Substrate Suggestions for 100 gal tank

[S. American]

I just purshased a new 100 gal tank. I have two 6 inch Green Terrors, a Convict, two Firemouths and four Clown Loaches. In my old 75 gal I had a sand (reptile) subtrate. It looked really good, but it was too hard to clean in such a large tank and I discovered a lot of it got in my canister filters when I would change the media.

I purchased a more course brown sand but its darker than the reptile sand and not as fine. (kind of a catch 22 huh?) So now I have white gravel, I like the color of the gravel but its a little too bright and the gravel consistency seems kinda large.

Any suggestions on how I could get a sandy bottom, while being able to clean the sand without half of it getting sucked into the vacum or my filters as this tanks is about 5.5 feet tall when on the stand.

Any suggestions would be a change in decor I guess. Currently I have driftwood and rainbow rocks, with a black background. Maybe I could get a diffrent color light or change the decor?

Thanks again

 

[Oh Clueless 1]

Pool Filter Sand....

Its a larger grain.. A nice light tannish color. Settles almost instantly.. Won't muck up your filters and very easy to clean. Not to mention you can get it at your local pool store for an average of 8 bucks for 50lbs which is still MUCH cheaper than gravel.

Here is a link... Feel free to look around and read for yourself about other expierences.

Pool Filter Sand Discussion

 

[christopher1260]

I use coarse sandblasting sand. It is really cheap (like $6 for 100lbs.) and it looks great. Also, the grains are large enough so they don't get sucked up. One more thing, it is black, so the fish stand out great.