substrate

[beblondie]

I started out with flourite actually,then switched to fine crushed gravel the grains are a lil bigger than sand heavier too. Then to barebottom for ease of maintanence.I do paint the bottom of the tank black -Anne

 

[smellslikefish]

i went with gavel. although i really like the look of sand i was afraid of it getting in my
aqua clear filters.

 

[jmart.cooper]

I like how sand looks and its easy to clean. It's also inexpensive and you can change it out later easily. I paint the bottom of my tanks black anyway because sometimes they move the sand and it looks better black than seeing the stand.

 

[Hao]

sand b/c itlooks nautral but if you paint the thebottom black and leave it bare then its still good

 

[dbcb314]

started with cheap sand... hated it... take always looked dirty because you could always see the poop, it would get into the filter and caused it to be noisy. also made it hard to see my sens on the brown sand

went with river rock... hated it too hard for the fish to get the food, plus the fishwere hard to see

switched to black gravel and love it. hards the poop and stuff well. easy to clean. and the fish look great on it. only thing I worry about is a bichir swallowing it and dieing but it hasn't happened yet.

 

[ewurm]

I prefer a larger grain of sand. Caribsea Torpedo Beach doesn't get blown around by high flow, yet it doesn't compact making maintenance easy.

 

[benzjamin13]

I prefer sand. As easy as BB Tanks are to maintain, I feel that it doesn't look complete.

 

[David R]

Coarse sand/grit usually, altho my dels grow out tank is bare bottom so its easier to clean.

 

[Cohazard]

I use gravel because of the aesthetics of the type I have.

I loved the play sand I was using, but I didn't like when the bichirs would go crazy and would have sand grains stuck to them. I would see them scratch a lot and I got the feeling it may irritate them.

Also, even with my intakes at half depth, the sand still got in the filters.

I also tried bare bottom, but when it's cold all the hairs on the back end would stand up... aaand I'm taking that joke too far huh? lol



Sometimes I feel like an jerk for risking it by using gravel, especially since my ornates are the type of pigs that might eat the substrate accidentally, so I make sure to keep a sharper eye on those two youngins at feeding time.

Sand will always be best, especially if you can find that perfect grain size.

 

[Cholly]

I use gravel because I'm real old school, and I use UGF with powerheads. I'll probably go canister with my next tank, may try sand then.