dark vs light substrate...what do you prefer?

[JoeBoxer]

Wondering what everyones thoughts are on this.

I personally love the look of white sand as a substrate, but I keep hearing that itll wash the fish's colours out and that a dark substrate is better.

Never really had a super dark substrate before, so cant comment based on experience.

Debating between white and black sand for my new peaceful comm tank Im setting up.

Thoughts?

 

[ehh]

I have white sand in one of my tanks and I hate it. It's so freaken bright and I'm sure it's washing out the color of my barbs and convict.
I have a tank with black sand I like it so much more.
But I prefer browns though.

 

[convict360]

Dark is best, but black looks very unnatural; brown can often be quite nice and looks more reminiscent of something you might see in the wild

 

[punman]

I have tan sand in most tanks and black and white (salt/pepper) in one that looks pretty sweet.
I tried white once - too much debris shows.
I tried black once - took too much light to show fish well.

 

[Ihsnshaik]

I have both and I like black with certain fish. dark also means they will adapt to their surroundings so some darker fish will look too dark. My Trimacs I used to have looked very bad in a black background and black sand but once I got them in a white sand they looked like stunners

 

[Hendre]

I have a natural gravel. I like black and i love brown but i do not get any brown apart from fluorite dark which is super expensive. I dont mind the light gravel but it has made my African knives become lighter in colour

 

[Bottomfeeder]

Depends on the fish. Higher contrast, solid-colored fish show up best over a dark substrate... black gravel, or even a bare bottom over a dark stand. More uniform-colored fish and fish that have chromatophores that reduce and increase mottling would probably show up better over a more mixed substrate, like multi-colored natural gravel or even white sand with gravel mixed in.

Personally, I don't use substrate in any of my aquatic enclosures. It just gets too dirty and full of waste and uneaten food for my liking. But I always used black gravel in community/oddball tanks and the sand/gravel combo for planted tanks.

 

[duanes]

If you have white or tan substrate, it can wash out colors, because many fish tend to instinctively blend in with their surroundings (cichlids are notorious for this).
But if you provide enough darker objects in the tank to counteract the light sand such as rocks, wood, or plants (and maybe a dark background, I usually place styrofoam painted black on the back of my tanks) washout can be prevented.
Since I use pool filter sand as substrate, it is very light. But dark wood is a great contrast (to me) in tandem with a black back ground.

 

[o5b0rn3b]

my white sand gets a film of algae on it that makes it look disgusting, I don't have very powerful lights either. I'd 100% go dark.

 

[PYRU]

If you have white or tan substrate, it can wash out colors, because many fish tend to instinctively blend in with their surroundings (cichlids are notorious for this).
But if you provide enough darker objects in the tank to counteract the light sand such as rocks, wood, or plants (and maybe a dark background, I usually place styrofoam painted black on the back of my tanks) washout can be prevented.
Since I use pool filter sand as substrate, it is very light. But dark wood is a great contrast (to me) in tandem with a black back ground.

This is what I do as well. Gives me the best colors across the board and the sand is heavy so it settles quickly if stirred up.

I've tried black in the past, but it creates a black hole look. It looked good with reds and that's pretty much it (imo).