JBL Mando substrate. Is this harmful form my Bristlenose Pleco ?

[whiteeagle]

Hi all .

I just moved my two tanks to a bigger one 175 L , when I purchased the tank the seller had already a substrate JBL Mondo, it looks really fine and I'm worried that my it could harm my plecos .

Did anyone had experience with this type of substrate ? Please advice.

Kind regards
AJ

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

From my knowledge, no. It will not harm them. They might get some in their mouths when they feed, but it won’t hurt them. You could try to feed them “elevated” off the surface of the sand if you want to. (Try looking for a feeding shelf)

 

[whiteeagle]

Thank you PheonixKingZ for your kind welcome I can build some feeding shelf , good idea and keep them bit out of the bottom, would the very fine ( like a dust ) parts not affect my life fish ? I have two YoYo Loach and they keep digging in the substrate making the water a bit cloudy full of the dusty parts. It might be a normal same as in the river environment but I'm getting a bit paranoid that the dust is not a good thing for them all .

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Did you wash the sand before adding it to your tank?

 

[whiteeagle]

Hi. Yes I did , but from what I can see now I haven't done it good enough or there are so many fine bits. There are about 15KG of it. I'm thinking to buy or get some small/medium river stones/gravel 3-5mm. Do you think it could be a good idea? Then I will only leave a small amount of the JBL as a 1st layer just for plants roots and cover thic layer of the river stones? I just dont want to have non crystal water.

 

[seangee]

Don't mix gravel with fine substrate - it just ends up a mess. Plecs are fine with sand so that is no problem.

Assuming you meant JBL Manado it is in fact a man made substrate made from fired clay. Reviews are mixed with the main complaints being that it is too light (weight not colour) and difficult to plant in. If you are happy with it keep it, if not replace all of it, but your plecos won't mind either way.

 

[whiteeagle]

Hi. Seangee.

Thank you for your advise,so in this case I might keep the one I have now and see if it filter it after time. If it makes more issues with the cloudy water then I will fully replace it. I just dont have experience with this type of substrate