Hey
I'm expecting delivery of my new 180g tank in a couple of weeks and I was planning to use black gravel as the substrate. Been looking around on the web and I'm seeing a lot of negative reviews about this stuff, in particular, that the gravel is painted and that the paint will come off over time. With this in mind, I started thinking about blank sand, as I assume that the colour would be natural, not dye or whatever. Problem is, last time I used sand in a tank (a small grow out tank with an internal filter), I absolutely hated it. Found it impossible to keep clean and it always looked so dirty because you could see every last piece of crap resting on top, although I guess this wouldn't be such a problem if the sand was black. My other concern is that it could get into the filter and cause damage - I'll be running an FX5 and an FX6. There will also be 2 strong powerheads to hopefully prevent any crap from settling on the substrate. Inhabitants will be a jaguar cichlid and a lima shovelnose cat.
Would love to hear some recommendations based on past experiences. Thanks.
Steve
I'm expecting delivery of my new 180g tank in a couple of weeks and I was planning to use black gravel as the substrate. Been looking around on the web and I'm seeing a lot of negative reviews about this stuff, in particular, that the gravel is painted and that the paint will come off over time. With this in mind, I started thinking about blank sand, as I assume that the colour would be natural, not dye or whatever. Problem is, last time I used sand in a tank (a small grow out tank with an internal filter), I absolutely hated it. Found it impossible to keep clean and it always looked so dirty because you could see every last piece of crap resting on top, although I guess this wouldn't be such a problem if the sand was black. My other concern is that it could get into the filter and cause damage - I'll be running an FX5 and an FX6. There will also be 2 strong powerheads to hopefully prevent any crap from settling on the substrate. Inhabitants will be a jaguar cichlid and a lima shovelnose cat.
Would love to hear some recommendations based on past experiences. Thanks.
Steve