Aragonite Substrate

[SigPiPup]

Is aragonite sand suitable for cichlid aquariums? If so, how much per gallon? Is 1 pound per gallon acceptable? Is it ok if the aragonite is sugar grade? Also, would plants be able to live in that type of substrate?

Any help would be appreciated. I'm planning to switch substrates within the hour if it all checks out.

[sreid]

Hi - wouldnt aragonite be harmful? It is a calcium rich mineral so it would increase the basicity of the water. I would guess it would have an effect such as terracotta pots etc

[Xavi]

For an African Rift Lake tank there shouldn't be a problem with aragonite. Cichlids like basic water.

[wataugachicken]

if you have african cichlids you probably won't have to worry about whether the sand is good for plants or not - they like to tear them up and eat them.

[Weezer]

We use Crushed Coral in the 80, and just put Aragonite in the 20 to test it out, the ph is holding at 7.8, the grain size is 1-2 mm and cleans up like regular gravel, it does not get sucked up in the python, our 29 will be getting Aragonite in the near future, It looks great and the Cichlids love it. The white color looks nice.....:)

[phoneman111]

thats for the post.thinking of changing my gravel to Aragonite.mostly to help with ph.

[Weezer]

It will definitely raise the Ph, the bag stated up to 8.2 but the highest iv seen is 7.8.........:idea:

[echoofformless]

In all honesty I think using aragonite in a rift lake tank has its benefits, but the cost outweighs them if you aren't using stuff you already have or are getting a really great deal. You can just go with play sand and run Florida crushed coral in your filters for the same pH raising effects at a far reduction in cost. One bag of play sand is like $3 for fifty pounds, and you can get a twenty pound bag of crushed coral for like maybe $8. Those two combined are still cheaper than one thirty pound bag of something like Aragamax.

Plus what is your source water like? Some tap water is so hard and alkaline that it barely needs any additional conditioning at all for rift lake tanks. Or it might only need a few teaspoons of baking soda at water change time.

[Weezer]

The last time i looked CC was 28.00 for 40 pounds, the Aragonite we bought is 26.00 per 20 pounder, yes spendy,.........;)

[SigPiPup]

Thanks for the replies. I made the change over this past weekend. I kept some of the gravel in there though for 1/4th of the tank. The aragonite looks great in there. Great contrast with the fish.

The aragonite was more than play sand but I originally got it to switch out the substrate on my 10g SW. Since it only came in 30lb bags i decided to use the remaining in the cichlid tank. Win-win situation all around :grinyes:

[Weezer]

If you can post a pic when its finished.........:dance2:

[SigPiPup]

Here it is...

[Xavi]

Nice!

What are you going to stock it with and what's up with the 20g with just a juli?

[SigPiPup]

Nice!

What are you going to stock it with and what's up with the 20g with just a juli?

The juli was inherited, so to speak. My fiance's parents moved away and just gave it to me. So far it is the only one in the tank. There was another one in there but I made the mistake of moving the rockwork around. The one that is left beat the hell out of the other one shortly after I put the rocks back in. It died.

Not sure what else I'm going to put in there. I've been focusing on my SW setup lately. I'd like to get some kind of 'cleaning crew' in there. Not sure what that would consist of or what would last in there.

[Xavi]

Personally I don't think that cleaning crews are needed with most cichlids becuase they are bottom dwellers.

But synodontis catfish are native to the Rift Lakes and can be kept with cichlids.

[Weezer]

Thanks SigPiPup it looks nice, you still should be able to use your gravel vac, i do and it cleans up easily..........:)