what substrate to use

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RLHam3

RLHam3

Candiru
MFK Member
Oct 29, 2008
536
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48
Georgia
was wondering if anybody had any opinions on substrate (specifically for the kyoga flamebacks). I just picked up a 40 gal and a group of these Victorian cichlids and a I wanted different opinions of what to use as the substrate. I have pool filter sand in several of my other aquariums and i think that it functions very well. One thing that I've noticed is that the colors of the new world cichlids with a PFS substrate seem a little washed out where as the mbuna i'm keeping seem as vibrant as ever.
What effects will the white sand have on the colors of these fish?

Also, i would like to add crushed coral but i've had somebody tell me that it could scratch the mouths of my cichlids?

My plan now is to use no background and a mix of 3 parts PFS and 1 parts crushed coral. Does anyone see any potential problems with this?
 
hey try aragonite (aragomax). it looks good and it is very fine so they can dig around with no worries. it would also raise the ph which the kyoga would really appreciate. its a little more pricy than the pfs but is of higher quality you can also mix it with the crushed coral
 
well my main reason for using the PFS was actually because it is large grained so it settles really easily and doesn't get in my filters. it's also round grained so they won't scratch themselves on it. (its also really cheap)

I would like to find a darker sand with both of those properties, but i doubt that i will be able to so i'll probably just end up with the mix that i mentioned above
 
Sounds good to me, OP
 
They sell a salt and pepper cichlid sand which settles nice, but comes with a price, as for the crushed coral I would add it to the filter
 
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