Sand substrate recommendations

[Brian_Indiana]

Do not buy play sand. If you get a cheapo sand that isn't made for aquariums the only one I would consider is pool filter sand.

The sand I recommended is about the cost of gravel, so if you can afford to buy enough gravel you can afford to buy enough sand that is actually made for use in aquariums. This is what I suggest. You only have to buy it once, so it is not like it is an ongoing expense like food.

Agreed....play sand is horrible.

I have to disagree on Ultra Reef being the same price as gravel. Its cheaper than Caribsea, but much more than regular gravel substrate IME.

 

[Insidiac]

Ok, so if too light of a sand color isnt a good idea, but I really dont like the look of cichlid sand, would it be alright if I mixed pool filter sand with some other type of actual aquarium sand such as aragonite? Also, is all filter sand free of silica?

 

[oldschool64bus]

100 pound bags at home depot are like $7 and change, its a white crushed quartz, I have a bag and a half of that with about 15 pounds of black from a local fish store mixed in, havent had any problems and its been up and running since mid December

not the best pic sorry, but you get the idea

 

[Insidiac]

Wow haha I dont even see the black in there, is it noticeable?

 

[Jrob]

i was thinking about doing the same, im glad you asked about this...i dont want white, thought about pure black, but not quite sure

 

[oldschool64bus]

i was thinking about doing the same, im glad you asked about this...i dont want white, thought about pure black, but not quite sure

only black I could find local comes in 5 pound bags at $5.99 each, my 200 pounds of white cost less than the 15 of black I have mixed in so far

Wow haha I dont even see the black in there, is it noticeable?

it made a HUGE difference, I want to mix a bit more in but just havent yet
heres a before shot, the sand washed everything out, black background helped some too

 

[Gruntking]

I have PFS and would highly reccomend it if you want sand for cheap. Its usually around $3-5 per 50 pounds.

I have noticed the "washing out" though and am also thinking about adding about 20 pounds of some black sand to mix it in.

How are your experiences with mixed PFS and black sand for fish color? I would go all black sand but dont like the black on black look with the BG.

 

[Jrob]

welllll thats not very cool...5.99 a bag : /

 

[oldschool64bus]

like I said mixing the black in helped a lot but I need more, I also took out a lot of the light colored rock I had in there and left the darker stuff

 

[Gruntking]

The sand under this guy is pure PFS, but you can notice the washing out :/, he had his complete firemouth very colorful.

This is PFS on my 46

and PFS on my 75

LAst pic is a bit overexposed.