# What Kind Or Substrate Do U Have?



## cmulawka (Dec 11, 2007)

I know this ? has been asked probably a million times before But I would like to know what everyone is using. I have decided to change my rocks out because they are just to big there is always some food sitting on the bottom that looks like rocks. I would like some finer gravel or maybe some sand. Its there any benefits to using one or the other. I would like to attempt to breed in the future. But does one or the other provide and Bio filtration over they other. It seems like smaller gravel would allow waste to settle in more than sand. Opinions/Facts ??????


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

Dude.

That is an AMAZING, OVER THE TOP SETUP!!









To answer your question, I use "Tahitian Black Moon Sand" in all my tanks.


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## FEEFA (Nov 19, 2007)

I recently removed all my substrate, now my tank is bare bottom.
It takes a while to get used to the look of it but if you like it mainainence is a breeze.
For your setup it wold def take away from it since its so nice but I would give it a shot once your old stuff is removed and see if you might like it. Obviously you would loose the added bio but if you have good filtration which I'm sure you do then you should be fine.

Otherwise I would go with a med sized gravel or black sand, I prefer the look of white sand but when I had it I encountered algae on it and it looked horrible so def go black so its not as noticeable


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## cmulawka (Dec 11, 2007)

any pics ???????????????????????????


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## JoeDizzleMPLS (Nov 5, 2007)

Play sand in 2 tanks, Shultz Aquatic Plant Soil in the other 2


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## BRUNER247 (Jun 2, 2010)

I have sand, gravel & Barebottom tanks. Some natural colored, mostly blk. Black is definitely easier to spot any uneaten food, n if your planning on spawning I'd go with black smaller gravel.natural colored would be a pita looking for eggs.


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

I use home depot play sand in my 125 and gravel from another hardware store for my 65g (my reds breed in the gravel fine). id probably do sdomething cheap like playsand as getting T moon sand or soem actual aquarium substrate for a 600g will be $$. Sand will generally keep the dirt ontop of the substrate while gravel lets it sink. I havnt cleaned my 125g sand since i put it in at least a year ago other then picking up large pieces of food. I pretty much rely of filtration current, a powerhead and alot of plants to keep the debris form foueling the water


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## BRUNER247 (Jun 2, 2010)

CLUSTER ONE said:


> I use home depot play sand in my 125 and gravel from another hardware store for my 65g (my reds breed in the gravel fine). id probably do sdomething cheap like playsand as getting T moon sand or soem actual aquarium substrate for a 600g will be $$. Sand will generally keep the dirt ontop of the substrate while gravel lets it sink. I havnt cleaned my 125g sand since i put it in at least a year ago other then picking up large pieces of food. I pretty much rely of filtration current, a powerhead and alot of plants to keep the debris form foueling the water


Damn cluster I hope you are stirring your sand, gas can build up down in the sand. Just skimming the top isn't good less its only 1/4"-1/2" deep.


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## FEEFA (Nov 19, 2007)

cmulawka said:


> any pics ???????????????????????????


I havnt taken any pics since I switched but will send you some when I do take them


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## Ba20 (Jan 29, 2003)

eco-complete


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## I Can Mate (Apr 8, 2010)

I use a 50/50 of turface and flourite. If you like a black sannd there is also color quartz which is cheaper than titan moon sand


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## JoeDizzleMPLS (Nov 5, 2007)

BRUNER247 said:


> I use home depot play sand in my 125 and gravel from another hardware store for my 65g (my reds breed in the gravel fine). id probably do sdomething cheap like playsand as getting T moon sand or soem actual aquarium substrate for a 600g will be $$. Sand will generally keep the dirt ontop of the substrate while gravel lets it sink. I havnt cleaned my 125g sand since i put it in at least a year ago other then picking up large pieces of food. I pretty much rely of filtration current, a powerhead and alot of plants to keep the debris form foueling the water


Damn cluster I hope you are stirring your sand, gas can build up down in the sand. Just skimming the top isn't good less its only 1/4"-1/2" deep.
[/quote]

Having plants helps with that and so do malaysian trumpet snails, if all else fails, you can poke the sand every few inches with a chopstick once every couple months. Plants really help tho, I haven't done a gravel vac in any of my tanks for years.


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

BRUNER247 said:


> I use home depot play sand in my 125 and gravel from another hardware store for my 65g (my reds breed in the gravel fine). id probably do sdomething cheap like playsand as getting T moon sand or soem actual aquarium substrate for a 600g will be $$. Sand will generally keep the dirt ontop of the substrate while gravel lets it sink. I havnt cleaned my 125g sand since i put it in at least a year ago other then picking up large pieces of food. I pretty much rely of filtration current, a powerhead and alot of plants to keep the debris form foueling the water


Damn cluster I hope you are stirring your sand, gas can build up down in the sand. Just skimming the top isn't good less its only 1/4"-1/2" deep.
[/quote]
Stirring it will cause more problems imo b/c of anerobic bacteria. Like i said i have a bunch of plants in there too so i cant really stir it. If you dont stir it often you cant stir it up when fish are in there.


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## 65galhex (Nov 5, 2008)

http://www.piranha-fury.com/pfury/index.php?/topic/184587-my-official-sand-thread/

That is what I have as a setup now. Although I am going to be changing it over to a black fine gravel substrate: http://www.aquariumplants.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=SS&CartID=1 I am also debating putting some of the Schultz plant soil underneath that as well. The only problem with the white sand is that it doesn't take much to look dirty.


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## HGI (Oct 27, 2009)

That a really really tall tank, must be a royal pain to get to the bottom of that.

I use White Silica


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## 65galhex (Nov 5, 2008)

Not to divert or steal the topic, but damn that is some nice color!!!


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

Beautiful setup!

I've just gotta ask, but are those colors for real?


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## sick of chiclids (May 25, 2010)

I use a course white sand (forget the name of it). I love it though. Fine enough to keep everything on the surface but course enough that my fish dont kick it up into the filters.


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## Guest (Oct 12, 2010)

In my 72G planted I use a 50/50 of Black Flourite and Black gravel.

The 125G has gravel.


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## Piranha Dan (Nov 11, 2007)

That tank is gorgeous dude. I have a dark brown/light brown gravel mix. Really natural looking imho.


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## HGI (Oct 27, 2009)

Piranha_man said:


> Beautiful setup!
> 
> I've just gotta ask, but are those colors for real?


They are, you can see the biggest one lacks color cause he was the most recent rescued and he was on a lousy diet of beef heart and blood worms...

Hikari Cichlid Bio-Gold+ = Win


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