Whats the best substrate?

[HiImSean]

i prefer sand. its cheap and easy to clean

 

[John Rambo]

i prefer sand. its cheap and easy to clean

I might be the only person to say this, but I have a hard time cleaning my sand! My fish poo seems heavier than the sand so the sand gets sucked up the tube before the poo. Or, the poo breaks down over a few days and the "poo dust" gets under the sand creating those dangerous stinky bubbles. I switched from gavel to sand and regret it! I am now trying bare.

 

[stickman]

i have a hard time too, but then again i still use syphon and bucket. ya get most, but the small stuff can be a pain.......

 

[Fish on Fire]

I prefer black moon sand to play sand or gravel. It's expensive as hell though, lol.

 

[oscarluvr]

i have pool filter sand in 2 tanks, i am going back to gravel in my 150 this weekend, my oscars and plecos seem to think half my tank should be bare bottom, the front has sand piled up almost six inches high, it looks ugly....

 

[scubasteve06]

I'd say sand but I am sure others would disagree.

 

[DISCIPLE]

i use 3m color quartz aggregate in "t" grade and "s" grade both are heavier then sand and easy to clean w/ "t" being a bit bigger. the black looks better then the tahatian moon sand and way cheaper. i also tried the smoke grey in my 55 ......WOW!! THE CICHLIDS LOVE DIGGING IN IT !

 

[pcfriedrich]

i use 3m color quartz aggregate in "t" grade and "s" grade both are heavier then sand and easy to clean w/ "t" being a bit bigger. the black looks better then the tahatian moon sand and way cheaper. i also tried the smoke grey in my 55 ......WOW!! THE CICHLIDS LOVE DIGGING IN IT !

I've heard you have to get the 3M color quartz from pool contractor's suply wholesalers, or soomething. Is that true, and is it expensive?

 

[Hawkfish3.0]

With those large, heavy waste-producing fish, I'd go bare bottom. It will be much easier to maintain.

 

[hmoobvwj]

I would go bare bottom too BUT why dont someone try and paint the bottom black so it looks like you have substrate but really you dont? <--- (Isnt that a good idea?)