This post has me paranoid that maybe the reason my orangeheads lost their color and weakened over time was that maybe they hated the PFS...
I forgot the brand, but it was a clear bag with blue writing and a wave shape on it. It's perfectly white.
I am starting to think I prefer the more natural looking stuff though, after looking at your pics.
(I will say this, though, the PFS I have required NO washing. Which was pretty awesome.)
I also use Carib-Sea aragonite (white) in my African tank, mixed with one bag of another brand that is both white and black. It does such a good job buffering the water that I eased off the rift lake buffer and it still holds a super hard 8 pH and the fish breed. The con, as I see it, is that it's super light weight. I can't vacuum effectively in that tank (aside from it being so rock-heavy of course). It gets more substrate than poop. I end up using a net to gently swirl it around then snatch it up.
First pic is of just the aragonite, easy to see the texture. Bigger particles than the PFS. 2nd pic is after the lower layer with the black blended better. It has some obvious flecks but is still mostly white overall.
I have 3M colorquartz in black. Great stuff but I dont think you can get it anymore. It settles really quickly after being kicked up by my Hoplo, is a nice uniform dark black, and didnt cause too much clouding after a brief rinse.
That CaribSea is really nice Dan. I need to head down and see it in person one day. I like it allot. Nice to see others not taking the cheap route. $0.90 / lbs shipped is not a bad deal at all. I pay $0.50 / lbs locally for mine.
Great thread, I'm liking Leslie's Pool Filter Sand. Might try to get some, thanks for the heads up there . This thread should be stickied . And also maybe somebody could do a thread for "Gravel vs sand" to answer all the many qns about substrate once and for all
. This thread should be stickied 