Poop Factory

[soulFish]

Ok just got my first and ONLY Pleco. It's a Royal, and yes, even this little 3" guy already is pooping up a storm. Right now I have him on a thin layer of white gravel, since white just brings out the "Turds" what bottom substrate do you guys recomend? Right now he's in a 29Gal and once he's big enough he'll go in the 90. But intill then which I suspect will be a year what is the prefered bottom substraite?

 

[Mosdefenate]

i think either way your going to notice it, cause i went from gravel to soe kind of white rocks and now i have sand and my friend has river rocks and we all notice it. plecos are pooping monsters =(

 

[davo]

You will always notice it. I got black gravel and theres crap everywhere. Best thing is a decent powerhead, regular gravel vacs, or even fish that break it down into smaller pieces (active bottom dwelling fish). Sand and fine gravels are the worse, you can see every turd on black gravel, so its not really just a colour thing. The best i've used is a big pea gravel substrate.

 

[rallysman]

I just parted ways with a big royal pleco because it was hard to keep up with lol.

 

[big E]

One thing that is certain, black sand makes pleco crap stand out like crazy!! I would think a natural looking gravel may provide the best "camoflouge" but nothing can replace cleanings!

 

[gollum]

I went with nothing at all for a while (still had heaps of wood though) and syphoned out every day
they produce more waste than anything else I've seen ...if you're lazy its the easiest...also could try slate tiles

 

[davo]

any really fine gravel or sand will make the poop sit on the top, whereas bigger gravel allows it to break up and fall imbetween the gaps easier so even though it's still there, it may be more astheticly pleasing.