What is you opinion of what substrate to use???

[nevchewy]

After all this talk about sand, and what is best to use for african's...

I wanted to start this poll to see what everyone's opinion would be for my tank.

I was thinking about heading out and buying some of that black moon sand, but what do you think would look best.

This is my 60 gallon tank which will hold my saulosi breeding group in due time.

[finaddict]

I use lake sand works awesome, light grey in color does NOT plug up filters but a pain in the @ss to clean(boil).......

Edited August 18, 2005 by finaddict

[Vallisneria]

I've tried a couple different substrates and still prefer gravel. I found playsand too fine and caused many problems. I also have tried black sand(ehiem brand from the LFS) and found that poop/debris showed up too easily. I would have to clean the tank everyday because the sand looked dirty. I think the look of sand is more natural but gravel is so much easier to deal wtih.

[RDFISHGUY]

I still like the play sand and if you mix it with larger gravel it seems to work better as it doesn't move around as much. To each his own. I like the fact that the crap sits on top . This tells you how much waste is being produced and how efficient your bacteria are functioning. I'd rather see it on top than have it hiding in the gravel polluting the tank. As far as I'm concerned any product which accomplishes this is the one to choose. Plus you never get to see fossorochromis rostratus bury himself in the sand when you try to net him or some of the other sifting behavior if you go with gravel. If you can move your intakes up it and still have good ciculation it works the best. I've never tried pool filter sand but it would probably be a wise choice if Neil recommends it . I've followed some of his other tricks of the trade and haven't been steered wrong yet. It boils down to what works for you and for your fish and your tank. My 150 gal has a sand/ washed river rock mix that works for me but I have a ton of circulation 2 large powerheads, 2 AC 500/110, and a Rena XP3. My 100 gal has only play sand and it tends to move around a little more. Gravel may be added to it in the future to help prevent it from shifting so much.

[Nyasa]

Pool filter sand all the way. Neutral in colour. Easy to clean and not easily agitated up into filter motors etc.

[thefishdude]

Pool filter sand is my choice - uniform mid-size grain - neutral colour - minimal cleaning necessary - fish crap doesn't stand out against the color - and it's inexpensive (about 10 bucks a bag seems to be average)

[RD.]

PFS

[rahim101]

I voted other...

I use crushed coral / crushed coral sand.

breaks up when it gets into your filter and natually buffers the water to a higher PH.

[Sammy]

Howdy,

The Sil sand I have been talking about in other post is a multi purpose Sil product. Its available in many shapes and forms, it comes in a natural crushgravel mix like this.

The Lighter stuff is a industrial quartz. (My fav) cleans super easy and does not effect the water parameters ie.. Hardness or ph like some other sands may.

This is .50mm

.50mm

Its also comes in a few different size from .25mm - 3mm.

100lbs of the quartz its less then $15.

80lbs of the larger natural mix is under $20

I have 200lbs of the Quartz in a slightly larger size of .65mm for sale if anyone wants some.

Here is a link with all the data you need on filter sands playsands, blasting sands you'll need acrobat reader for the data sheets.

http://www.sil.ab.ca/

Hope this helps.

Sammy

[nevchewy]

Thanks for you Post Sammy!!!

I pm'ed you...

nev

[African_Fever]

I definitely prefer frac sand. It's essentially the same thing as Sammy has, though I've never had to pay for it (work in the oilfield so it's basically free). Doesn't seem to have all the problems associated with other sands as it's heaviers and a more uniform size (I've never had any issues with this and filters but have had issues with PFS).