substrate

[Starfish]

Hi everyone! ;-)

I was just wondering if a fine layer (1cm or less) of coarse dark sand would
be ok for a fish tank.....i just want to provide some contrast with the fish
and to give the tank a natural look without going to heavy with the
substrate.

Does anyone have any reccomendations into types of dark brown coarse sand to
use?

TIA

Starfish

[Kay]

Starfish wrote:
> Hi everyone! ;-)
>
> I was just wondering if a fine layer (1cm or less) of coarse dark sand would
> be ok for a fish tank.....i just want to provide some contrast with the fish
> and to give the tank a natural look without going to heavy with the
> substrate.
>
> Does anyone have any reccomendations into types of dark brown coarse sand to
> use?
>
> TIA
>
> Starfish
>
>

If you want sand I use Black Tahitian Moon sand. If You don't want sand
or gravel, you can use pieces of slate from the petstore, or large dark
river rock.

Kay

[Bill Stock]

"Starfish" > wrote in message
...
> Hi everyone! ;-)
>
> I was just wondering if a fine layer (1cm or less) of coarse dark sand
> would be ok for a fish tank.....i just want to provide some contrast with
> the fish and to give the tank a natural look without going to heavy with
> the substrate.
>
> Does anyone have any reccomendations into types of dark brown coarse sand
> to use?
>
> TIA
>
> Starfish
>

I went for the red river rock, but I saw it in black as well. I just bought
enough to cover the bottom of the tank. I needed about 30 lbs to cover the
bottom of my 75 gallon. It hides the mulm, but is much cleaner than gravel.

The only down side is the algae! My reddish rocks are now mostly bright
green, but it keeps the GF busy moving them around.

[Katra]

In article >,
"Bill Stock" > wrote:

> "Starfish" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Hi everyone! ;-)
> >
> > I was just wondering if a fine layer (1cm or less) of coarse dark sand
> > would be ok for a fish tank.....i just want to provide some contrast with
> > the fish and to give the tank a natural look without going to heavy with
> > the substrate.
> >
> > Does anyone have any reccomendations into types of dark brown coarse sand
> > to use?
> >
> > TIA
> >
> > Starfish
> >
>
> I went for the red river rock, but I saw it in black as well. I just bought
> enough to cover the bottom of the tank. I needed about 30 lbs to cover the
> bottom of my 75 gallon. It hides the mulm, but is much cleaner than gravel.
>
> The only down side is the algae! My reddish rocks are now mostly bright
> green, but it keeps the GF busy moving them around.
>
>

Is native Limestone ok to use for tanks? Or will it dissolve too much
and make the water too alkaline? There is literally tons of that pretty
stuff laying all over the ground in our area! Both with and without
holes.

--
K.

Sprout the Mung Bean to reply...

As we go through life thinking heavy thoughts, thought particles
tend to get caught between the ears causing truth decay- so be sure
to use mental floss twice a day.

>,,<Cat's Haven Hobby Farm>,,<Katraatcenturyteldotnet>,,<

http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewSellersOtherItems&include=0&userid=katra

[Bill Stock]

"Katra" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> "Bill Stock" > wrote:
>
>> "Starfish" > wrote in message
>> ...
>> > Hi everyone! ;-)
>> >
>> > I was just wondering if a fine layer (1cm or less) of coarse dark sand
>> > would be ok for a fish tank.....i just want to provide some contrast
>> > with
>> > the fish and to give the tank a natural look without going to heavy
>> > with
>> > the substrate.
>> >
>> > Does anyone have any reccomendations into types of dark brown coarse
>> > sand
>> > to use?
>> >
>> > TIA
>> >
>> > Starfish
>> >
>>
>> I went for the red river rock, but I saw it in black as well. I just
>> bought
>> enough to cover the bottom of the tank. I needed about 30 lbs to cover
>> the
>> bottom of my 75 gallon. It hides the mulm, but is much cleaner than
>> gravel.
>>
>> The only down side is the algae! My reddish rocks are now mostly bright
>> green, but it keeps the GF busy moving them around.
>>
>>
>
> Is native Limestone ok to use for tanks? Or will it dissolve too much
> and make the water too alkaline? There is literally tons of that pretty
> stuff laying all over the ground in our area! Both with and without
> holes.
>

It would depend somewhat on the PH of your tap water. A lot of people add
the limestone/coral to their filters to prevent PH swings. I had a PH crash
in my previous tank (gravel with too much mulm), so I added crushed coral to
my filter to stabilize my PH at around 7.8. Fortunately my tap water has a
PH around 7.5, except for the cooler months. So water changes don't give the
fish too much PH shock. But if your tap water had a PH of 6 and your tank
was at 7.8, then water changes would be an issue. You would have to adjust
the tap water's PH before adding it to the tank.

