substrate for rift lake cichlid tanks

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what do you have currently in your african cichlid tanks?

  • plain sand

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  • other special substrates

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  • african cichlid mix (carib sea)

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  • gravel

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  • bare bottom

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  • Total voters
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Travis simpson is using the black sand blasting sand but of course the iron content is a + in a planted tank.. and he has mumba's so Im really thinking your overestamating how bad the abrasiveness is for the fish.
 
travis' tank is almost fully covered by plants, except some areas where its intentionally kept open for digging. also, the sand is not the only substrate in the tank. i believe he mixes it with a number of other substrates.

anyways, i think it would be a risk. the quality of 'black beauty' could definitely vary from place to place. and i don't want a fish to get hurt by a sharp edge. but that's just my personal opinion.
 
If your dead set on Titanium Black Moon Sand then go ahead and get it..LOL Its just going to run you more money, and possibly be less abrasive, I dont know I havnt compared them in person.. maybe someone has and could give you an oppinion about it.. :mrgreen:
 
i know magi...you really want the best for me...and the fish... :) .

anyway, when i went to check the price of tahitian moon sand at my lfs, i came accross estes black sand, that was cheaper and wouldn't cost me shipping!
but i also heard walmart here carries pool sand, and i'm going to check that out. if its dark enough, i'll go with it...
 
BTW- They also sell red pool filter sand. I found that out today. I don't know if is safe for aquarium use. I'd assume it is.

Regarding the Este's black sand: I use that in all my tanks for the peppered look. The only drawback is that it has a hard time sinking. Este's sand in general is very clean. You wouldn't even need to wash it (I would though). The black just doesn't want to sink though. Don't get me wrong, the sand will sink, it's just that for a while you will have a layer of black sand on the surface. It can be broken down by running a net through it. Today I filled up my 55 gal with sand and right now I have clusters of black sand on the surface. Given time it will sink. Thats just a heads up though. It is a nice deep rich coloration and I absolutely love it.
 
I'd strongly recommend sand for rift lake species. They really enjoy digging in it and moving it around, and I find it cuts down on agression and other problems when they can do what comes naturally. Play sand is not going to irritate their gills - people use it all the time for ARLC tanks - so don't worry about that, it is your choice from an esthetic standpoint. I use Caribsea cichlid mix like mentallylost, and my fish love it. The other good thing about it is that it has mixed colors so debris does not show up as well as it does on plain white (or black) sand.
 
well, i finally went with pool sand. it was more uniform in grain size, and slightly darker than the play sand at lowe's.
you were right TG. the do love digging in it 8) . there was some confusion in the tank as i laid out the sand in a bare bottom tank with fish already in it. but all seems to have settled down now.

fishy, i might go for a mix in future, but for now, pool sand is good enough for me...
and thanks to magi for saving me a ton of money...
 
so, finally it boils down to the fact that, if you hard and alkaline tap water, there's no point in investing in costly substrates. normal sand would do fine.
 
To be honest with you the pool filter sand really shouldnt leach anything it should work with soft water just fine.. If the sand can pass the acid test then it would work in any aquarium that you would want sand in really... :mrgreen:
 
Pool filter sand is inert, so it is a great cheap substrate. I like it personally beacuse it is coarser than play sand and does not get sucked up into my python, and it hides debris pretty well due to the varied grain color.
 
wow, that's good to know TG. i was really apprehensive about using the python over sand and clogging my drain up.
magi, i'm not worried about the sand hardening my water. i would infact welcome the sideeffect :wink: . but as TG said, its inert and really doesn't matter.
 
I've noticed that too TG. In fact, I will push the gravel vac into the sand about 1/2 inch. And it will pull some up, but it will fall back down into the tank like gravel does. When cleaning my filter, I normally don't pull out any sand. But on occasion when I do, it's not much.
 
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