Substrate

[Ryap P White]

I am looking for a substrate for my tank. It is mostly going to be decorated with red and brown lava rock. I am thinking about playsand or crushed coral. I want something differant. Any ideas?

170g
oscars
jd's
firemouths
pleco's

[punkypuffer]

not crushed coral, it will make your pH very very high... i would go with the play sand or some other type of sand, like black beauty or tahitian moon...

[Ryap P White]

Do you know any online stores the have a large selection of substrate?

[Chad]

If you're looking for something a little different, you can try 3M colorquartz (http://cms.3m.com/cms/US/en/2-125/cFikeFS/view.jhtml) . It can be a little hard to get your hands on, but it looks great. If you live in the south west, here is a distributor list (http://cichlidforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7530&highlight=colorquartz) I got from 3M

[chc]

That Fish Place sells Decoline gravel....... it's really close to sand, so you get the benefits without the drawbacks.

[Ryap P White]

What are the drawbacks of sand particularly pool filter sand. I assume it is that it is diff to clean?

[Ryap P White]

What is this Decoline gravel all about?

[Ryap P White]

The pool sand is like 6 bucks per 50 lbs. If it is not a pain to maintain or harmfull to the fish I think that what im gonna do. Any insight in these areas would be great!

[punkypuffer]

pfs is great. just rinse it really well!

[Ryap P White]

Have you used it in any of your tanks punky? Does it get nasty from fish waste?

I am going to use pillow cases to rinse the sand. Just dont tell my wife!

[punkypuffer]

it doesn't really get nasty IMO, and it's pretty easy to clean

[Ryap P White]

Thanks for everyones input. I went out today and bought me a ton of pool filter sand. It is a very light tan. I am told that it is probably the same as sand blasting sane. Thanks ....Ryan

[punkypuffer]

blast sand is more like "pea gravel", very small little gravel pieces