# 55 Gallon and Substrate



## kasey06 (May 24, 2008)

I am going to be setting up my new 55 gallon in the next month or so. I have decided on what I will be stocking and next is the substrate. Has anyone used the Eco Complete Cichlid Sand? I can get it for 19.99/20lb. How much should I buy for a standard 55 gallon tank? Beyond sand I will just have natural rocks for decoration. Any thoughts on this substrate? Good choice for mbuna?


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## kasey06 (May 24, 2008)

I may mix a bag of this sand with a bag of plain black sand to give a darker appearance. Any thoughts?


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## CUBLUEJAY (May 8, 2008)

I just set up my first 55 gal tank a few weeks ago. At first I really wanted to go with the top of the line cichlid sand too. In the end I decided the cost wasn't worth it and I really didn't need the buffering capacity since my water is already pretty hard. I ended up buying a 50lb bag of pool filter sand for $10 instead. If you really like the "salt and pepper" look maybe you could mix the pool filter sand with black sand to get that look at a discounted price. Just a suggestion.


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## Donzi (Apr 2, 2008)

I just decided to mix in some black tahitan moon sand with my eco complete to darken it up and it turned out great. It now actually looks like the example on the CaribSea website which is what I wanted in the first place. I mixed in a 50% - 50% ratio.


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## Hawks (Feb 7, 2008)

The eco is way more white than the picture shows of it...you should mix more plain black sand in with it. I just did my 125 with the eco and wish I would have saved the money and went with play sand from Home Depot or something and had more to spend on fish and/or another tank. The salt and pepper look doesn't look natural at all. I would rather have a solid color.

Here is what it will look like in the tank-









Remember don't rinse the Eco, when you get it, just put it right in the tank from the bag.
I like a little deeper sand and would go with at least 60lbs. maybe 80lbs. so 3-4 bags.


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