Well I did a water change tonight and my o went nuts swimming all crazy like then setteled on the bottom on its back. She is a ten gal sick tank. I'm scrapping every thing and starting over. What is everybodys take on using sand and will a pleco be ok with sand any input is helpful. Thanks Matthew

LOTS of members use sand. Just wash it REALLY well, and keep your filter intake up off the sand!

Thanks for the info

sand is great as oscars like digging so its a lot less effort for them compared to gravel. i use white play sand in all my tanks..like Nickim pointed out you need to wash it really well..

Is that silica sand angmat?

I prefer gravel, but sand also works well with oscars. Use which ever you prefer and like the look off

Our tabk is about 3 feet deep and 5 feet long how much would I need. I was thinking about 100 lbs. i think that would give about 2 inches of coverage. Thanks Matthew

matthewkozik77 wrote:


Pleco's love to burrow down in the sand. He'll be just fine.

I've used small gravel, large gravel, and sand. I prefer sand by a wide margin. Sometimes it can look a bit messier b/c the waste can't sink down between granules as opposed to gravel but it's easier to clean b.c of this as well. You really don't need to dig down deep into it when cleaning like with gravel, just hover the vacuum around a few inches above it to make sure you pick up debris occasionally lightly disturbing the sand around the tank to free up any gas pockets that might have formed.

Soak the sand in tank water or treated water for a few hours in a bucket before introduction, stirring occasionally to make sure it's all the way saturated. Just pouring water over the sand in the bucket won't get the bottom wet and If you don't mix it it will clump together and won't sink, clouding the water and getting into your filters and causing all sorts of problems....but if you do it right it won't.

The water still maybe be a bit cloudy for a while after you put it in, but as long as it's not clumps it will clear right up in a few hours.