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what are the advantages and disadvantages with using sand as a substrate? how does it differ in terms of cleaning and biological filtration? anyone know any good sites that addresses sand in freshwater aquariums? sorry for all the questions, i'm just really thinking about switching over to sand for my cichlids.

Sand is hard to clean with a gravel vac, it has to be constantly stirred up, and filtedrs suck it up alot.

I honostly dont think sand would be a very good biological filter, unless it was acually used as a filter substrate (which couldnt really be done)

What kind of cichlids?

Sand is great for a number of reasons, not least of which is looks, but it does require some special care - keeping burrowing MTSnails in the tank or stirring the sand regularly, taking some care when vacuuming, not putting the intake of the filter too close to the sand, etc. On the whole, though, it's an attractive substrate that makes it easy for cichlids (and other fish) to dig and rearrange, and is often worth the slight effort involved in its care.

-Molly
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i'm willing to invest time and money into sand if that means my fish will appreciate it more. i have various mbuna that supposedly love to dig and as small as my current gravel is, they find it difficult to move things around.

I had gravel, then switched to sand, dnt think i would go back either! It will encourage you to do more gravel vacs as you can see the poop easier, it just sits on the top. as mentioned just hover the vac over the surface picks up the poop easily. Some people have a problem with it compacting around the roots of plants, i dont seem to have any problems with a bit of careful selection. um... oh havent had any problems with the filter intake either, make sure its about 3" off the sand bed, and you should be fine, if anything does get stirred up it will be the poop that floats that high. However, some people turn the filter off during maintenance to be on the safe side.

hth

Many bottom dwelling fish prefer sand over other substrates. However, it basically makes it impossible to keep live plants thriving other than those tied to rock/etc. It also requires more attention in that it needs to be periodically stirred.

Unless you are planting you only need a very thin ;ayer to prevent anaerobic spots, the alternative is to reserve an area between two rocks and fill it with gravel to act as a plant pot

Gibson SG you know you want one!!

thanks everyone!

one last question:

would it be better if i started a sand bottom tank in a small tank to "test the waters" so to speak?

yes you could do, it would be less work and possibly give you chance to find easier ways that you possibly hadnt thought of.

Ah yes i forgot that, before i added plants i only had between 1/2" - 1" of sand, now i have plants i have between 1 1/2" - 2" (my vals and dwarf hair grass are doing just fine...)