Question about sand and timed feeder

[SwimminSteve]

I'm trying to decide if sand is a good option for my tank. I have 5 frogs in a 46gal tank. I think some sand would look beautiful in the tank and make the custom background pop, but I don't want to sacrafice the frogs' health or the ease of cleaning. I know that some of you use sand, but what kind? I've heard that play sand is good and cheap, but because it's so fine it can create smelly air pockets. I've also heard of using pool filter sand and it looks really nice. But I think the particles might be slightly larger, has anyone used this safely with frogs? Also, how do you clean the tank when you have sand? Does a gravel vac work? I've also been looking into getting an automatic feeder for the frogs because I will be traveling a lot this summer. I won't be gone for any longer than a week at a time and I'll have someone check on them once in a while. But an automatic feeder seems like a nice way to make sure everyone is fed. Can anyone reccommend a good one? Thanks!!

[SanderB]

I use play sand, it is cheap and good
Never clean it, I add a lot of plants to absorp the nutriënts. Just clean your filter and do waterchanges once in a month or so.

[rodsboys]

You can use the gravel vac on sand. You just hover it above the sand bed where the crud piles up and remove it. The good thing about sand is that the junk stays on top of it. If you are worried about gasses building up just use a thin layer = enough to cover the bottom.

[SwimminSteve]

Thanks guys, that's really helpful! SanderB, what kind of plants do you have in your tank?

[SanderB]

Thanks guys, that's really helpful! SanderB, what kind of plants do you have in your tank?

You can keep any kind of plant with your frogs. The frogs don´t realy care about watertemperature or pH and so. I have my temperature at about 22 °C I think, so warm water. I have: 2 kinds of Anubias barterii, 2 kinds of javafern, Heteranthera zosterifolia, I think 2 kinds of Ludwigia, 1 Hygrophila species (still don´t know witch one) and javamoss, duckweed... You can add what you want.
Here you can see my setup: http://www.frogforum.net/aquatic-cla...new-setup.html