Post by Barb Okla on Sept 18, 2008 13:10:06 GMT -6
So you want to make your tank look different OR you are just getting into fish keeping.. The Substrate, which can be Gravel or sand, is an important addition to your tank..
First it holds good bacteria that your tanks needs to thrive.. Gravel used here, not sand mostly..
Secound, it adds color, and this can decide the colors of your fish too if you chose the fish first then the substrate to coinside with your fish's colors to show them off best Or visa vera here.... So chose wisely here..
Now that you know what color, what about grain/stone size, Gravel or sand?? Another big descission here, as this is important as you can not change them as easily as you think YOU can..
So again think this out carfully..
Let me give you some help here:
I have both, Natural color gravel, to crushed coral with Malawi lake mix in and Sand tanks..
One of my tanks with the natural gravel:
Gravel. I have the natural color small to med pebble size in different tanks.. It looks nice in my South/Central American tanks with the hard river stone I use for cave structures.. Most cichlids like to make nests in the gravel so this is important too.. It is loosely packed at 2-3" and that is a good depth for cleaning the tank.. IF you have to much, then you take out to much water trying to get the gravel all cleaned when you vacuum it.. NOT good.. So try to keep it at 3" or less..
Crushed coral/Malawi mix gravel.. NOW this is good to keep your pH up in a low pH tank.. NOW this does only does so much of an increase in the pH as maybe .2 or so.. As my pH out of the tap is 8.4 after I add in the water conditioner/salt, and it sits for a few hours then the pH goes to 8.0.. The pH in the tank after a few days, it is at 8.2 to 8.4.. So IF your Ph is 7.0 to 7.6 don't expect a big increase as when u do a water change, it goes back down, then back up "some" to a stable Ph..
This substate is Ok but is really bland looking to me, to give it some color, I added in some of my med sized Natural gravel.. NOW it looks better.. BUT now I want it all sand.. hummm....
Cichlids move gravel/sand and so you need to keep at least 3" in a Malawi tank.. more makes it hard to vacuum and not remove more water than you have too.. I have 2-3" in my 125 gal and it is a good depth.. AS this piles up everywhere in the tank that they have dug out...
The 125 gal in 2005:
BELOW: In 2009 many looks this tank has gone through:
A close up with the natural gravel mixed in:
A Green/blue mixture in my 20 gal for fry growouts. the prob with this is the Yellow tail acei's colored out on a light substrate and SAND is better when u deal with fry in any tank, OR NO substrate is even better..
Sand tanks:
I like the sand better as the uneaten food and waste does NOT get traped into the crevices as their are NONE..
IF you dont' add in to much, then you can have a nice tank and the sand will not gas up or have algae build up on you.. 2-3" is all you really need..
This is hard to vacuum thou, so you best learn on the first few times as you might suck up to much sand::
Swish the vacuum over the sand until you see the waste float, then just hover the vac over the floating debri.. Do this a few times here and their and you can get most up without to much sand.. Sand is heavy so you can always return it to the tank.. (if you use a bucket and not a phython here)
Some sands are REALLY fine and that causes problems for your filter.. AS it eats the magnet around your empellor. mine has permanate groves now.. and that is not good.. So the intake heads needs to be higher in the tank to avoid this if you use a fine sand.. The problem with this is the waste does not get directied to the filter intake.. So it sits on the sand..
U can during the week, vac out places that U see.. I do this and I dont' lose much water and I keep the tank cleaner.. Cichlids love Fresh water so this is great way to refresh the tank before the next weekly tank/filter cleaning..
Marine, and Tahitian moon is really fine sand.. When fish swim by or dart, this sand flys and the filter sucks it up, aggitating your empellor wearing it down.. So if you want a white white sand, find a grain size of 2-2.mm and bigger.. The black Sand, they have only the Tahitian moon and this is really fine sand... I am unsure of others you can get.. So grain size matters greatly when selecting a sand for your tank..
Some sand tanks:
29gal with Tahitian moon sand:
White Marine sand tank ^
This tank had one 25lb bag of white marine sand.. It needed more, but I had problems with it getting into the filter.. So I took it all out with the gravel cleaner and added in gravel.. shame too because it looked nice with the blueness of the dolphins Juvies.. Maybe I can find a bigger sized white sand later and try it again.. U can move the intakes to 4" from the bottom to mid tank level but this does not help keep the waste and uneaten food taken up by the intakes..
So my choices are both, but I like the Sand for convinence mostly and the look it gives, but a heavier one so my filters dont' bog down and I dont' have to replace my empeller every few month..
Gravel is better for the American cichlids as they are diggers and they seem to do better in a gravel tank..
Africans like sand as most feed off the bottom, so this allows them to keep it clean for you.. But they dont' eat waste, so remember that and clean your tank Vacuumed out when U see it accumilate by decorations to weekly to keep this from building up to much.. IF left longer, it wil also affect your Nitrates if not cleaned weekly... FYI..
