I was thinking of replacing the gravel in my Tandanas Catfish tank with sand. Just wondering if anyone here has sand in their tanks. Is it hard to clean? Is it as good as gravel when it come to bio bugs. Also I have seen the term SILICA SAND' mentioned on a site. Are there different types of sand available and which one would be best for my Tandanas Catfish "Tinky Winky"?

I LOVE SAND! lol.. I find that with malasian trumpet snails and corys i dont need to clean it, as they stirr it up enough that any poop gets skimmed off the top and into the filter and the very tinnnny ammount is just there to fertilise the plants

People seem to be having problems with sand clogging filters, but I have not had this problem. I think maybe its because I have quite coarse heavy sand so it doesnt cloud the water at all... I dunno..

Mine, I just bought from the shop in a clear bag that said sand its the yellow beach type stuff..
Kids playsand can be used.. I wouldnt go with anything that is closer to dust than sand, I think thats where water cloudiness and filter clogging becomes an issue.

I buy sand from my LFS in plain bags its cheaper than buying the bags of marine sand.

I've also read on the chilid forums that you can use pool filter sand which is a bazillion times cheaper than aquarium sand.

Thank you for all your replies. I'm going to head down to my LFS and check out the sand. I wonder if there is such thing as black sand? I think I will 'google' that and see

I have some black sand I got mine from someone online so I'm not sure where you would find it. Its really dusty though, very very fine. I dont know how it does with filters as I have it half and half with gravel and the filter is over the gravel.

Lucy that sounds really interesting! Any chance of a picture to see it? Im intreged! (or however its spelt )

This is what I have in one of my tanks. Black aquarium sand I added a top layer of white sand just for a different look, and my dojos dig so much that now some areas are mixed. Looks quite pretty. I rinse out my filter 1-2 times a week because of the sand getting into the filter. It's well worth it though.

Theres a thread here http://www.kokosgoldfish.invisionzone.com/...showtopic=50905

Thanks lucy! Your tank is lovely!!!

I went to the LFS to inquiry about sand and they didn't recommend it. They advised that it ruined the impellars in the filters Is there a filter that would be suitable?

I dont know about a suitable filter.. but I never have problems with sand in mine. Maybe try the certain type of sand with a cheap/spare filter to check, then if its ok, move onto the one for the tank.

Good idea. I have a spare filter in the cupboard. Thanks Lucy