what substrate to use for my new 120?

[Nic]

i loved how my tank looked with my altifrons when it had brown concrete sand.... any supply yard will have that type of sand looks awesome with geos and a black back ground

 

[freeskier]

River sand, Eartheaters love it, and it looks very natural, obviously.

Play sand (the really fine stuff) is also nice in my opinion.

japes i've always liked how your tanks are set up, but I don't know where to find river sand around here. Did you buy it or poach from a local stream?

 

[freeskier]

If you want eartheaters, I'd definitley recommend sand. I prefer the pool filter sand, it's much less silty,doesn't require the intense washing of playsand and doesn't get thrown up into the filter as easily as playsand. If you want to put some plants in, you don't need to cover the entire bottom of the tank with flourite or eco-complete, you can make rock circles or get low circular clay pots, like the ones used under upright pots to catch excess water and just put it in there and plant those. It's a much more efficient use of your money and will look more natural.

thanks thats a really good idea

 

[freeskier]

i just ordered 100 lbs of "buff" 3m colorquartz. i can pick it up tomorrow afternoon after they grab it from the warehouse. if it's not enough i can always get more; the place is 5 minutes from my house. i was going to get black but decided on the more natural look.

 

[Mudfrog]

So how did you find a supplier for the 3M?

 

[Snakehead23]

River sand looks good and is easy to clean as many people say it isn't but I have had no problems with mine.

 

[westup]

i just ordered 100 lbs of "buff" 3m colorquartz. i can pick it up tomorrow afternoon after they grab it from the warehouse. if it's not enough i can always get more; the place is 5 minutes from my house. i was going to get black but decided on the more natural look.

nice, did you order the s grade? i was also checking out the "buff" color let me know how things turn out

 

[japes]

japes i've always liked how your tanks are set up, but I don't know where to find river sand around here. Did you buy it or poach from a local stream?

I'm a dirty poacher, but you can buy it around here so I'm sure you can find it somewhere.

 

[freeskier]

nice, did you order the s grade? i was also checking out the "buff" color let me know how things turn out

yes i ordered 100# s-grade "buff" color. it is very easy to clean - i put about 20 lbs in a bucket at a time, rinsed it until it ran clear and then dumped it in the tank. very clean and very easy to work with. the buff looks like natural sand which is what i wanted. i had considered the "brown" or "smoke" color for something a little more dramatic but am very happy with buff.

So how did you find a supplier for the 3M?

3m has a list of suppliers on its website. AGSCO made me pick up the next day because they were busy with big (1000's of lbs) orders but they gave me a free sample case with all the colors and were very friendly.

here's some pictures of my set-up so far. i guess i'll start a new thread when i have a background up. i got the tank, stand, glass top, double strip, and fluval filter for $300. i sanded and polyurethaned the stand and it looks good as new -- maybe better.

stock so far:
5x silver dollar
2x aquidons
1x geophagus brasilienises
1x satanoperca leucosta
1x gymnogeophagus

i know the stocking is kind've a mash-up but i had to switch around some tanks. my male satanoperca was beating up the female and the gymno so i put the underdogs into the bigger tank.

 

[johnny_1993]

#$%# awesome!
looks great!

your need better geos than brasillienesis tho. lol.