The best thing to do would be to put some limestone in a test bucket of
water for a couple of weeks and the test the water's parameters. Make sure
you wash the rock well before doing your test. Once batch of crushed
limestone that I tested had severe Nitrate content, but it was fine after I
washed it.

[Katra]

In article >,
"Bill Stock" > wrote:

> "Katra" > wrote in message
> ...
> > In article >,
> > "Bill Stock" > wrote:
> >
> >> "Starfish" > wrote in message
> >> ...
> >> > Hi everyone! ;-)
> >> >
> >> > I was just wondering if a fine layer (1cm or less) of coarse dark sand
> >> > would be ok for a fish tank.....i just want to provide some contrast
> >> > with
> >> > the fish and to give the tank a natural look without going to heavy
> >> > with
> >> > the substrate.
> >> >
> >> > Does anyone have any reccomendations into types of dark brown coarse
> >> > sand
> >> > to use?
> >> >
> >> > TIA
> >> >
> >> > Starfish
> >> >
> >>
> >> I went for the red river rock, but I saw it in black as well. I just
> >> bought
> >> enough to cover the bottom of the tank. I needed about 30 lbs to cover
> >> the
> >> bottom of my 75 gallon. It hides the mulm, but is much cleaner than
> >> gravel.
> >>
> >> The only down side is the algae! My reddish rocks are now mostly bright
> >> green, but it keeps the GF busy moving them around.
> >>
> >>
> >
> > Is native Limestone ok to use for tanks? Or will it dissolve too much
> > and make the water too alkaline? There is literally tons of that pretty
> > stuff laying all over the ground in our area! Both with and without
> > holes.
> >
>
> It would depend somewhat on the PH of your tap water. A lot of people add
> the limestone/coral to their filters to prevent PH swings. I had a PH crash
> in my previous tank (gravel with too much mulm), so I added crushed coral to
> my filter to stabilize my PH at around 7.8. Fortunately my tap water has a
> PH around 7.5, except for the cooler months. So water changes don't give the
> fish too much PH shock. But if your tap water had a PH of 6 and your tank
> was at 7.8, then water changes would be an issue. You would have to adjust
> the tap water's PH before adding it to the tank.

That is something I'd have to check anyway. ;-)
All of our local water comes out of the local underground aquifer...
which is basically all deep limestone caverns. Our water is very hard
and mineral heavy, and tends to be a bit alkaline. One good reason to
xeriscape for landscaping! It never seemed to bother goldfish when I had
them may moons ago, and the betta seems happy enough. I've just never
added more limestone to any tanks.

Since the water is probably already saturated, I may be worrying for
nothing. ;-) I don't use a water softener in the house.

>
> The best thing to do would be to put some limestone in a test bucket of
> water for a couple of weeks and the test the water's parameters. Make sure
> you wash the rock well before doing your test. Once batch of crushed
> limestone that I tested had severe Nitrate content, but it was fine after I
> washed it.

Oh it'd have to be washed well anyway! I'd be collecting it locally and
it would be dirty. If it's badly stained, I can just acid treat it and
soak it well once rinsed to make sure I got all the acid off of it.

I lean more towards using quartz crystals for decoration myself, and
petrified wood, but a bunch of small, holey (native) limestone rocks
might make an intereresting bottom in a tank and I'm betting you would
have happy loaches too!

>
>
>

--
K.

Sprout the Mung Bean to reply...

As we go through life thinking heavy thoughts, thought particles
tend to get caught between the ears causing truth decay- so be sure
to use mental floss twice a day. -- Swami Beyondanada

>,,<Cat's Haven Hobby Farm>,,<Katraatcenturyteldotnet>,,<

http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewSellersOtherItems&include=0&userid=katra