# Sand or crushed coral?? newbie here



## nyfan78

Hi everyone. I have been told to use crushed coral but now i am reading about this stuff....CaribSea Eco-Complete African Cichlid Substrate in the review section here. I will be keeping Lake Malawi africans. 55gal tank. I will have holey rock stacked up as well. What all do you all suggest i do? I am confused on what to use.......

Thanks

Scott


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## SLR SKiLLZ

substrate is completly up to you.... its all preference, the only difference is that crushed coral does have buffering ability so if you need to raise your pH i suggest using crushed coral but if you have no pH issues its completly up to you...

Hope i Helped....

P.s. sand u have to do more water changes and swish the sand around every now and again to avoid those gas pockets which contain harmful poisons...but sand looks nice


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## nyfan78

I have nothing in my tank right now. I am trying to figure out which one to use..................?????????


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## SLR SKiLLZ

ok well here is an article all about sand I hope it will help u

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/sand.php


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## Toby_H

CaribSea Eco-Complete African Cichlid Substrate buffers (raises) PH... just like Coral...

So as far as whater chemistry, they do the same thing... whichever you like better is the one you should get. Appearance and cost are the two factors I would consider...

You may also wish to consider regular old sand. It will not buffer your water, but there are many other ways to do this. Several of which would be more stable than relying on substrate to do it...


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## nyfan78

I think i will stick with crushed coral at least for now. Thanks for all you help!


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## howmany

hello, i had the same question you did, i was told that crushed coral was the best choice, but i hate the look of it, and began researching... as you have, i came up o eco complete fine sand.. and chose it instead of crushed coral. I am very glad i did, it looks great, my fish love it, and its easy to keep clean. its a heavier sand, so it doesnt get sucked up in the filter...


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## nyfan78

Thats what i was worried about the sandgetting sucked up in my filters. Whats the name or a link to the sand u bought? Why didnt you like the crushed coral?


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## howmany

i actually ordered the eco complete from a local pet store, but i have seen it on the internet heres a site i just found. http://www.marinedepot.com/Caribsea_Eco ... PG-vi.html i havent had any problems with sand in my filter, as i said, this sand is not as fine as some out there so it stays on the bottom, if you do choose to use it, just put your filter intake around 4-6 inches from the bottom, and a rock underneath the intake, and that will solve all your problems.

I didnt like the crushed coral, because it was just white, and looked just like gravel from my driveway more than enything. i used lava rock in my tank, so i wanted a little bit darker color, thats why i went with the black and white sand. darker colors (in my opinion, and from what *** read) brings out fishes color better...


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## aussy612

I used pool filter sand which has quite a large grain size and is slightly translucent. It kind of has a iridescent look to it. Also, (since i wanted it a bit darker) i mixed in a bit of construction sand which was too hard to wash in bulk. Because the pool filter sand was slightly translucent, the brown construction sand darkened the whole bed evenly, and now it looks quite amazing, not too dark but not too light. The colour is more even than the eco complete (im not a fan of the half black half white). Also it was very cheap and the whole bed for my 125 was under 25 dollars!


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## lmhollist

nyfan78 said:


> Hi everyone. I have been told to use crushed coral but now i am reading about this stuff....CaribSea Eco-Complete African Cichlid Substrate in the review section here. I will be keeping Lake Malawi africans. 55gal tank. I will have holey rock stacked up as well. What all do you all suggest i do? I am confused on what to use.......
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Scott


I use the Eco-Complete Cichlid Substrate in my African Malawi tank and really like it a lot. I have it mixed with Tahiti Black Moon Sand (no buffering capability at all but it creates a darker effect with the substrate). Personally, I just prefer the sand cause it's easier to sift through with this sand shovel I have, although the coral is easier to vacuum. It's tough to say, in my Jack Dempsey tank I have fine sand mixed with crushed coral but I'm just about to move them into a larger tank with finely ground aragonite sand and fine sand.

I also prefer sand just because my cichlids like to dig so dang much. My auratus's greatest joy in life is picking up gravel and moving it around the tank, but I'm also considering switching him over to sand substrate just so there's less of a chance of him hurting himself, and he can still dig to his heart's content.

IMO, I just think sand looks really pretty and natural but definitely requires a lot of pre-rinsing (especially in the case of the Tahiti Black Moon Sand) cause it is really dirty.


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## lmhollist

Sorry, accidentally double posted...


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