sinibotia
Aquarium Advice Addict
Ann and I are big fans of play sand! All of our tanks, bar the barebottom tanks and the multi tank, use playsand. Here's 4 of our tanks- 2 planted, 2 not.
I just put in 'Lighthouse' brand PFS.
I used it in my 20T pisto tank.
The fish spawned the next day!
Looks yellow because I have added humic acid .
No idea about that, sorry I use it because it's cheap and loaches like it, I don't care much what shade it is
My two cents on the black blasting sand: I purchased a 50# bag of either fine or medium grade, washed it well in a bucket + hose, and placed a thin layer (1/4") in a new setup. Within a few days I noticed an oily residue on the surface of the water. Repeated water changes (skimming the surface while doing so) did not help. I eventually siphoned out the sand and went with the black sand from Petco. Unlike the blasting sand, the Petco sand has a dull finish; not shiny or metallic.
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The black sand blasting sand has an oily residue because it's slag ground up. I much prefer pfs versus play sand. Play sand is a much finer grain so it stays in motion longer when disturbed over pfs. Pfs is a thicker heavier grain that falls almost immediately when disturbed. Play sand gets in your filters alot. I've use both and while play sand looks whiter and neater on the bottom so to speak, pfs is my choice. It has a tannish finish over the play sand whitish.
Males are usually larger and more colorful.
They will have a deeper body then females when they mature.
I would not worry about the color as some rainbows really seem to have an 'on & off'switch when it comes to coloring up and changing.
Nice Madagascar lace in the pic man!