Substrate Opinion

[nattybrack]

Right now I have crushed coral for my substrate and was thinking of changing it over to sand. I have cichlids and think they would like it better. Any thoughts?

[Faramir]

What sort of cichlids? They're a varied bunch with disparate preferences.

[nattybrack]

Kenyi (female)
Red Finned Borleyi
Melanchromis Johani (Elec. Blue Johani)
Red Zebra
Green Spotted Puffer

Coming soon:
Electric Yellow Lab's
Saulosi's

55 gal

[Faramir]

Ah. Malawi ones.

A lot of those named would prefer sand. Darker sand will show colours off better, although it costs.

I cut some dark sand 50/50 with silver sand and it made a good dark substrate.

[nattybrack]

Where'd you get the dark and silver sand? how much $?

[Forum221]

I would say the best way to get sand substrate is sand from Home Depot or a store like that. From what I hear you can buy black sandblasting sand ("Black Beuaty") for like $4 for a 50 or 150 pound bag. I'm setting up a 75 gallon tank and am going to use that for my substrate.

[JSchmidt]

I used crushed coral or aragonite sand in my Malawi tanks. Personally, I prefer the lighter substrate, but the real advantage is the increased buffering from the calcareous substrates.

I don't see a lot of difference in maintenance between sand and coral.

Jim

[nattybrack]

Excellent, thank you.

I was reading some of the previous posts where people had mentioned that pool filter sand was also a good choice. Had you given this a look as well? Guess I'll give both a look, as opinion seemed to be split over which was the better substrate.

[Heady]

Can you get dark-colored pool filter sand? I'm looking for gray to black colored sand that's good for plants, cories, & loaches but cheaper than onyx ($200 for my 100 gallon tank).