Gravel color selection, and UGF question

[rickschabener]

Hello all,

New guy to the site. I've had community tropical fish on and off for 20 years. I presently have a 29 gallon all fancy guppy tank. Whisper 3 filter and an UGF filter with a power head. No bio-wheel. I do have decorations and plastic plants in the tank. My tank is for show (Not just a breeder tank). The tank has been established for 6 years. And, I am not good at changing water as often as I should. I do clean the gravel when I change the water though.

I have 2 questions:
1. I am looking for ideas to make the colors of my fancy guppies jump out more. I'm thinking of removing my white/tan gravel and putting in black. Will that make the fish's color stand out better? If so, anything special I should look for in the gravel I choose? Where to buy? How deep? Is black a good choice? Also, what about a dark/black background-good idea?

2. I've been reading the UGF debate and am thinking that this would be a good time to permanently remove it (especially since I am not good abount my water changes). I have read up on how to do this in an established aquarium. Do you agree that the UGF should go?

I would appreciate any ideas to make the colors of the fish stand out more. Thanks for your input. Any comments welcome.
Rick

 

[Allivymar]

Hiya and welcome to AquariumAdvice rick

I use Tahitian Moon sand in my planted tank; its a lovely somewhat sparkly black sand and my dwarf gouramis look stunning against it. I think black would make your guppies stand out nicely. I don't, however, use a backround as the tank is pretty well planted and the plants in the back block the view of the wall.

I'm not a big UGF fan; I use the HOB filters with the Bio-Wheels atm and have been very pleased with them. I also have a Fluval 1+ in my 10g hex tank and it too has been great. If you decide to remove the UGF do be careful. You say you aren't diligent about cleaning out underneath there; theres a chance there is a build-up of anaerobic bacteria under there which could cause probs when trying to replace it. Hopefully someone with experience changing from a UGF will have some tips.

 

[madasafish]

1) I think the UGF should go. It's more of a burden than a boon nowadays... Ammonia problems and all.

2) Black is a great substrate for improving color. All my tanks have black gravel, and my fish look bright and healthy! Then again it really depends on your fish. Dark fish will do better against a white sand substrate, while off-white and lighter colored fish will do better against black. I find that a multi-color natural looking substrate is beautiful, but camouflages the fish, and detracts from their appearance.

3) Changing the position of the lighting in your tank also brings out brightness. Try moving your light to the front or back to add vibrance to your fish's coloration.

4) Krill also brings out colors in fish, so if you want, consider feeding it to your fish for a natural brightness.

Petco has the black gravel. I got mine there...

Consider switching to the Bio-Wheel filters. They are really very good. I've got a Penguin 330 on my 55, and am loving it. Get it cheap at bigals.com. Even with shipping you're still paying half as much as you'd pay at the LFS. For a 29, you could get a Penguin 170 or 330 (170 may be better for guppies). They'll set you back a mere $22 and $24 dollars respectively at bigals!

Water changes are a real pain in the butt. Consider getting a python no spill to help yourself out. Mine is in the mail, and I'm sure it will revolutionize my water changes. You put it in, turn on the tap and the water pressure from the tap sucks the water right out of your tank. Then, flip the switch and fill the tank back up. Add water dechlorinator, pH regulator, salt, plant fertilizer liquid as you fill it up. Brilliant system, and you can get the gravel vac attachment to make life easier. May be able to attach your existing gravel vac... not sure.

Hope this helps.

Jonathan

 

[madasafish]

Urg. Goes to show how slow I am at finishing my posts! AlliV beat me by 8 minutes!

 

[Allivymar]

*snickers*

I'm good madasa, what can I say?

Btw, you will LOVE your Python!! I also urge you to look into one rick; if your very motivated (I'm not LOL) you can even build your own for much less (I think either 6footdaisy or hollieo from this forum did just that). Makes water changes and gravel vacs SO much easier.

 

[shawmutt]

I have a black background and black gravel in my 10 gallon, It used to be in my 30. It really makes the fish stand out. I had cardinal tetras in mine, and they just shone with the dark background and substrate.

 

[William]

I used to have black balck gravel in my tank

However, I recently [ and accidentally, mind you ] bought some dark grey gravel and put it over the black gravel [ was meaning to add more black gravel, to bring my tank up to the right level since my gravel was waaay to thin ]


Anyways, the grey seems to bounce the light better then the black, its still rather dark, but it really does make my fish, atleast, look more colourful.

 

[rickschabener]

Thanks for the responses. I have never seen sand in a aquarium. Doesn't some of it get siphoned out when you clean the gravel during a water change?

Is there a biological preference between coarse gravel, fine gravel, and sand? What depth is recommended these days: I've read anywhere from "1-2 inches" to "absolutely no more than 1/4 inch." I do not have live plants.

And, where's the best place to buy it? Or, should I simply buy the coarse black (flat/dull) gravel that my local Petsmart has?

Thanks again for your suggestions.

 

[Allivymar]

A little of the sand gets picked up when I vacuum, but one of the nice things about sand is the detritus sits on the top. I use a small siphon (its a 10g) and just run it over the top of the sand (as opposed to getting it into the substrate like I do with gravel). Pulls up the poo/leftover food without grabbing big hunks of sand.

I would think with more open spaces, larger size substrate means more surface for nitrifying bacteria (more spaces for the tank water to circulate). That being said, I use Bio-Wheels; the majority of my bacteria lives there (and the filter) and I don't have any problems with ammonia spikes (in fact, I gravel vac my entire 55g at least once a week and its never been an issue).

My planted tank with sand runs from a 1 1/2- 4 inch depth; the 55g has about 1/2" of gravel.

The prettiest sand is usually found at a lfs. You can get cheaper sand at a Home Depot/Lowes, but I can't remember what type you should be looking for (I know SW folks looks for Southdown, but I'm not sure if thats what should be used in a FW tank; maybe someone can chime in here on that).

 

[shawmutt]

The prettiest sand is usually found at a lfs. You can get cheaper sand at a Home Depot/Lowes, but I can't remember what type you should be looking for (I know SW folks looks for Southdown, but I'm not sure if thats what should be used in a FW tank; maybe someone can chime in here on that).

The southdown sand is in my 30 gal Lake Malawi (FW african cichlid), but I dont think they make it in black--it's just plain sand. The southdown sand is argonite, which will raise the pH in your water. If this is not desireable, look for silica-based sand (a fancy way of saying quartz sand). However, if it's black sand you want, the only places I can think of getting it is the lfs or online pet stores. I know drsfostersmith.com have it:
( http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?siteid=6&pCatId=7324 ).

Here's my tank with the sand:
( http://www.aquariumadvice.com/download.php?id=2025 )

 

[jratuszn]

I got awesome black silica sand at a landscaping place- 4 bucks for 80#. It was sold for use with paver bricks. I just filled my tank up and added the sand about a week ago. I was lazy, and did a crummy rinse job on the sand, but it still settled really well after an hour or 2. So far, I have had no problems at all with any of the color leaching out. I just have some Giant Danios in there right now for cycling, but even their colors stand out beautifully. I would definitely recommend this as the way to go. (I have some pics of it in my gallery).

Good Luck!

-Jeff