substrate or not substrate! thats the question

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
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Steve Manly

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 11, 2012
148
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london UK
yes or no, whats your reasoning.

i cant decide whether i want substrate in my 200g that Im building to hold new world chiclids and tinfoils and plecs and a bircher

any and all comments welcome and urged!!

thanks
 
I always use gravel because I like the way it looks. I know sand is super popular, and bare substrate is super easy to clean, but if I dont like the way my tank looks, then whats the point?
 
true. ive got some pink stone gravel (its not as horid as it sounds) in my 260ltr at the mo, i like it its just that with my chiclids...it gets dirty proper dirty. with the way my new ones set up, you cant see the gravel any way.

is there a scientific reason to have gravel....

i know that bacteria colonize the gravel. but ive got a 100G sump so...
 
From what I have heard the gravel isnt very pourous, so bio media is orders of magnitude better at bacterial colonization, but I cant say I have formal data about that. Is this for your plywood build? Saw you post on that and it turned out really nice. Anyhow, sand is often preferred over gravel since certain typs of fish will sift through it, and sand is easier for them. Thats about all the science I have heard for either case.

If your doing live plants that could determine what you want, otherwise you could go back and forth for days and not have a clear winner between bare, sand or gravel. I'd say try whatever you think looks the best, if youre not happy, try something else.
 
thank you;)

i do like plants but with my fish and my luck NO WAY

sand does look awesome! i had some pure white sand in a malawi a while back.

waht could i put in a tank with large chiclids and a poypterus to help clean the sand?

geophagus' snails...?
 
I have four tanks, all with a different substrate. one with Spectraquartz sand, one with gravel/ rocks, one with a tiled bottom and the last one with a bare bottom. The bare tank is by far the cleanest and easiest to clean (though for whatever reason I fight algae in that tank alot more).
The gravel/ rock bottom is ALWAYS the dirtiest even though it probably has the 2nd lowest bio load.
 
geos are good, I have used clown loaches and a high fin cat with my cichlid tanks and both work well for cleaning the gravel, though I'm sure all of those fish prefer sand to gravel
 
gravel since i like the way it looks. Sand is nothing but a pain to me. and bare bottom looks horrid in my opinion. But your tank your choice,
 
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