# white sand or black sand!!!?



## joshdo7 (Nov 10, 2008)

Hi!
I know there have been hundreds of the same topic on which color sand to choose.
I read about 10 of them, but the answers they gave confused me more. 
Some people say black sand pops out the color of the fish more
and some people say white sand pops out the color of the fish more.
some say black sand will darken the colors of the fish 
and some say white sand will fade the colors of the fish!
I have black sand and blue background on my 55g, and the colors of the fish seem to be darker than usual!

SO, has anyone actually tried BOTH white sand and black sand with the same type of fish?
which color of the sand will be better for my tanganyikan cichlids?
thank you!


----------



## electyellowdude (Feb 18, 2010)

well the eco-complete cichlid sand is black and white.


----------



## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

It's really a toss-up regarding the fish. The fish will try to blend in with their surroundings...lighter with light substrate and darker with dark substrate. So if you have calvus and like the dark-fish look, go with dark substrate.

I would choose the substrate based on whether I want a biotope type tank and whether it will show dirt like fish poop more than fish coloration...because there is no perfect color for that. Say you have demasoni. A brilliant blue substrate will make the dem colors their most brilliant...but it will not pop the blue because it will blend too much.

I have sand colored substrates in all my tanks and even my dark calvus seem very dark. I think it works.


----------



## tires_6792 (Mar 25, 2005)

i have black silica in my 90g, white silica in my 55g and white carib-sea which is really fine granule in my 30g. Here are some pics and the resulting colors of fish.

Lighting may compensate for the color effect sand may have IMO.

I have a current T-5 set up on my 90g with 2 colormax, 1 actinic & 1 freshwater bulb)
This tank picture was taken when it had 2 actinic and 2 10K bulbs in it. The pic of fish below was taken after i changed to the colormax set up.


















Ihave a T-5 set up on my 55g with colormax and actinic bulbs (1 ea.) This gives a reddish tint to the tank but it really shows the orange & blues of my afra cobue.


















In my 30g i havent got any thing in there but snails right now as im currently changing it to a freshwater shrimp & snail tank. im using dead rock and the carib-sea fine sand in it. just threw this in there so you can see what this sand looks like. This is under a T8 reef sun bulb.









But again, it really does come down to personal preference which may be in the lighting itself to get it as it was in my case here.


----------



## vfc (Feb 13, 2007)

Same fish; pictures taken three months apart.


----------



## joshdo7 (Nov 10, 2008)

tires_6792 said:


> i have black silica in my 90g, white silica in my 55g and white carib-sea which is really fine granule in my 30g. Here are some pics and the resulting colors of fish.
> 
> Lighting may compensate for the color effect sand may have IMO.
> 
> ...


I Really love your 55g set up!
can you tell me the exact lighting that makes the red-ish effect?


----------

