[fliptasciouz]

Well Sand or gravel? Please tell me your pick its advantage and disadvantages
i heard sand looks more natural but seems like its too difficult to vacuum for water changes weekly.

 

[HighOctane]

I have used both and gravel is much easier. In sand the poop and left over food tends to be more obvious since it doesn't have little cracks to fall through and hide. All the debris tends to also swirl around and clump together in vaious spots on the sand creating poop piles. IMO for a smaller tank maybe 40g and less I would do sand since it is easier to do maintainence on but for medium and large tanks I feel gravel or crushed rock is the best route. Sand tends to look better then gravel (When Clean) but keeping it clean all the time can get very tiring...expecially on a decent size tank like a 55 gallon or larger.

 

[Fido]

I have used both. Gravel straight up sucks!! Sand is easier to clean cus all the sh*t is on the surface, just easy vacuuming with the gravel vac and it sucks it right up. After you vacuum all of it, stir it up really good. Then all the stuff that might be floatin around, just sweep it all up with a wand/net. And your filter should catch the rest. Easy as pie.

Gravel however, you cant do that, and a lot of sh*t stays at the floor of the tank, and is harder to clean.

 

[Dr. Giggles]

I have my 50 and 55 gallon in black sand. Highly recommend you do not go over 2 inches in height with the sand. For a larger tank with higher bioload and if your kh is low i would use crushed coral as a substrate, otherwise sand. For a Serra i would go black sand, a pygo setup white sand. Just my opinion

 

[shutter13]

i like gravel

 

[MR HARLEY]

Personnally I love the Sand look , but I always use Polished rocks in my tanks ..

 

[Gordeez]

Im using Sand.
Its a Pain in the ass to clean, takes longer than gravel, but the results, are worthit.
Its easier, IMO, to clean than gravel since the sh*t stays on top.

 

[Guest]

Sand.

-Looks better gives a nice clean look
-Easier to spot mess
-Doesn't get bits of food etc.. stuck in it

Gravel.

-Easier to clean
-No risk of kick up and sucking up into filter/powerhead
-More variety colours

Its personal preference, my sand tanks look the mutts nuts and are cleaner. No chance of waste food degrading messing up water chem. But its annoying cleaning it, have to gently hover above it. I have also had to raise filter intakes and have my powerhead quite high up.