The Puffer Forum

Anyone have a half gravel half sand set up? I am talking side by side not one on top of the other. I think you might have some mixing but in my 125 with my Fahaka puffer I think 50/50 might just work. Leaving the gravel on the side of the filter intake.

not half half but I do have a mixed tank. The problem comes when you do water changes and it stirs things up. Separating it / sifting it out by hand isn't that hard, but a PITA.

I do have 1/4 sand and 3/4 gravel

It sure is hard to keep it together. So far I'm just being careful with water changes on that tank.It takes me longer to do a W/C, but sure looks nice. Good Luck.

I have all sand (PFS) in my Fahaka tank. Pool filter sand is uniform grain and doesn't get sucked into the filters at all IME and I have two AC70's with extended intake nozzles...maybe 3-4 inches above the sand bed

Do you turn off your filters when you stir the sand for cleaning?

Well I did it today. The half sand half gravel looks awesome! Fahaka took about a hour to warm up to it but he is back to normal now.

I bet it looks cool. I have seen half n half substrates before and they are very striking.
Question...? What happens when your Fahaka buries himself in the substrate? Or does your Fahaka not do that? Mine always buries himself in the sand inside his cave after he eats.

@PufferPunk....I don't stir the sand up in any of my tanks,...I have MTS for that.

My fahaka has not dug in the sand yet but he did play in the sand some last night. He seems to like the sand much more than the gravel.

Conbos of sand and gravel are not for me.

It is unfortunately mythology that MTS can block anoxic or anaerobic area in deeper sand beds. That does not happen. They are limited to the at least somewhat oxygenated areas.

It is not possible to keep sand and gravel separated without extensive and laborious re-separation of the two when digging fish are involved. Frankly I have better things to do with my time. Long ago I gave up high-upkeep tanks. My tanks are designed for at least 10-year lifespans. After a relatively short timeframe, mixed substrate beds end up with the fine material at the bottom of the substrate and the coarser material on top. You cannot fool Mother Nature. It is easier and generally better to work with natural process than to try vainly to fight against them.

Never said MTS could block areas or that I used a deep sand bed,....your assumption. I use a 1.5 inch sand bed, ....moderately to heavily planted with loads of MTS. 12-16 tanks running for 5 years with no problems speaks for itself. Not saying that 5 years is an incredibly long period of time but if there were going to be problems it would have happened by now. My tanks are all low maintenance as well.....2 hrs total once a week for WC's for 12 tanks is as easy as it gets...no vacuuming-no stirring-no problems.

As for the half n half idea...I agree not the best choice with a fahaka due to their digging but I applaud the effort. Certain people assume that because they have not been able to achieve a certain end that it is not possible.

Beautiful pics too....good job.

From the clean line of separation it looks like you used a divider of sorts...? What did you use?

It is a piece of the hood closeout. I just cut it to size.

A1.5 inch sand bed needs upkeep well beyond MTs digging.

Do show us pictures 6 months and 2-3 years from now.

There are certain natural phenomena concerting mixed-size beds of particulates. Pretending that such rules do not apply in all aquatic systems is kidding yourself. The operator will be removing and screening the separate particulate beds regularly and routinely, or it will end up as a mixed bed with the gravel layer atop the sand layer.

Many many folks have tried. They find out that they must remove and resort the substrate periodically. The intervals when such is required depends on the fish and other critters housed in the system. Anyone can believe if they wish that natural processes do not apply to their tanks, but if they test such beliefs in practice they do usually find out that natural process do apply to all systems.

I guess it'll be live & learn. This reminds me of growing up & my parents trying to tell me not to make the same mistakes they did but I had to do it anyway to prove them wrong. I'm grown now & respect their wisdom.