Switching substrate...thoughts?

[chonhzilla]

I was thinking about switching out my substrate from Shultz Aquatic soil to some black moon sand.

The Subtrate has been in my estacblished tank for about a year now...the plants are doing fine and growning well....My question is...I want to switch to black substrate, using black moon sand in particular....is there and thing I will loose out on? Goods? Bads?...Let me know what you think.:help:

Thanks in Advance!!

[Nolapete]

Eco-Complete planted is black. I'd switch to that rather than something like black moon sand that has no benefit whatsoever.

[Mgamer20o0]

its also around the same price too. might as well go with something that helps some what. also flourite makes black sand.

[chonhzilla]

the thing is...is that I can get the black stuff for 7 dollars for 15 pounds....

Well I guess upon further inspection it looks like fine gravel...the guy that sells it said it was like black moon sand....guess he didn't know...anyways here is a picture of it..

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i22/chonhzilla/soil.jpg

[Nolapete]

I didn't like that Eco-complete was all black, so I mixed in some natural gravel. You could mix in some of that black gravel to make it more black.

[addicted2fish]

that fine gravel will work great !! you can just make sure your filter media is old, and let it stay old for awile, so the gravel can build up its good' bacteria, I think fine gravel is the best and the fish will love it too !! I personally would go all black and just switch it out all together with the new black gravel, just make sure you rinse it ALOT , because you may not know what it has been in . eco is abotu the only gravel I wouldent rinse. looks great ! I was thinking eeww sand, its a pita. and you have to have MTS, or fish like loahs to stir it up alot . but the pic shows you have a great substrate material shouldent have any problems, just leave the filter media in for a lot longer than normal so you dont get cloudy tank or algea .. IMHO ~ HTH ~ what size tank ?

[chonhzilla]

its a 29g.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i22/chonhzilla/greatshot.jpg

[Gbbudd]

With the way your tank looks now from the picture anyways. your now substrate adds to the over all look with a nice contrast. look at your pic again but replacing with the black sand it may make the plants pop a bit but over all looks won't be helped.

[chonhzilla]

Yeah, it was all looks I was going for. More contrast, worth the trouble or not?

[Kevin S.]

I think it looks great now, it might be a PITA to change something that looks pretty decent already.