[ravekiss]

Just to get a general idea...

 

[Bella]

I use gravel in my 33 gallon and 2 gallon, but I have sand in my 10 gallon

 

[icp]

i use gravel in some tanks an sand in others.... but the majority of my tanks have gravle in them so i voted gravel :mrgreen:

 

[Lisachromis]

Umm...I use sand and gravel. Also there's some bare bottom tanks. I can't vote! I have too many tanks with too many different substrates. :roll:

 

[shev]

I use fluorite.

 

[melonhead]

my cichlid tank has pink coral sand (something like that) specifically for cichlids....
my community tank has small grain gravel, with a patch of sand, and everyone hangs out by the sand. so on my upgraded community tank that is in the works, they will have sand--play sand from home depot....tested it out in a 10 gallon Q tank, and it looks great.

so, i say SAND.

LP

 

[aquariumfishguy]

I'm another all natural gravel person...

 

[DavidDoyle]

Different tanks get different substrate combos but here is a list of them all:
laterite
fluorite
Estes Walnut
Estes Bits of Walnut
Florabase
Large river gravel from stoneyard
Bare bottom

 

[Damon]

Different tanks get different substrate combos but here is a list of them all:
laterite
fluorite
Estes Walnut
Estes Bits of Walnut
Florabase
Large river gravel from stoneyard
Bare bottom

Ditto. I use eco complete in some, bare bottom in breeders, marbles in other breeders, gravel in a few.

 

[penpitt]

I use sand in my 46 and will be switching to sand im my 80

 

[HollywoodBob]

I've got decorative gravel it's green and purple.

Is any substrate better than others?

I've been considering crushed coral, I've heard it's good but I've got a UGF and assumed that the coral would just get sucked through the grates. Plus I'm a little wary of putting something that came from the ocean in my freshwater tank.

-HollywoodBob

 

[Whitetygr]

I use gravel in my 55g and my 29g but I want to put sand and flourite in my 55g which gonna be a pain to change over....but the major question is cleaning it during water changes? How you vaccuum sand? Or do you not?

 

[ritzgirl34]

I just switched my 55 from gravel/fluorita to play sand today. My 5 gallon has black gravel still.

 

[maxpayne_lhp]

Well, I AM USING gravel. But I think sand'll be better.

 

[aquariumfishguy]

One thing that I always disliked was the fake looking neon gravel or the multicolor gravel. It just looked tacky in all my own tanks, but that is because I was never one for things like "pirates treasure" type decorations or anything like that.

 

[Cichlid Man]

It depends on what fish I have in the tank, if it's small neons then sand because they don't produce much waste.
But if it's my oscar tank then definately gravel, believe my, oscars waste floating around the tank and lying on bright white sand constantly really gives a dirty contrast and ruins the whole tank!

 

[Vassili]

Gravel. Like Cichlid Man said, Oscars really mess up a sand-based tank.

 

[Frop]

Iam using Gravel, but iam now thinking of starting a new tank and I want to use Sand as a substrate,

can someone tell me what the Pros & Cons are of using Sand??

Thanks.

 

[$hiny Fish d00d]

WB to me )))

i use sand in my 20g, and gravel in 40, 10, and 3g

 

[Cichlid Man]

Good things about sand: Don't have to gravel clean, eel like fish can hide in it, cichlids can move it more easily when digging pits to breed in, can suck off the waste just above the sand with a siphon.
Bad things about sand: Can't use an undergravel filter, good bacteria can't colinize easily, may get lots of debry floating around if filter isn't efficient, can't catch kuli loaches! :lol:
Good things about gravel: Can use undergravel filter plate to ensure bacteria are stable, traps floating unsightly waste, can remove debry very easily with gravel cleaner (siphon).
Bad things about gravel: some fish can damage themselves on course gravel, if undergravel filter is not used decaying food and waste can get trapped inbetween gravel and pollute the system, gravel cleaning can be a problem if not carried out regulary.

The choice is yours, good luck.