Habitat - Indoor :: Whats with sand?

[1tdawg]

Ok i've seen everyone talking about how gravel is bad for turts. But does that mean sand is the only other option? Ive heard its the better of the two, bu i cant see how it helps. Is it less expensive? Easier to clean? Why is it so much better?

[rsour24]

turtles eat the gravel and it can lead to their death. sand is so small it passes through them with no harm. other options are large river rocks and no substrate

[1tdawg]

Well is sand hard to clean?

[steve]

More so than river rock substrate.

[vear]

I actually find river rocks harder to clean because debris gets trapped under them. With sand all the debris settles at the top... I just siphon it out. I even have sand in my goldfish tank now.

[my.lovely.turtle.]

I actually find river rocks harder to clean because debris gets trapped under them. With sand all the debris settles at the top... I just siphon it out. I even have sand in my goldfish tank now.

I definitely agree with you, I find sand easier to clean also.

[steve]

How much river rock are you using? I never put in too much because of the effort required to haul it out when I clean the tank.

[seanb1979]

Seems like sand would be a bad choice because the turtles spend so much time moving around, it would kick it up all the time and cloud the water.

[my.lovely.turtle.]

Niko likes to dig in the sand in one corner all the time, it really doesn't cloud up the water. But it's your preference!!

[vear]

The sand shouldn't cloud the water - that is if you clean it well.

[77f2504by4]

i just put sand in my tank thanks to the advice on this forum. and i have to say its great, the tank looks so much more natural and the turtles love digging in it. the snails dont like it though, the turtles can flip them over if they are on the sand.

but to stay on topic, i washed it 3 or 4 times and the water was cloudy over night, the next day it was crystal clear, and when the turtles dig it does NOT make the water cloudy. it didnt even cloud up the water when i dropped a few stones in. i think the filter removes most of the floating bits from the sand.

[steve]

@77f2504by4

I'd love to see some pics!

[cupcakes]

they told me that i dont need sand alrightgot to go!

[sagoy]

When I get a bigger tank for my RES I'll give sand one more shot.

[1tdawg]

I tried sand and as all of you described it looked more natural, it didn't stay cloudy, he likes to dig in it, the debris sits on top, and i doubt he could get hurt by eating it (Although i saw him eating some). So overall im happy with it. But now i just have to wait for my 50 gallon and buy 4 more bags of sand with like 15 new plants.