Marine substrate in a FW tank

I have heard of people saying that the white sand washes out the colors of the fish. I never used white sand in a FW set-up so I would not know. I think it would look cool with Mbuna. I had black sand in my mbuna setup and it looked pretty cool too. I would look around at people tanks and the substrate color and see what you like.

Here are a couple pictures of my tank. You can see the fish and the substrate fairly well.
Sorry about the picture size, these where my first pictures with my camera and I didnt really know what I was doing.
http://www.imagestation.com/mypictu...6.jpg.orig.jpg&caption=100_0084&id=4180816550


Here is a second, this picture is really bad but it might give you some kind of idea.

http://www.imagestation.com/mypictu...2.jpg.orig.jpg&caption=100_0092&id=4180816530


These pictures are really bad and my tank was bad too so I recomend looking at other peoples tanks


If you wanted white sand that helps with the water chemistry, crushed coral is an option.

I use Aragonite with my Africans (have a couple of Malawi's but mostly Tag's) and it works well with my fish. It keeps the pH right about 8.2-8.3. The Cichlids and non-cichlids I have in the set up are 2 Altolamprologus calvus, 2 Neolamprologus brichardi, C borleyi, Labidiochromis, Corius microplepsis (Tiger Datnoid), Spotted Leaffish, and a few cories and 3 Plecos (rare kinds). I like the white better because almost all my fish have dark to black colors and they wouldn't stand out in a black bottom tank. So it is up to you whatever you decide but both are fine so the ultimate decision is yours. The color of the gravel will not blind the fish at all and will not make them hide and loose color. Some might blend in with the color but they will not be afraid of the color so don't worry about that. Anyway, hope this helps and good luck.

marine sand or crushed coral will do just fine!

http://www.malawimayhem.com/articles_setup.shtml