PFS cheap substrate or a bag of annoyance

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

xxwolfpackof1xx

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Feb 14, 2011
Messages
5,210
Location
Rhode Island
ok after reading numerous articles online and threads here is PFS bad or good i beleive it looks nice is cost effective and widly available for my nano ive decided on pfs i should hopefully be gettin a bag over the weekend. i want to hear both sides on the pfs issue and your personal experience please keep it friendly no fighting
 
I love it and we use it in 30ish tanks, including planted. Quality, color, and make up can vary locally / regionally as well though.
 
Scratch that.... great in FW, not for SW. New posts reading got me. Sorry.
 
I recommend plain ol' dry aragonite. It's fairly cheap and will become live sand eventually. There is no need to spend the extra money on bagged "live sand". It is a gimmick IMO.
 
severum mama said:
I recommend plain ol' dry aragonite. It's fairly cheap and will become live sand eventually. There is no need to spend the extra money on bagged "live sand". It is a gimmick IMO.

yeah kus that live sand is and will die fairly fast
 
severum mama said:
I recommend plain ol' dry aragonite. It's fairly cheap and will become live sand eventually. There is no need to spend the extra money on bagged "live sand". It is a gimmick IMO.

The "live sand" sits sealed in bags on the shelves for weeks or even months. What in your tank would be live after that long ? Agreed, its a scam
 
backk to pfs people say it compacts but it dosnt it was desighned for water to pass through but that play sand will quickly commpact and thats not good
 
Either is inappropriate for a SW tank IMO.
 
xxwolfpackof1xx said:
backk to pfs people say it compacts but it dosnt it was desighned for water to pass through but that play sand will quickly commpact and thats not good

I decided to go PFS because of that very reason, it's designed to have water pass without compacting and because it's a bit larger grain than play sand. Mine is in FW right now, but my brackish will have PFS as I'm getting it ready and my future SW will have it too.
 
Estes's Ultra Reef sand, extremely cheap from Big Al's! You'll probably need only 2 bags and you can get it in white, black, beige, and blue!
 
I decided to go PFS because of that very reason, it's designed to have water pass without compacting and because it's a bit larger grain than play sand. Mine is in FW right now, but my brackish will have PFS as I'm getting it ready and my future SW will have it too.


Good luck. Based on experience, I'll say you will definitely need it. PFS lacks any buffering capacity. Please research before you add animals to your future tanks.
 
HN1 said:
Good luck. Based on experience, I'll say you will definitely need it. PFS lacks any buffering capacity. Please research before you add animals to your future tanks.

Buffering capacity? The gravel from Petco (soon to be replaced with PFS) has buffering capacity?
 
I assumed he meant SW, but I may be wrong. I do know that aragonite buffers pH in the SW aquarium
 
iDreamInSaltwater said:
I assumed he meant SW, but I may be wrong. I do know that aragonite buffers pH in the SW aquarium

Yep, you're right he did. So when you said either would work, which did you mean? Wouldn't PFS become live sand after a while? My local PFS isn't silica based.
 
Back
Top Bottom