ray substrates?

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The True Guapote

The True Guapote

Piranha
MFK Member
Apr 14, 2005
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Cincinnati, Ohio
I know rays are sort of confined to either bare bottom or sand, and there seems to be a couple different schools of thought as for the type of sand to use, so what are you guys using and where do you get it?
I removed half the gravel from my tank yesterday and my fish are obsessively looking at the bottom and I'm not digging the looks of bare bottom...the tank is in my dining room so I'm trying to keep it aesthetically pleasing to avoid the wife nagging me.
Is all gravel a no-no? The stuff I was using was just cheap "pea gravel" I got from Home Depot for like $4/bag.
 
Estes Marine sand is a great choice and is for both saltwater and freshwater use. It is a coated, non-silicate substrate. I recommend keeping it about half of an inch deep.
 
I am using Tahitian Moon Sand.....I know...I know....not good for rays....but it was in there when I got the ray. I have watched closely for the past month and have had no problems. I will eventually change it and when I do I am changing it to VERY small gravel. My LFS has some and it is about 3 times the size of a grain of sand and coated....but expensive at $1.19 a lb. It is just a heck of a lot of work...and stress for the ray...to take the old syuff out and replace it!
 
I'll see what my lfs has tomorrow, I'd like to get Torpedo beach ideally. Otherwise it'll be bare bottom for a while!
 
lincolngoh;5106168; said:
I would suggest something rounded that does not affect PH. How fine depends on what filtration you are using.
Click to expand...

Estes Marine sand fits that bill. It sinks quickly in my experience.
 
I use silver sand for mine i got it from the garden centre but because the rays push it to the back i brought shiney black tiles and looks really good so if you dont want sand try tiles they should sell you 1 so you can see how it looks
 
Is that the sand in your avatar? I like the looks of that. I'll do some looking around for silver sand. Does it have any other common name?
 
Caribsea Peace River. It's a small gravel and works very well w/rays.

I recently used Petco's "free shipping over $50" to get 3 bags of Peace River at a decent price.
 
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