# what substrate do YOU use?



## nick16 (Aug 25, 2010)

hi all, 
im about to set up my first cichlid aquarium (been on the planted side!) 
im curious about substrate! i dont want to spend a rediculous amount on these eco complete substrates when i can use cheaper alternatives. i have a 4x2x2 tank (a large footprint) so i need around 100kgs or substrate. eco complete planted substrate i used cost me a bomb!

i do have hard water, so does that mean i NEED a cichlid specific substrate?

i was thinking of using some play sand, capped with inert gravel, but would it be advisable to mix some cichlid specific substrate in with the gravel, just to have some water buffering properties?

any advice would be great...

i dont want to use just sand as i know it becomes messy really quickly! hence my desire to cap it.


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## Zoban (Apr 6, 2007)

Using Silica Sand blasting sand in my two 46 gal bow fronts now .. just switch the second one over yesterday.


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## KiDD (Aug 20, 2010)

Pool Filter Sand : )


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

Whether you need a cichlid specific is depending on your water. Your water is hard? Do you mean PH of 7-8 to 8-4 or so? Good there if it also has a fair amount of KH to buffer the PH. If low in KH adding food,etc. may make the PH go low or bounce. You may be good on both points. Depending on what your water has, a far cheaper method might be just some added items from the grocery for the buffering. Check the water and then the forum library for recipes to fix your water----if needed.

I have used various sand, both play sand and all purpose. They tend to vary quite a lot from good to dirty. Washing and rinsing them is sometimes a problem but they are cheap. I may go pool filter sand in the future as my current sand batch is giving me fits. Apparently it has lots of dirt.

I like this site for water info:
http://www.freshwater-aquarium-fish.com/water_chemistry.htm


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## maddyfish (Jul 23, 2004)

I have 4 freshwater tanks currently set up, 2 are bare bottom, 1 with a leaf litter bottom and the other is river rock pea gravel. I tried sand in this tank, but the occupant would pick up mouthfuls of it and spit it directly into the filter intake. After a couple of munched filters, I gave up on sand.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

KiDD said:


> Pool Filter Sand : )


Plus one. But I'm going to the planted side, so the current tank I used flourite black around plant roots and flourite black sand everywhere else.


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## Zoban (Apr 6, 2007)

Blackberry image but that is silica sand (glass beads) on the bottom.


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## Guams (Aug 21, 2009)

Another vote for silica sand blasting sand. It's a gorgeous, clean white look with the right lighting.


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## BillD (May 17, 2005)

Silica is popular because of the cost and it is inert. The only problem is the ghastly whiteness. I have a tank with #20 black blasting sand and while it looks much better than the white, it still doesn't look really natural.


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## Chubbs the Jellybean (Jun 16, 2009)

Pool filter sand, it's cheap, and looks really great!

Here it is in my 90 gallon


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## roffels (Jul 27, 2010)

i used black sand blasting sand .. I LOVE IT.


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## ollie78 (Jul 23, 2009)

I use play sand. The color isn't too white and I greatly prefer sand after using gravel for better part of a decade.


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## Kerricko (May 26, 2010)

Pool Filter Sand in 2 tanks and a multi purpose quickrete sand in another. Pool Filter Sand was much easier to clean. The multi purpose sand took forever to clean and still remained cloudy for awhile after I added water to the tank.


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## Jamey (Jul 19, 2008)

where do you get black sand blasting sand?



roffels said:


> i used black sand blasting sand .. I LOVE IT.


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## Zoban (Apr 6, 2007)

Locally I get mine from Princess Auto $10 CDN for a 50lbs bag..


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## Notrevo (May 2, 2005)

Just gravel...however, I am thinking of converting to sand in the summer.


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## Stickshifty (Feb 20, 2006)

i had gravel, then changed to PFS. The PFS is so much better, easier to keep clean and looks great. And the cichlids like to dig thru it, and unfortunately rearrange the sand themselves.


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## oneeyedclyed (Nov 10, 2010)

PFS


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## CichMomma (Mar 3, 2010)

Aragonite sand substrate in my tanks but this is due to having really soft well water and needing to buffer it for my fish. Otherwise, I would use PFS.


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## benny71 (Sep 30, 2010)

I use both white PFS(silica) and black blasting sand (less than 2% silica) and all of my fish seem to love it way more than gravel.

I personally think it looks 10x better than gravel too.


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## AlphaWild (Apr 9, 2009)

Pool Filter Sand :thumb:


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## Notrevo (May 2, 2005)

I should ask how many of the folks here use sand in their acrylic tanks and with CA/SA cichlids? Is it mostly a gravel hobby or do you think a relatively even split? Sounds like an interesting poll...


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## bpman25 (Oct 21, 2010)

I have two tanks one gravel and one sand, I have to say the Firemouth and Sajica that are in the sand tank love it and seem vary happy to spend the day scooping up mouthfuls of sand looking for food or just digging a pit. That is not to say that my other fish don't like the gravel bottom but sand is all I will do for future setups. The sand I bough was coarse sand from lowes and it was around 6 dollars for 100 LBs.


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