My first sandbed, 4" - not so good as far as practicality and esthetics. But, it was disturbed and moved, and was the finest grain.
Second sandbed, second tank, 3" - worked well, looked good. Larger grain size mix, different colours too. Lots of life.
Third sandbed now, ~3" with a skiff of gravel on top. So far so good. A little ugly, but seems to be harbouring the necessary life. Crabs are constantly going over it as well, and it is quite clean, has the requisite layers visible from the front, colours, bubbles, etc.
Some of the nicest tanks I've seen in pictures though, had the thin mixed substrate, almost a "grunge" look. Could we be converting to Garf methods??
