Rate My Fish Tank

Thu Oct 15, 2009 11:35 pm GMT   Reply      

What would be the most appropriate sbustrate or gravel for cichlids...?

Fri Nov 06, 2009 12:03 pm GMT   Reply      

I had gravel but some one showed me tha diffrence between sand and gravel. Gravel is not as clean as sand. With gravel all tha poop and uneaten food goes between tha rocks but with sand everything tends to sit on tha top. Plus sand is more natural for cichlids. once i changed my cichlids seem to b more happy

Fri Nov 27, 2009 10:57 am GMT   Reply      

How do you vacuum a tank with sand substrate? Won't it vacuum up and need to be replaced? In which case, gravel seems by far more practical.

Sat Nov 28, 2009 2:53 am GMT   Reply      

sand ftw...

i had a great undergravel jets system going on to keep the sand super clean... just stir it up every couple of months...

Tue Dec 15, 2009 11:41 am GMT   Reply      

I like sand. I had a Electic Yellow Cichlid die because it choked on a gravel.

Tue Dec 15, 2009 5:56 pm GMT   Reply      

from what ive researched to answer your question about vacuuming the sand. stick your arm in the tank and swirl the top layer of the sand, to let your filter do most of the work(best of to clean your filter before and after) then use a vacuum about an inch or 2 away from the top of the sand to get the big clumpy stuff.
if anyone knows a better way, please explain because i wanna do sand too.

Wed Dec 16, 2009 8:45 am GMT   Reply      

I like sand as well. Pool filter sand works great and it's cheap!

Wed Dec 16, 2009 10:11 am GMT   Reply      

Yeah I do what r0addawg just wrote. However, I don't have fine fine sand like what you would probably see in a saltwater fish tank, I have crushed deal coral sand. So its heavier.

Mon Dec 21, 2009 3:42 am GMT   Reply      

just swapped out gravel for sand in my african cichlid tank......I got that sand thats like 35 bucks a bag (2 bags of it) its precycled and straight from the carribean or some crap....the black sand ones :) My fish seem to like it except i stressed out the oldest female and killed it.....malawii bloat or what ever someone was kind enough to inform me........

Anyways the sand is great, my other fish are all healthy and loving it. its argonite sand or how ever that is spelled. It helps keep the PH higher while introducing a list of stuff thats found in saltwater as it is a marine substrate. This is how i have achieved my brackish water for them instead of useing the crushed coral as someone mentioned they are useing

As far as most approprete substrate for cichlids....I believe africans are supposed to have the argonite in their substrate. Which is why people i know use the crushed coral. I just thought i would be different and see how it works out. ....... looks great :)