what do you suggest for a bottom, gravel or sand? i have not found sand local, so i will need to purcahse online if i go that way, wheres a good place to get it? how much would i need for a regual 130 gallon, havent picked tank up yet

Personally I prefer sand, it's a lot easier to clean then gravel and takes less time. As to where you can get it from, I have no idea where you live so can't really answer that question. However, sand can be bought from garden centres and building merchants, as well as gravel, you'll just have to wash it thoroughly. Not sure about buying it online, I've never seen any shops selling sand or gravel, you may be able to get it delivered from a building merchant, or garden centre if they have an online store. However, unless they deliver it themselves, it will cost you a fortune through the normal post as you would need several large sacks for a tank of your size.

how do you clean sand?
do u use about the same ammount as u would gravel?
can live plants live in sand i wonder? i dought i will have any left anyway lol

Sand is very easy to clean. The trick is to position the gravel vac at a slight angle and not too deep into the sand, preferably about a centimetre above the sand. You will suck all the debris that actually lays on top of the sand. Keeping your vac at an angle ensures that the sand doesn't get sucked up the tube, rather it gets sucked into the vac and then normally just falls out. But it does take a bit of getting used to it.

ohh i see. a trick to everything i would assume. great site by the way. the information is insane!

I'm puttig sand in my new tank... actually went and bought play sand but you really have to rinse and rinse. Hell of a lot cheaper too! It looks really awesome in the tank - makes it bright and the Oscars will really stand out.

suggestions on the best way to clean play sand before putting it into the tank. im thinkin about switching my tank from gravel to sand.

I just put sand in my tank...never used sand before and I love it...you won't be disappointed! Like others have said all the dirt stays on top so you can just suck it off the top and don't have to go into the bed like you do with gravel. I just use the hose from a siphon and take off the larger cleaning tube and it makes it easy to suck everything up.

As for washing the sand just get yourself a 5 gallon bucket, pour some sand into the bucket and run a hose into and swirl the sand around. The debri will get suspended in the water column and then just let the bucket overflow or tip it and dump off the dirty water. Just repeat this until the water comes out pretty clear. It will take awhile but will be worth it as it won't cloud your tank as much.

I just washed 80 lbs of sand last weekend and it wasn't that fun but after seeing what came out of it when I washed it I'm glad I took the time to do it!

how much sand do i need for a 120 gallon tank?

I have mine roughly 1.5" in a 90 gallon and I used 80 lbs...I know there was a site I found that you could punch in your dimensions and how deep you want your substrate and it would calculate how many lbs of sand you needed...


Give me a minute and i'll try and find it for you.

ok, thanks. did you just use regular playsand like from the hardware store?

Ok...I think this is the one I used...there are a couple out there...just did a search for "sand bed calculator" on google.

www.aqua-calc.com/calc_gravel.php

Basically punch in your dimensions, how deep you want it, and what type of substrate and it gives you a rough estimate...try not to go much over about 1.5" deep with sand however.

I didn't use the playsand because I decided to go with black sand. I really wish they made a black playsand though because it would have been a lot cheaper! haha! You might have to rinse playsand a little more but its well worth the amount of money you save over the stuff in the pet shops.