I have a weekend off coming up and I've decided to move my midevil (was hoping he was a red devil) from his 55 gallon home to the new 90 gallon I recently received, and naturally I've begun to second guess myself. On deciding which substrate to use I haven't been able to pick one on my own so I was hoping some of you guys guys could offer your opinions, suggestions or recommendations to help me out. I've heard pool filter sand from one source, play sand, all purpose sand and pebbles from another...enlighten me.
Opinions?
- Thread starter rdKirby
- Start date
Both PFS and play sand look about the same, but play sand is much lighter and easily stirred up by a large cichlid making its living. When stirred up it can esily get into filters and ruin pumps.
I started with play sand, but now only use PFS.
Both sand types allow detritus to stay on the surface of the sand to be easily vacuumed off, with regular water changes, while pool sand is heavier it tends to stay in the tank, while play sand gets sucked up.
The problem I find with pea gravel is detritus falls in between the cracks, and has a chance to decompose and create hydrogen sulfide pockets, and nitrate precursors.
I started with play sand, but now only use PFS.
Both sand types allow detritus to stay on the surface of the sand to be easily vacuumed off, with regular water changes, while pool sand is heavier it tends to stay in the tank, while play sand gets sucked up.
The problem I find with pea gravel is detritus falls in between the cracks, and has a chance to decompose and create hydrogen sulfide pockets, and nitrate precursors.
I like PFS. It's cleaner heavier and generally lacks the very fine dust like particules that loft up and destroy impellers. That's been my experiance anyway.
After reviewing the setups of some of the tanks with black diamond I like the way it looks. However, I don't know too much about it and previous threads don't seem to discus if it is fine or coarse. More info would be greatly appreciated.
Cant beat tile, super easy to clean, and looks amazing if done right. The tile is usualy ome of the first comments I get from people that see my tanks.