Black gravel

yep my 55gal shellie tank is all black gravel actually i have all black in all my setups except the 120gal because of the crushed coral, here are a few but i have all of my tanks cluttered aye.. the frontosa were juvies when they were in the 55gal with the black gravel, as for my 120gal it would be a nightmare for me to remove all that gravel and crushed coral to replace with all black..

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Nice shots!
I have black in my tank from my previous fish but am not sure if I want to change it to crushed coral or not.
I have a 5 gallon bucket of cc waiting to go in when im ready to start... but cant decide!!
 
thanks buddy...

yeah black gravel and crushed coral really wouldnt look to good aye, you could also just add like sea shells and place them behind rock formations so that there out of sight but you would have to add quite a bit of shells for the intended buffer..
 
The black looks really cool, but I am always thinking in my head that its not natural.
Whats the closest looking thing to what is really in those lakes?
 
rocks, rocks and rocks well some sand as well hehehe, sorry yeah mostly sand and huge gray rocky boulders is the norm for these lakes in africa, but wow the black just in my opinion is awesome aye..
 
I like the black, but it depends on the fish you keep. Most fish show their best colors on a dark backround. However, I've found that Calvus will sometimes develop darker spots on dark substrate. I think they look best with bright white spots on the jet black body.
I used crushed coral, white pool filter sand, and black sand from the LFS all mixed together. The sand looks great and the crushed coral works as a buffer. As long as you use dark rocks and or plants, your fish should show good color. When I finally rescape, I think I'm going to use brown substrate.
Both the lakes look alot alike, and like Pittbull said, it's mostly large boulders with some light colored sandy spots. Most of the fish we keep in the hobby would be hanging around the boulders, so they really wouldn't care much what the substrate looks like.
 
Anyone ever do black gravel in an african cichlid tank??
Hows it look? any pics?

I used to love the dark gravels. Most favorite was black obsidian which had been polished in a rock tumbler, and found a rock shop which would turn it out for me.

Then, I found that the reflective (light colored) gravels gave me "more bang for the buck" in my watts/gal of lighting, so ....

Regards,
JS
 
Please post some pics of how your substrate looks!
I was thinking of doing that but not sure how it might turn out.



I like the black, but it depends on the fish you keep. Most fish show their best colors on a dark backround. However, I've found that Calvus will sometimes develop darker spots on dark substrate. I think they look best with bright white spots on the jet black body.
I used crushed coral, white pool filter sand, and black sand from the LFS all mixed together. The sand looks great and the crushed coral works as a buffer. As long as you use dark rocks and or plants, your fish should show good color. When I finally rescape, I think I'm going to use brown substrate.
Both the lakes look alot alike, and like Pittbull said, it's mostly large boulders with some light colored sandy spots. Most of the fish we keep in the hobby would be hanging around the boulders, so they really wouldn't care much what the substrate looks like.
 
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