Newbie Alert ! Cant Decide On Substrate

[DizzyMoo]

Hi all ,
I've had trop set ups before & ended up getting rid of them all due to the ex saying i spent to much time on them *sigh* . Anyway long gone the ex so i have recently bought another 3 tanks 2ft, 3ft & a 4ft one.
Now last time i had several tanks i had sand set ups & gravel set ups, but this time i can't decide what to do.

The 2ft tank has light green gravel which is prob going to stay a hospital quarantine tank, the 3ft one is black hood,cabinet so thinking of black gravel/background but unsure, & the 4ft one is a mahogany cabinet & i really cant decide what colour substrate would look nice .

When i had sand before i kinda liked the look but found all my plants ere uprooted all the time & that there was dirt pockets under it, not a nice look at all.
The gravel was nice but just didn't quite do it for me. Prob should say they were community tanks.

I really like cichlids & need some help & advice about substrates, and whether or not to go for cichlids & a community tank.

Is silica sand ok too? just that ive seen a 30kg load for £16.50 but thought id ask 1st.

Thanks x

 

[superman1]

Hi all ,
I've had trop set ups before & ended up getting rid of them all due to the ex saying i spent to much time on them *sigh* . Anyway long gone the ex so i have recently bought another 3 tanks 2ft, 3ft & a 4ft one.
Now last time i had several tanks i had sand set ups & gravel set ups, but this time i can't decide what to do.

The 2ft tank has light green gravel which is prob going to stay a hospital quarantine tank, the 3ft one is black hood,cabinet so thinking of black gravel/background but unsure, & the 4ft one is a mahogany cabinet & i really cant decide what colour substrate would look nice .

When i had sand before i kinda liked the look but found all my plants ere uprooted all the time & that there was dirt pockets under it, not a nice look at all.
The gravel was nice but just didn't quite do it for me. Prob should say they were community tanks.

I really like cichlids & need some help & advice about substrates, and whether or not to go for cichlids & a community tank.

Is silica sand ok too? just that ive seen a 30kg load for £16.50 but thought id ask 1st.

Thanks x

hello.

why dont you use black sand then, this will hide the dirt...

just a thought.

 

[DizzyMoo]

Hello,
The previous 3ft i had was black substrate, bigger & more coarse than sand but not as big as gravel so not sure what it was called.
I'm going to see if i can find some sand set up pics