I just got a Fluval Edge 6 gallon tank for my new betta and have a panda cory in with him. Seeing as how the flow rate of the filter is fairly low with little turbulance, would sand make a better substrate for this tank? I currently have it in gravel and had put an airstone in, but the betta doesn't like the turbulence, so I took it out.

I'd be interested in opinions and advice - I have never used sand.

Sand doesn't make a good substrate in a freshwater tank. It compacts and most freshwater inverts don't dig into it and don't aereate it. Bettas, especially males, don't spend much time at the bottom of their tank. You have a very small tank so you could really only safely add one more fish.

In my Experience,sand with bettas is fine.I had one who would walk on the "beach"with my husband.Her tank was a ten gallon and half sand.What i did was once a month poke the sand in various places to keep air pockets from forming.I like sand because its better for planting than plain gravel,and looks more natural.

__________________
http://bountifulbettas.blogspot.com/

"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

The cory would probably like the sand. Do you have plants?

sand sand sand lol

yea i like sand and with my cichlid always digging in, thats not a problem

also when i do the water changes i stir the tank a little before removing the water

you should be fine

__________________
~ Max
29 Gallon Tall Planted and running Eheim 2217
~~ a German Blue ram pair, 9 Harlequin rasboras, 2 octilincus, 2 Dwarf neon rainbows and a honey sunset Gaurami

16 gallon Bowfront tank ~~ 3 Neon Tetras, red tailed shark, 1 angel (its a real bully), BN pleco and an albino BN pleco.

Thanks to all for the input.

I put the airstone back in the tank with a smaller pump and now the Betta is happy with it and playing with the bubbles.

I have a mix of silk and live plants - 2 silk plants (very soft, no hard plastic "spikes"), one mongo grass and a moss ball.

And yes, I realize the Cory and the Betta are all the tank will support. They do seem to enjoy one another's company and even peaceably share space inside the greek urn in their tank.

The Cory roots around in the gravel and I think it's ok for him - he's lived on gravel for 3 years with no ill effects. It is a very smooth pea gravel so I don't think it hurts his whiskers. I had thought the sand might be better for him and the Mongo grass, but the Betta also roots around in the gravel and I'm afraid would ingest sand - I just read a sticky here that says they will eat it.

Seeing as how the airstone is now acceptable to everybody, I guess I'll leave the tank alone and maybe consider sand for my next big tank - thinking about getting a 40 gal later this year.

Has anyone ever done a mix of sand and gravel? Sand in plant areas and gravel in others?

I've done the sand /gravel, was awesome when first setup, but it does eventually mix and personally i dont like the look of that.

I love sand and its no problems in a freshwater tank. Malaysian Trumpet Snails are brilliant at aerating sand, or you could just run your fingers through it every few weeks or so. Actually if you dont have a deep bed of sand even that may not be necessary.

Cories do ok on smooth gravel, but once on sand you'd never put them back on gravel, they just love shuffling through the sand, funny things *L*

A few months time i hope to be setting up a betta barracks using black sand....

__________________
1x350L Goldfish, 1x 286L Planted, 1x190L Cherry shrimp, 1x140L Feeders, 1x130L Planted, 1x119L Peppermint BN breeding colony