Substrate depth

[Calamardo Tentaculos]

I am planning to set up a new tank with a sandy area for corydoras to sift in. How deep should the sand be? If I have an island set up which has pretty deep substrate and rocks to hold the soil, can I cover the rest of the tank with only 1cm of sand? I recall seeing cory breeders with very shallow sand substrate, but have no idea about the science behind this.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

can I cover the rest of the tank with only 1cm of sand?

You can. If you keep Long-nosed Corydoras? Deeper sand required <"PlanetCatfish.com - Corydoras amapaensis (Callichthyidae) Cat-eLog">.

cheers Darrel

 

[Wookii]

As Darrel suggests, it will depend on the type of Cory's you plan to keep. They will often dig down past their eyeballs, so again it depends on the size of the Cory. Probably around 20mm min at the lowest point I'd say. The deeper the better, as the more detritus worms and bugs it will contain for them to dig for!

 

[Calamardo Tentaculos]

Thanks @dw1305 I plan to continue keeping pygmaeus or on of the dwarf cory species so nothing to big.

@Wookii what about mulm and detritus building up in the sand. As this will be a scape, I would preferably like the sand to be clean and will look to vacuum it with every water change.

 

[Wookii]

Thanks @dw1305 I plan to continue keeping pygmaeus or on of the dwarf cory species so nothing to big.

@Wookii what about mulm and detritus building up in the sand. As this will be a scape, I would preferably like the sand to be clean and will look to vacuum it with every water change.

How clean the sand looks is just a matter of how much is on the surface to be honest, the detritus buried in it is only beneficial. The cleanliness of the surface doesn't change whether you have is 10mm deep or 100mm deep. If you plan to have any shrimp and snail, you'll probably find nothing much sticks around on there for long anyway. My main tank has a 50-60mm silver sand substrate and a large shrimp colony, and I hoover arounds a bit in the corners, maybe once every six months - there is never really much visible.