New to Polypterus - Substrate Advice!

[ShanerBock888]

Wow they look great. How long have they been on the new substrate?

Thanks man. They went in on Wednesday night, so 3 days. They may continue to change, especially the lap.

 

[jaws7777]

I think they'll definitly keep changing. When i changed substrates some of them took a month to fully settle in

 

[clm08k]

Ok so I just put together a couple of split screens for the polys that showed significant differences between substrates. My Senegalus didn't look any different so I'll just include a pic in the new tank. I must say I'm incredibly happy with the new substrate. I love the way it looks in the tank, and I love the way it makes the polys look. It keeps the blacks black and the light colors light, full detail and contrast. I've also discovered that spiderwood is perfect for polys. It provides them with the illusion of cover, but since it's kind of gangly it allows you to see them while they hide among it. I think I'm going to add another piece to their tank, along with a couple more plants.

I also plan to finally start a "My Polys" thread soon, rather than continuing to use this thread like one. I also may start a new thread just for these before and after pics because I wish I'd had them when I first got into polys, to help decide how to set up their tank.

Some of these pics kinda suck because my phone just sucks, and I finally dug my camera out of storage only to find it's broken. But I think they do a good job of showing how drastic the improvement is.

First is the Endlicheri. This guy was awesome looking all along, but now you can really see his markings. The top pic looks blurry, but believe it or not it's mostly because the black sand just ruined the detail.
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Here's my larger Delhezi. He's probably changed the most on the new substrate, and is my most active poly so he seems to be loving the new larger tank.
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My Koliba Lapradei lost almost all detail on the black sand and is now shifting toward a sorta dark green which is awesome. He took several weeks to get as dark as he was, so I think he's still changing on the new substrate. I expect him to look even better in a couple weeks.
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My Gold Dust is the only one that I think looked better on the black. But he's much much less timid in the new tank for some reason, so I get to see him a lot more. The top pic is horrible because the only time he wasn't hiding he was moving fast, so it's really blurry. But I think it gives the gist of what he looked like.
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I never saw my Mokelembembe in the last tank, he spent the whole day behind a rock I had in there, so I couldn't get any decent pics of him. But he was much more brown in that tank, and is now looking a little green. He's also a lot less timid now.
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My smaller senegalus looks almost exactly the same as the previous tank. This is the guy with the backbone issue, but he's doing great considering.
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And here's the whole tank with the new substrate
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love the knew substrate. Polys seem to as well! CRAZY improvements in color. That's super great that the timid polys like the moke are becoming more viewable.
what did you brand/mix did you decide on for the substrate? Seems like a great alternative to red!

Looking forward to seeing more of your polys and your upcoming "my polys" thread.

 

[ShanerBock888]

love the knew substrate. Polys seem to as well! CRAZY improvements in color. That's super great that the timid polys like the moke are becoming more viewable.
what did you brand/mix did you decide on for the substrate? Seems like a great alternative to red!

Looking forward to seeing more of your polys and your upcoming "my polys" thread.

Thanks! I must say I'm really happy with the results. The mixture is 2 bags FloraMax Original, 1 bag FloraMax Volcanic Red, and then 1 20 lb bag Imagitarium "Aztec Bronze" (from petco) It definitely seems to be a good alternative to red. I may just have to buy a couple dozen more polys to see how they look on it... lol

 

[Polyaddict86]

I think black sand is nice for UJ, but for LJ not a chance.

 

[ShanerBock888]

I think black sand is nice for UJ, but for LJ not a chance.

Yeah i think you're right. The upper jaws don't seem to change as much. The exception is Delhezi, they look sooo much worse on the black

 

[ShanerBock888]

omg my retropinnis committed suicide overnight... You know that part of HOB filters that house the impeller? Well it sat less than 1/4" from the glass, and the top of it was about 1" from the top of the water. I just found my retro sandwiched between the glass and filter, with his back half still in the water, but the front half out of the water...

I really didn't see that coming... Spent so much time making it so they couldn't jump out of the tank, but this guy manages to jump out of the water without leaving the tank. Switched out the aqueon HOB for an aquaclear, which doesn't have that part...

 

[jaws7777]

Damn man that sucks bro.

 

[Hendre]

That really sucks. I need to polyproof my tanks back corner, the bracing and HOB covers the rest of the tank. They could climb onto that but not get out past the hood

 

[ShanerBock888]

I just figured out a great method of poly-proofing. I just cut pieces of acrylic and used silicone to attach them to the lip of the tank rim on either side of the filters. I cut little notches for heater cords and airlines. Then I sandwiched black filter sponge between the glass lid and the filter lid to close off the area where the filter return is. It looks good and is completely protected, unless one of your polys gets creative like my retro...