sand necessary substrate?

[wigglejaggles]

Hey Now All,

I am in the proces of researching for a cichlid tank. I have settled on either a pair of convicts, or a pair of electric yellow haps for a 29 gallon.

Now, Sand seems to me like alot of trouble. I am willing to put in alot of hard work to make my cichlid tank a success, but I am worried that if I try a sand substrate, I will fail miserably.

Do electric yellow haps or convicts NEED a sand substrate? Is it possible for them to thrive without it.

Would a coral substrate be easier than sand and still look nice?

The water in my area is alkaline. PH is between 7.4 and 7.8 A coral substrate might raise PH to 8.0-8.2 ?

any help woul dbe appreciated.

take care,
Jared

[Oscar_Mania]

I have gravel in with my convicts. Unfortunately the gravel I have raises the pH and I can't get it down again. I have sand in with my Oscar and JD and it doesn't affect the pH and is also nicer for the fish to dig in as cichlids love to dig in the substrate. There may be gravels that also do not affect the pH. If however you plan to breed the convicts for example, use a gravel that is smooth so that the adults won't cut themselves when they are rubbing their bellies on it to kick up some food for the fry. Also make sure it is not too large that there will be gaps in it that the fry could fall into. IMO sand is much nicer and easier to clean. The coral substrate will most likely raise the pH and would be good if you were keeping African cichlids. HTH

[125gJoe]

I use Onyx Sand from SeaChem. It's inbetween actual sand and gravel in size. It looks better than regular gravel (imo), in that it's small size looks more natural.

Regular sand has a problem with air that can accumulate and go 'bad' -- anerobic pockets form, which is not good..

More here can elaborate on this problem.

[wigglejaggles]

hey now,

thanks for the replys. Joe...I use onyx sand in my 10 gallon tank and I LOVE it. I actually thought about using onyx sand for the cichlid tank, but I am worried that it is too sharp and that the cichlids will cut themselves.

Can anyone comment on if onxy sand is too sharp for cichlids?

Those anaerobic pockets that form are what scare me about using a real fine sand.


thanks

take care,
Jared

[125gJoe]

Originally posted by wigglejaggles
[B... Joe...I use onyx sand in my 10 gallon tank and I LOVE it.... Can anyone comment on if onxy sand is too sharp for cichlids?

Those anaerobic pockets that form are what scare me about using a real fine sand. ....
Jared [/B]In my opinion Onyx sand will not harm fish. If there was a problem with that I'm sure many would mention it. My Discus regularily will get food from the bottom and they have no problems at all. HTH

[wigglejaggles]

hey joe,

I checked it out on the cichlid-forum and ran a search on onyx sand, and it turns out it will work great! Thanks for your input!

Your tank of discus looks amazing by the way!!

take care,
Jared

[125gJoe]

wigglejaggles,

Thanks!

:) :D