Substrate Questions

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
So I decided to remove all the gravel and go with the black sand look. I had been contemplating doing this for quite some time and decided to just go ahead and do it. I was wavering back n forth between black sand, and a combination of tan and white similar to what Infblue and Xrayz have in their tanks. In the end I went with black because I enjoy the way it makes the bichirs stand out.

I had heard great things about 3M colorquartz and decided to try and locate some. It is much cheaper than the volcano sand and I felt that it offered more options as well. After much searching and research I eventually found out from 3M that they discontinued the colorquartz line late last year. After some more research I found a comparable replacement in Spectraquartz and a place that sold it here in San Diego. I bought two 50 lb bags of F grade, rinsed it, and threw in on in the tank. I plan to buy one more bag just to fill it in nicely.

I snapped a few quick shots without the plants in the tank to give an overall idea of how it looks. I also plan to remove the artificial plants and wood and go with a tank full of all natural driftwood. I'll update with pics when I add some nice driftwood.

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I actually was an idiot and left my filter on for about 10 mins after I started putting the sand in. It wasn't until I heard my filter making noise that I was like "oh sh*t!" lol! I cut it off and took the filter outside and washed the sand out before it did any damage to my filter. I left it off for about 30 mins. It settled quite quickly. Also it's called Spectraquartz. It's an alternative to Colorquartz. It was about $22.50 for a 50 lb bag and it's about the same grain size as the S grade Coloquartz from 3M.
 
Nice sand, i used pool filter sand and i like it way better than gravel. It's easy to clean as all the crap just sits on the top and it is easy to vac
 
Yeah I noticed the same thing as well. Cleaning the tank is super easy cause everything just floats on top f the sand. I just net it out or it gets sucked into the filter. Super easy and low maintenance.
 
I bought it from a place called Kretus in Clairmont off the 15. The exact address escapes me but google it and you'll definitely find it. It's called Spectraquartz and a 50 lb bag cost me about $22.50. Great stuff




yengkypluto;4341295; said:
where did you buy the sand at because i live in san diego too and was going to get sand for my tank also.
 
MonsterFishKeepers.com