# Sand with oscars, other NW cichlids



## Hanafuda (Mar 31, 2010)

Just curious about the use of sand as a substrate when larger new world cichlids are involved. I've read about how sand is awesome cuz the poop stays on top, and cleaning is simple, etc. But how does that work out when you've got an oscar or other big NW cichlid in there churning up things to his liking all the time? It seems like cleaning sand would only be easier so long as it remains mostly undisturbed. Once some poop gets buried in it, then the only way to get it out is by plunging the siphon in there and hoping the sand is heavy enough not to go up the pipe. And unless you know where the buried poop is (impossible) you'd have to do a normal tankwide 'plunge and suck' cleaning anyway. In that case, I think I'd rather have the gravel.

Can any of you using sand with oscars or other big NW cichlids enlighten me please? I love the look of the tanks I'm seeing posted with sand substrates, but I'm not sure its a good idea for the type of fish I like.


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## kmuda (Nov 27, 2009)

I use Pool Filter Sand in most of my tanks. It is commonly used in Oscar tanks, as is even finer sand. It is certainly preferred over gravel as Oscars are known diggers and it is not uncommon for an Oscar to swallow gravel, leading to blockage.

Pool filter sand eliminates many of your concerns as it can be gravel vac'd much like gravel but provides the same benefits of finer sands.


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## FbodyFan (Jun 20, 2010)

I use a very fine sand in my cichlid tank (Caribsea super naturals). I'm pretty sure it is too light to syphon like gravel but so far despite the sand being rearranged, the poop in my tank seems to congregate in one corner and is on the top.


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## gilberbt (Aug 1, 2009)

I would say at least in my experience for cleaning purposes sand vs. gravel both have their pros and cons. If your filtration has high enough turnover and you use sand you wonÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t have too much waste piled up if any at all. In my case I have very fine sand that cannot be siphoned so I just hover over it about a half inch off the sand when cleaning and that works for me. I used to have gravel and when I first switched to sand I hated it because I did not have a high enough turnover and I had waste visible all over and I was constantly cleaning it, but since then I upped my flow rate to over 11x and now I am down to waste accumulating in one back corner and that could be fixed with UGJs or power heads. Also with your fish digging and getting the waste trapped isnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t that big of a problem because the waste is very light and when my fish start digging it tends to float off and then settles on top again after all the sand has settled. I am sure some gets trapped but probably gets churned up again the next time they dig in that area. A downside to fine grain sand vs. coarser sand or gravel is it getting kicked up in the water column and getting into the filters and impellers. So depending on what filters you are using you might want to go with coarser sand.


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