# Getting into cichlid's again. Need reviews on substrate



## Vulcan900 (Aug 5, 2013)

Getting into cichlid's again. Need reviews on substrate. In the past i used crushed coral and another time i used white aquarium sand mixed with aragonite sand. Not a fan of PFS.

Can anybody provide any feedback, reviews, pictures on any of the below substrates?

I have a 40gal and running a Marineland 360. Currently it is a planted tank with eco complete planted substrate.


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## Vulcan900 (Aug 5, 2013)

This time i am thinking of using one of the below:

CaribSea Aragonite Aquarium Sand









Nature's Ocean Aragonite Sand









CaribSea Instant Aquarium Moonlight Sand Gravel









CaribSea Arag-Alive Natural Reef Aquarium Gravel









CaribSea Arag-Alive Bahamas Oolite Aquarium Sand


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## anthraxx4200 (Aug 16, 2012)

i used the first two and it seemed to work nicely, i like a substrate with some substance and irregularity so i mixed the larger grained natures ocean w/ a sugar sized version. definitely holds ph and my africans seem to love it. def worth the extra cost as it naturally handles any PH issues you might have without the need for constant chemical additions. GL to ya in w.e you choose, maybe even consider adding in some nice regular tan in color sand. i found the argonite bleached out pictures as it has a very high white color content.


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## Vulcan900 (Aug 5, 2013)

Ending up getting 









I have some crushed coral and some Arab night I thought about sprinkling down first and then capping it with this. Even though it's just a little or a good night and crushed coral that I have I wonder what the odds of that working its way up through this and will be. Thought about putting that stuff in a mesh bag and putting it down first, something to help pH the water


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## Aaron S (Apr 4, 2015)

Your cichlids will likely ensure that they blow the sand away in some places then you will get stuff trapped in the gravel and end up having a hard time cleaning the tank (just what I am expecting to happen). Just put some crushed coral into the filter if you are concerned about it.


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## Manifest (Mar 8, 2015)

I use caribsea cichlid, white/black. 
Few pics here. viewtopic.php?f=4&t=349178

Keeps my PH 8.0 without having to use buffers.


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## Vulcan900 (Aug 5, 2013)

I went with the CaribSea sand..Seems to be moving around a awful bit. Thought about either replacing it already or just mixing 20lbs of aragonite in with it to help keep it down ..So totally it would be 40lbs sand 20lbs aragonite. .the sand should work to the bottom and aragonite to the top, right?

Or crushed coral


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## Aaron S (Apr 4, 2015)

Your substrate is likely moving around because of the amount of flow vs. the weight of the individual sand particles. To increase the weight of the particles you need to increase the size of them. If you are still using sand for putting on top of it then you might be OK doing that. However if your cichlids dig then you will be back to blowing sand. If you put something that is more a gravel on there then you will have to vacuum it and that will cause the smaller particle sand to rise to the top. I generally wouldn't recommend mixing sand sizes and especially not sand with gravel.

What do you do for flow in your tank? You might be able to improve the situation by moving the directionality of the intakes/returns of the filters or powerheads. This would be a more sustainable solution.


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## Vulcan900 (Aug 5, 2013)

Aaron S said:


> Your substrate is likely moving around because of the amount of flow vs. the weight of the individual sand particles. To increase the weight of the particles you need to increase the size of them. If you are still using sand for putting on top of it then you might be OK doing that. However if your cichlids dig then you will be back to blowing sand. If you put something that is more a gravel on there then you will have to vacuum it and that will cause the smaller particle sand to rise to the top. I generally wouldn't recommend mixing sand sizes and especially not sand with gravel.
> 
> What do you do for flow in your tank? You might be able to improve the situation by moving the directionality of the intakes/returns of the filters or powerheads. This would be a more sustainable solution.


I have a spray bar on my canister that sprays from the back of my tank to the front of my tank on the surface of the water. And I have a small powerhead that blows from the one side of the tank over to the end tank of a filter. The same that I have is so fine it disturbs very easily. I thought about taking some of it out and putting in crushed coral or aragonite


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## Vulcan900 (Aug 5, 2013)

After setup no filters on
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0s5wxuemdtyne ... 2.jpg?dl=0

After filters and powerheads been on for a day
https://www.dropbox.com/s/rp3mfeo5k1s1l ... 4.jpg?dl=0

The sand used to be flat and evenly distributed across the tank
https://www.dropbox.com/s/m0qddmtaqp2na ... 9.jpg?dl=0


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## Vulcan900 (Aug 5, 2013)

I don't recall if aragonite stays down and kicks up a little bit where weather kicks up a lot and floats all around


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

Should have used the first bag. Super Naturals is sugar grain sized if memory serves and provides no buffering. I used it in a shellie tank once (which it was perfect for). 
I have CaribSea Aragmax Select (0.5-1.5mm) in a 75g with a Fluval FX5 and spray bar. The sand gets pushed back from the front to the rear until the rocks break up the water movement. It stays down, doesn't float at all.


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## areuben (Jul 17, 2003)

I don't know if you have a 40 breeder 18" wide or a 40 long 12" wide and 48 long however I agree with Aaron S and suggest you change the spraybar to side to side rather than front to back and you'll definitely tone down the turbulence causing the sand movement. Front to back and it is deflecting big time off the front glass downwards and moving the sand.


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## Bob1 (Jan 7, 2002)

The Live Sand is for Marine Aquariums.


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