just bought, there was no bacteria established yet, and no fish (on strict order from those of us in chat).

I do agree with dumping the water in the filter though. NIC had been added and while nothing happened since there wasn't an ammonia source I wouldn't want to risk it.

As for the water being cloudy, you didnt' rinse the sand well enough . I'd suggest small water changes using your gravel vac to do a sweep just above the sand. Some of it will get picked up, but just dump it out, that's the sand that is likely to have gotten jamed into the intake anyway .

^_^
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A caution when you start your Fluval: the unit will pick up the sand until it has dropped out of suspension and compacted. Plan on cleaning the filter within a week or two of set-up. Clearing the "smoke" can be accelerated by using a diatom filter or a Magnum with pleated cartridge.

__________
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