Rock or Crushed Coral substrate

[indigo1975]

Question,

freshwater 55 gallon tank

I have decided on a white bottom.. I was thinking Coral Crushed or White Rock... whatever is whiter and
safe for the tank
1) is Crushed coral ok for freshwater tank?
2) how bad will it raise my PH?
3) is it HARD to clean?
4) Can i OLNLY have African Chicllids in the tank now?


I still don't know what kinda fish im putting in my 55 gallon tank...
I have bought most of the materials.. I Have Everything i need
The longest time was spent thinking about Aquascaping designing my aquarium...

 

[Mebbid]

Have you thought about plain white aquarium sand? It solves the problem of changing pH and is simple to keep clean.

Crushed coral is really not a good substrate at it's a pain to clean, is sharp, and doesn't really look that good.

 

[bshenanagins]

Yeah I agree here. Carib Sea makes a beautiful white sand called "Naturals" it's the whitest sand I've ever seen in the pet store. Petco also makes a nice white sand I have it in my betta tank. You don't want anything that will affect parameters unless that's your goal.

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

White substrate sucks either way IMO. It's gets so dirty no matter what. I'd do a black or natural sand and coral in the filter if you need too.

 

[Mebbid]

White substrate sucks either way IMO. It's gets so dirty no matter what. I'd do a black or natural sand and coral in the filter if you need too.

I've had a white sand in my very heavily stocked Mbuna cichlid tank for 6 months now and haven't had any issues with it being dirty. I actually don't even ever have to clean any detrius off of it as it all gets swept into my filters.

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

I always had algae growing on mine and poop everywhere.

 

[indigo1975]

SO you can do sand in a Freshwater tank??? That is cool!!!!
I wanted white sand but my brother kept telling me I would NOT be able to clean it???

Is it ok to clean? he said I needed stone/pebbles because id suck up all the darn sand...

I like the idea of the white sand but I guess it does get Dirty huh????
I never thought of Black sand????

What do you guys think????
I have TONS of Great zebra stones and Lava rocks and Plants and Wood.... so I was thinking white would set it off well..
I have a Natural color rock/pebbles but its kinda cream and I thought white would be nice..

If its a Pain in the *** to clean like VERY hard and it is HARD to maintain I don't want it

 

[Scottyhorse]

I have sand, you just hover the gravel vac an inch or two above the sand you should be good to go.

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

Sand is the best substrate, just don't use any marine type sand. It's really easy to clean like scottyhorse said, you just Hoover over the sand an all the poop and over junk gets sucked up and not stuck in the rocks like gravel does. White sand ime is just had to keep spotless.

 

[Mebbid]

This is one of the pics from my 55g cichlid tank. I stopped cleaning the sand about a month before this picture was taken because I found a happy medium with the flow in my tank along with the rock work.

The best way I found to handle the detrius in the tank was to make 2 separate rock piles for my Mbunas with the filters placed right over top of them with the water flowing in front of the rocks. It will sweep all the fish poo behind the rocks to get sucked up by the filters.

I would take a current picture but my powerful filter died and I lost about 2/3 of the flow in my tank because of it. It's kind of dirty now.

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

I won't lie it looks nice but whenever I've had light substrates it turns out bad and I switch it to tan or darker. If it works for you then keep using it. Just throwing my experience out there

 

[Mebbid]

I won't lie it looks nice but whenever I've had light substrates it turns out bad and I switch it to tan or darker. If it works for you then keep using it. Just throwing my experience out there

I agree with you, it can turn absolutely terrible. I attempted using the same substrate on my 10g betta tank and it was a disaster. However in a tank with higher flow I believe it's just what the doctor ordered.

 

[indigo1975]

View attachment 209699

this tank is this white?
its sand but it kinda looks pink???

wonder what it is?? this is what im going for

 

[Sk3lly]

SO you can do sand in a Freshwater tank??? That is cool!!!! I wanted white sand but my brother kept telling me I would NOT be able to clean it??? Is it ok to clean? he said I needed stone/pebbles because id suck up all the darn sand... I like the idea of the white sand but I guess it does get Dirty huh???? I never thought of Black sand???? What do you guys think???? I have TONS of Great zebra stones and Lava rocks and Plants and Wood.... so I was thinking white would set it off well.. I have a Natural color rock/pebbles but its kinda cream and I thought white would be nice.. If its a Pain in the *** to clean like VERY hard and it is HARD to maintain I don't want it

I have lava rock with black sand and planted aquarium. I think it looks kinda cool