Substrate

[The boring name]

Hey guys I have a question. I'm going to Home Depot to get a new substrate. I'm trying to decide between pea gravel with a nice natural brown hue. Or pool filter sand. What would be better? I have munba and a few peacocks. Thanks!

 

[mrgazza]

Sand 100%, there's no gaps for waste to sink down and rot in the tank before you get a chance to clean it up


Sent from my iPhone using my fat fingers covered in chocolate...

 

[The boring name]

That's true but it's a white color and I don't want I to blanch the colors of the fish.

 

[dalto]

Sand. The PFS that home depot around here sells is more tan in color.

If you don't like the color that HD has check PFS from other places such as pool supply stores.

 

[The boring name]

Ok thanks. I have also heard that pool filter sand doesn't require overkill cleaning. Is this true?

 

[dalto]

Ok thanks. I have also heard that pool filter sand doesn't require overkill cleaning. Is this true?

It just depends on the sand. I used to get sand that required none at all from Leslies Pool Supply. In my area they switches sand suppliers and theirs now requires lots of rinsing. The HD sand I have around here requires a moderate amount of rinsing.

 

[The boring name]

Alright thanks. Guess I'll just have to check. Thanks for all the help!

 

[The boring name]

One last question. I shouldn't worry about taking out any beneficial Bacteria right since the majority of it is in the filter right?

 

[t57spikes]

That's true but it's a white color and I don't want I to blanch the colors of the fish.

I was wondering between black and white sand. I read that some people say black sand will make the fish lose color, but white sand will not. What do you mean by blanch, to lessen the skin pigment color by using white sand? So it a brownish color better?

 

[mikem691]

Here is black substrate with black background

 

[mikem691]

Black with blue background
In my experience it depends on what colors you want to bring out.
The 29 has Cleithracara maronii in it and it's not the best combo for them. It dulls the black markings and increases the tan or greenish and causes the 2 to blend and not stand out. Now when I had meeki in this color combo the reds and iredesant blue was incredible because the dull color of the fish darkened causing the reds and light blue to almost glow. How ever I do notice a difference on the lighting also. The 33L had fluval's ECO LED on it and the 29 has an old T8. Hope this helps a little. Sory the pics are bad Cheap cell phone.

 

[t57spikes]

Here is black substrate with black background

Beautiful tank! i love the black on black look, and i was going to put white texas holey rock in it thinking the fish color would pop against the black and white. Have your cichlids lost color due to dark colored substrate? i read one guy say that some fish will.

 

[mikem691]

Beautiful tank! i love the black on black look, and i was going to put white texas holey rock in it thinking the fish color would pop against the black and white. Have your cichlids lost color due to dark colored substrate? i read one guy say that some fish will.

Read the post I posted at the same time as you ^

 

[mikem691]

Re posted:
Black with blue background
In my experience it depends on what colors you want to bring out.
The 29 has Cleithracara maronii in it and it's not the best combo for them. It dulls the black markings and increases the tan or greenish and causes the 2 to blend and not stand out. Now when I had meeki in this color combo the reds and iredesant blue was incredible because the dull color of the fish darkened causing the reds and light blue to almost glow. How ever I do notice a difference on the lighting also. The 33L had fluval's ECO LED on it and the 29 has an old T8. Hope this helps a little. Sory the pics are bad Cheap cell phone.

 

[The boring name]

One question. Planing on knocking out two things at once. I'm going to change the substrate and paint the aquarium tomorrow put the fish in a different aquarium for a couple hours. Not going to touch the filter just gonna leave it sitting for awhile. Anything I should worry about. I know people do 100% water changes and no changes. Just got to have an answer from a seasoned veteran.

 

[The boring name]

I was wondering between black and white sand. I read that some people say black sand will make the fish lose color, but white sand will not. What do you mean by blanch, to lessen the skin pigment color by using white sand? So it a brownish color better?

Some fish will lessen their color to blend in to the lighter sand. I have always seen better color with a tannish darker color substrate.

 

[mikem691]

One question. Planing on knocking out two things at once. I'm going to change the substrate and paint the aquarium tomorrow put the fish in a different aquarium for a couple hours. Not going to touch the filter just gonna leave it sitting for awhile. Anything I should worry about. I know people do 100% water changes and no changes. Just got to have an answer from a seasoned veteran.

Just keep the media from the filter in a bucket of tank water so it don't dry out.

 

[The boring name]

Alright sounds good thanks!

 

[t57spikes]

One question. Planing on knocking out two things at once. I'm going to change the substrate and paint the aquarium tomorrow put the fish in a different aquarium for a couple hours. Not going to touch the filter just gonna leave it sitting for awhile. Anything I should worry about. I know people do 100% water changes and no changes. Just got to have an answer from a seasoned veteran.

Make sure to keep your filter media wet in used aquarium water, i messed up on time and turned my filter off for maintence that lasted about 2 hours and let it dry some. The tank went into a mini cycle and showed ammonia and nitrite and nitrate for about 4 days then all was well again.

 

[The boring name]

Alright thanks I will do that. Don't want a cycle again lol.