Substrate

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Rhino

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Apr 2, 2011
Messages
744
Location
Cookeville, TN
So I am at the point where I am considering substrate for my aquarium and I can not decide on what to get. Sand or gravel. (fyi my tank is a freshwater) I really like the look of sand as I have seen several of you all have. I do have some conerns though abut what this will do to my filter? Also what brand of pfs did you all use and where can I get it at?
 
Definitely go sand. It is cleaner and much more natural. What type of filter do you have?

I don't recommend PFS. I only use and recommend Estes' Ultra Reef (it is not calcium based, so not a true marine sand). I prefer either solid black or black and white mixed. This sand is extremely uniform in size (a size perfect to let oxygen get to the whole sandbed). It has a polymer coating to prevent the silica from causing brown algae (something PFS does not have).
 
+1 On the sand.

I went gravel and with a number of bottom feeders, I didn't realize just how stupid that was until after I got it... Sand and silt are generally what you find in natural bodies of water too.
 
If anything, I think the gravel substrate would hurt them more... Far jaggier edges... But I'm no expert there. I've seen snails at LFS in tanks with sand substrates, but that doesn't necessarily mean much.
 
Sand won't bother tham, Malaysian trumpet snails love it.

With filtration just keep the intake up as high as you can. This way if a fish decides to play in the sand and stir it up a little it won't get sucked into the filter. The sand I mentioned sinks VERY quickly, so it won't just cloud the tank or drift until getting sucked up.
 
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