What Substrate Do You Use?

Nick16

Fish Aficionado
Joined
Jul 31, 2008
Messages
3,184
Reaction score
2
Location
Surrey
hi all,
im about to set up my first cichlid aquarium (been on the planted side!)
im curious about substrate! i dont want to spend a rediculous amount on these eco complete substrates when i can use cheaper alternatives. i have a 4x2x2 tank (a large footprint) so i need around 100kgs or substrate. eco complete planted substrate i used cost me a bomb!

i do have hard water, so does that mean i NEED a cichlid specific substrate?

i was thinking of using some play sand, capped with inert gravel, but would it be advisable to mix some cichlid specific substrate in with the gravel, just to have some water buffering properties?

any advice would be great...

i dont want to use just sand as i know it becomes messy really quickly! hence my desire to cap it.
 
I have used play sand, fine black gravel and fine "natural" gravel. Preferred the fine black gravel, followed closely by play sand. Having said that: hard water area, so didn't need to worry about that.
 
thanks for the advice. my water is pretty hard because i get the calcium build up at the water line, also in my keetle etc it gets bad!

i think its a trip to argos to get some sand! then iwill just cap it with some pea gravel.
cheers for that.
 
Hi mate, if the water is already hard I wouldn't worry to much about Aragonite sand or gravel, any sand or gravel will do. If you were a bit worried you could always put some coral gravel in a media bag if you have an external filter, this will buffer the pH, you adding any rocks ? Ocean rock or Tufa will help the Ph/hardness also, hope this helps, you seem to have a good idea anyway so just my 2 cents :good:
 
I have a 55 gal Mbuna setup with 53 pounds of ocean rock (keeps the Ph at 8.0)... 100 pounds of black gravel + 5 pounds of white gravel mixed in.... I love the look of the dark substrate with specs of white and REALLY white rock... have a look on my "Ocean Rock" topic a few below for some pix...
 
i just changed from standard gravel to argos play sand the other day and all i can say what a big difference im quite happy with the result
 
i dont want to use just sand as i know it becomes messy really quickly! hence my desire to cap it.

Mbuna love to dig. Not so sure a layer of sand capped with gravel is such a good idea. I think they will make a complete mess of it. And gravel might cause a problem with their mouths.
I would go for the Argos Play Sand with nothing on top.
 
can i mix play sand and coral sand?

what special malawi cichlid (or just cichlid) substrate are there?

i cant afford to cover my whole 4x2 footprint in expensive cichlid substrate, but i do want some mixed in, just to help with the buffering. and to give it some texture.
 
If you want to mix a cheapish and a better looking more expensive substrate, you could use the cheaper, not so good looking sand where the rocks will be. So it doesn't look to bad as it will be covered. And then the nicer looking sand for the more exposed bits. But....I think that with the fish digging, this could end up a mess.
 
im not talking about different sections, i was thinking more, put say 80% play sand in a bucket and 20% special cichlid stuff and mix them together. then pour into the tank.
it will give the substrate better buffering properties and give it a nicer texture. as it is already pre mixed, it doesnt matter what the cichlids or my poor re-arranging skills do! :)

what do you think? what substrates can you recommend? (similar colour to sand)
 
im not talking about different sections, i was thinking more, put say 80% play sand in a bucket and 20% special cichlid stuff and mix them together. then pour into the tank.
it will give the substrate better buffering properties and give it a nicer texture. as it is already pre mixed, it doesnt matter what the cichlids or my poor re-arranging skills do! :)

what do you think? what substrates can you recommend? (similar colour to sand)

You could do 1 bag of coral sand, and then the balance argos playsand. The are both light in colour so should look ok.
 
yeah, thats what i think i will do. i think i will probably need about 90kgs of substrate!
 
around 7.5-8.5 for most malawi cichlids. i dont know if my water is going to be good enough on its own. i do have very hard water but the ph isnt really affected.

im not using ocean rock, but something dark and very hard, similar to slate in appearance but alot more sold. it doesnt really chip as much. i very much doubt if it has buffering properties at all, hence me needing to put something in there to help slightly.
 
around 7.5-8.5 for most malawi cichlids. i dont know if my water is going to be good enough on its own. i do have very hard water but the ph isnt really affected.

im not using ocean rock, but something dark and very hard, similar to slate in appearance but alot more sold. it doesnt really chip as much. i very much doubt if it has buffering properties at all, hence me needing to put something in there to help slightly.


have you done a ph test
on your tap water also a kh and gh
when i used to keep malawi's i used to use
tufa rock or ocean rock with a bed of coral
gravel and coral sand
 

Most reactions

Back
Top