I was just wondering what everyone's favorite substrate was and why they liked it so much.

My favorite is pool filter sand. The color is bright and clean, the size is large enough that it falls to the floor right away when the fish scoop it up and move it around. And it's easier maintance than sucking the gravel of poop!

Let's hear yours Now this should be good!

My favorite pool filter sand for the reasons you mention secondly for the cost. I use that in two tanks. I use play sand in one tank but I can only use sponge filters due to the fine texture of the product. It chewed up a motor shaft in about 6 months.
My original tank uses eco complete cichlid sand which has that salt and pepper look which I like the best but is a lot more expensive.

Oh yeah I totally forgot about the cost! All the sand I got was free because the hubby works for a pool company and they can't sell broken bags, so guess who gets them....ME!!! Bouncy

I just finished filling up my 125 with pool filter sand and I'll tell you
why I think the pool filter sand is the best!

I emptied 3 50 pound bags of it into the tank, placed my rocks in, and
started to fill it up.

I never washed the sand at all! (I know, that's all wrong for my purist folk)

When I was done, I turned the filters and lights on and there wasn't any
cloudiness in the tank whatsoever!

I highly recommend pool filter sand!

It's cheap, too! It cost me $25 to fill up my 125 nearly 3 inches deep!

Does it come in different colors? I know it comes in different textures.

I assume white is the best cuz you want to see when it is dirty when u use it in its intended application?

I don't know if it comes in different colors. I've never actually went looking for it.

Yeah I assume the same as you Dave, white is better for the intended application. Probably the same would go for a diatom filter.

I've only seen it in white.

Mine was called "Mystic white"

I'm going to post up some pics probably tomorrow of my new tank, but
I have to go to buy some plants at the craft store today!

I like pool filter sand the best.

Mine is tan, not white.

It is fairly dirty and requires a good bit of rinsing before adding to the tank. It's a heavy grain and settles quickly. I can vacuum it just like I do gravel.

I'll be switching my 75 gallon that has white blasting sand to the pfs as soon as it is warm enough outside to start rinsing it.

my favorite is still black tahitan moon sand, but for the cost i onlyu use that in my show tank. other then that i use PFS as well.
brad

Sorry PB I didn't see your other post! Yeah you can't beat the deal of PFS prices!

I use medium grain silica sand in most of my tanks. It's a tan colour, very natural looking.

I also have several tanks with a very fine small natural looking gravel that I really love...Shades of tan, brown and white...

I don't like the Tahitian moon sand at all...I think the black sucks alot of colour out of the fish, and it shows waste far too much for my anal butt to use it...I also think you lose a lot of it in vacuuming it well.

preacherboy, I'm no purist but shame on you for not washing out that sand! :FAINTLY:

Kim

Gosh, I pay about $11 for a 50 lb bag.

Here is a picture of the color of my pool filter sand.


For those with the white pfs, do you have any problems with keeping it white? I notice that mine gets dull (algae?) after a while. Regularly mixing it up during water changes takes care of it, but that's another reason I'm switching to the tan pfs.

Brad, I have one tank with Tahitian moon sand as well. I love the look, but it is a lot harder to clean without sucking it out.

Well after seeing a picture of the tan in a tank, I like that alot more than the white. It is more natural looking. I have issues with the bright white and hair algae. The algae sticks to it like glue and it looks yucky! I get the diatom build up on the top layer of mine so I just suck it out, I've got enough sand laying around and I run my python outside so it's no biggy for me to suck it up and out!

hmm kim, i fpund the exact opposite with colour in my case. it makes the colours pop on my haps/peacocks but tends to have a dulleffect on the mbuna and many tanganyikans. Yes it can be a pain but i love the look of the black, reminds me of deep waters.

I'd be a happy camper if my PFS were that tannish color. Mine is pure white. When I clean the tank I give it a stir to turn over the sand. It works pretty well. I have been thinking about adding some black sand to my hap tank to get that salt and pepper look. We'll see if I can find something this Spring.