First it holds good bacteria that your tanks needs to thrive.. Gravel used here, not sand mostly..
Secound, it adds color, and this can decide the colors of your fish too if you chose the fish first then the substrate to coinside with your fish's colors to show them off best Or visa vera here.... So chose wisely here..
Now that you know what color, what about grain/stone size, Gravel or sand?? Another big descission here, as this is important as you can not change them as easily as you think YOU can..
So again think this out carfully..
Let me give you some help here:
I have both, Natural color gravel, to crushed coral with Malawi lake mix in and Sand tanks..
One of my tanks with the natural gravel:
Gravel. I have the natural color small to med pebble size in different tanks.. It looks nice in my South/Central American tanks with the hard river stone I use for cave structures.. Most cichlids like to make nests in the gravel so this is important too.. It is loosely packed at 2-3" and that is a good depth for cleaning the tank.. IF you have to much, then you take out to much water trying to get the gravel all cleaned when you vacuum it.. NOT good.. So try to keep it at 3" or less..
Crushed coral/Malawi mix gravel.. NOW this is good to keep your pH up in a low pH tank.. NOW this does only does so much of an increase in the pH as maybe .2 or so.. As my pH out of the tap is 8.4 after I add in the water conditioner/salt, and it sits for a few hours then the pH goes to 8.0.. The pH in the tank after a few days, it is at 8.2 to 8.4.. So IF your Ph is 7.0 to 7.6 don't expect a big increase as when u do a water change, it goes back down, then back up "some" to a stable Ph..
This substate is Ok but is really bland looking to me, to give it some color, I added in some of my med sized Natural gravel.. NOW it looks better.. BUT now I want it all sand.. hummm....
Cichlids move gravel/sand and so you need to keep at least 3" in a Malawi tank.. more makes it hard to vacuum and not remove more water than you have too.. I have 2-3" in my 125 gal and it is a good depth.. AS this piles up everywhere in the tank that they have dug out...
The 125 gal in 2005:
BELOW: In 2009 many looks this tank has gone through:
A close up with the natural gravel mixed in:
A Green/blue mixture in my 20 gal for fry growouts. the prob with this is the Yellow tail acei's colored out on a light substrate and SAND is better when u deal with fry in any tank, OR NO substrate is even better..
Sand tanks:
I like the sand better as the uneaten food and waste does NOT get traped into the crevices as their are NONE..
IF you dont' add in to much, then you can have a nice tank and the sand will not gas up or have algae build up on you.. 2-3" is all you really need..
This is hard to vacuum thou, so you best learn on the first few times as you might suck up to much sand::
Swish the vacuum over the sand until you see the waste float, then just hover the vac over the floating debri.. Do this a few times here and their and you can get most up without to much sand.. Sand is heavy so you can always return it to the tank.. (if you use a bucket and not a phython here)
Some sands are REALLY fine and that causes problems for your filter.. AS it eats the magnet around your empellor. mine has permanate groves now.. and that is not good.. So the intake heads needs to be higher in the tank to avoid this if you use a fine sand.. The problem with this is the waste does not get directied to the filter intake.. So it sits on the sand..
U can during the week, vac out places that U see.. I do this and I dont' lose much water and I keep the tank cleaner.. Cichlids love Fresh water so this is great way to refresh the tank before the next weekly tank/filter cleaning..
Marine, and Tahitian moon is really fine sand.. When fish swim by or dart, this sand flys and the filter sucks it up, aggitating your empellor wearing it down.. So if you want a white white sand, find a grain size of 2-2.mm and bigger.. The black Sand, they have only the Tahitian moon and this is really fine sand... I am unsure of others you can get.. So grain size matters greatly when selecting a sand for your tank..
Some sand tanks:
29gal with Tahitian moon sand:
White Marine sand tank ^
This tank had one 25lb bag of white marine sand.. It needed more, but I had problems with it getting into the filter.. So I took it all out with the gravel cleaner and added in gravel.. shame too because it looked nice with the blueness of the dolphins Juvies.. Maybe I can find a bigger sized white sand later and try it again.. U can move the intakes to 4" from the bottom to mid tank level but this does not help keep the waste and uneaten food taken up by the intakes..
So my choices are both, but I like the Sand for convinence mostly and the look it gives, but a heavier one so my filters dont' bog down and I dont' have to replace my empeller every few month..
Gravel is better for the American cichlids as they are diggers and they seem to do better in a gravel tank..
Africans like sand as most feed off the bottom, so this allows them to keep it clean for you.. But they dont' eat waste, so remember that and clean your tank Vacuumed out when U see it accumilate by decorations to weekly to keep this from building up to much.. IF left longer, it wil also affect your Nitrates if not cleaned weekly... FYI..