Pros and cons on sand vs. gravel??

Well now that I am starting to get a handle on this fish keeping thing I want to upgrade from my 33 gal to a 133 gal tank. I kinda like the look of the sand but what I want to know is what are the downsides if any to having sand over gravel. Or just in general what are the pros and cons of having sand from gravel?

Ps. This site is awesome I'm glad I found it. All of u guys have helped me a lot so far. So thanks in advance!!

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I personally like sand. firstly for the aesthetics and secondly I feel it is much more natural for the fish.

the general cons, if you are going for PFS, is the difficulty to vacuum the substrate and if you do not release the trapped air, then it can build up to anaerobic pockets of dangerous gases for your fish.

but if you go for finer sand, like argonite sand then it can compact and also become anaerobic.

but generally not much more cons, i think.

 

Sand can go anaerobic very quickly, because it compacts over time and doesn't allow oxygen in. So as long as you don't have a lot, say more than 2cm of it you should be fine. Gravel vacs can be difficult with sand though, as it usually pulls a lot out of the water.
Regular gravel is much coarser, allowing more oxygen in, and it doesn't compact as easily.

 

FabioCarvalho: Why not pool filter sand? Not as coarse as normal gravel and not as fine as sand. Builders sells it in 10KG bags for R 100. And you get it in different grain sizes.

 

Depending on the fish I keep I choose a different substrate. Discus for example, I use a very thin layer if PFS. Other tropical fish I go for gravel.

 

Pro:
Looks nice
More natural

Cons:
Dangerous gasses
Gets dirty easily (to a point where you have to take everything out and clean it again)

honestly i have 5cm deep Play Sand in my tank and i have never had problems with either gasses or sand getting into the filter.

 

Agree !!! Have tanks with gravel and poolfiltersand (fine and middle). Noticed there stiill is some anaerobic acticity in the fine sand. In the future I'll only go for the middle sized pooliltersand.

 

Prefer a fine gravel: Easy to clean, looks good, mostly nice rounded edges, does not compact that easily, dont blow around when you have a powerhead blowing over it.

 

@Vis what's your take on powdered sand,will it float everywhere or will it stay in place?

I'm thinking of using quarts sand in my next tank but i want it as fine and white as possible (hopefully blending in nicely with granite and bogwood in a center island type scape)

 

I know the marine guys complain a lot about very fine sand as it gets static or something and actually stick to the glass sides. Also thinking that should a fish go digging its gonna be tough to get things back in place if at all. I am not that keen on mixing substrates unless its small rocks.