Guess I'm going against the grain here (no pun intended!). I had sand in my 225g. I absolutely HATED it. No matter how careful I was, I was forever sucking up sand in my Python. I hated how the poo stayed at the surface of the sand 'taunting' me (do a water change... do a water change). My Aquaclears were forever sucking it up into the impellers (on a 30" tall tank!). Yes, this was the 'heavy' pool filter sand. I now have a 3M product, and have the sand size and it's black. I find those fish now have the best colours in my tanks, but I still get the poo on top. :blink:

For the most part, any of my other tanks have gravel in them. Either black, or brown or reddish brown, depending on what was available at the time. I also have a lot of barebottom tanks. My favourite gravel is the geosystems smaller grained black gravel (not the sand). If I remember, I'll try to get a picture of my 70g tank. It'll be a bit before I can post it since the computer I need to use is missing the power cord... (long story don't ask!).

I am really ashamed of myself for not washing my sand Kim! worry wart!

Wow, I'm the only one using crushed coral. When I got back in the hobby the LFS advised it for buffering for Malawi cichlids.

Hey Don, in my 75 Mbuna tank, I too have a 50/50 mix of
Florida crushed coral and sand.

The LFS told me the same thing about the PH buffering ability.

But from what I've been reading about in a few other posts lately is
that it doesn't have that much buffering capability.

What does everyone think about this?

Yeah when I had my mbuna I first had crushed coral, then changed to sand for easier cleaning. I tested my ph with the crushed coral and it was at 8.4 then after about a month or 2 later after I put the sand in I tested again and my ph was at 8.0 so it did buffer a little bit but not much.

My fish really liked the sand over the crushed coral because it was easier to move around and they build their love nests! I liked the look of the crushed coral when I had it but I also like the sand as well.

Now in my shrimp tank because I have a bunch of plants in there I used eco-complete with black onyx sand which doesn't look like sand at all and really isn't black, more of a dark gray color.

In my discus tank I plan on....wait that's a secret to be revealed later. Ha you thought I was going to tell you my plan!

am i the only one that likes aragonite??
the finer crushed coral stuff. its much too expensive but its good i guess.
so far ive had
PFS
play sand
gravel
something between gravel and sand(smaller then gravel bigger then sand)
aragonite.

i like playsand with aragonite. at first i didt like it, but it grows on you(or just me)
as for the prices, ill stick to playsand and PFS.

paying 30$ for 20lbs at the LFS isint worth it.
pay 8-12$ for a 50lbs bag is much more worth it :)

ill post pics of the playsand+aragonite substrate.
but when the cichlids dig, the aragonite goes ontop of the playsand.

Preacherboy --

You are so lucky that it didn't cloud up. I wish my sand was like that right out of the bag.

He might have gotten lucky, I've experienced cloudiness with my PFS only because I added to an existing running tank and pouring the sand in (even after I rinsed it for about 15-20 min.) kinda really stirs things up. But if you put it in and filled it you might be just as lucky as PB. Not that you did anything wrong PB, but the first time that you go to stir up your sand it might be really cloudy for a while.

PB, you know I'm pulling your chain, right? Tres Bien!

Crushed coral and aragonite tend to "pack" more than sand, IME. Do you guys find that? I guess it would work best if you stirred it up each time, but we only do that about once a month.

Kim

I know you were only having fun, Kim!

I was thinking that not rinsing the sand may come back to bite
me later on after I need to turn it over, but it's too late now!

So when are you gonna post pictures of the new tank PB??

Probably later this week!

I am waiting to get my hands on some incredible stock hopefully
this week, if things work out.

If not, then I'll post up some pics tomorrow!

Are you doing a journal throughout your set-up process??

Actually, I was going to write an article on the "fishless cycling" process
from start to finish on my 125, but since Birdman needed to sell his stock
very fast because of his impending move to Indy, I went ahead and set it
up with a seeded filter.

Very cool! I hope you don't have that seeded filter running on an empty tank.

No, I actually have put the fish I got from Birdman in there from the first trip
I made to see him last week.

Now I am going to go to see him and buy some more hopefully this week.

I already have...

7) Msobos (still juvies)
13) F1 Mdolka peacocks (juvies)
2) Taiwan Reef haps ( not sure if I have a male and female yet)

Thanks for the concern, however, about the seeded filter.

I know the bacteria have to have something to eat in order to live!

Sounds good! Bouncy Just wanted to make sure you didn't have that good bacteria going to waste.