Choosing a type of sand substrate for Cories and cichlids

Hi!

I'm restocking my well established (5 years old) 50 gallon tank and have decided to change out my substrate before going any further.

I currently have
1 rainbow cichlid
1 clown pleco
2 guppies
3 BoesemanI rainbows

And will be adding
4 more BoesemanI rainbows
5 SterbaI Cories
1 sajica cichlid
1 dwarf gourami
And possibly another guppy and a couple of nerite snails

Right now I have rather unnatural looking gravel. My main reason for switching to sand is so I can keep Cories, but I'm also moving towards a more natural look. I do want to do live plants but would be okay sticking with floating stuff like Java moss and water sprite, as I haven't had much luck with rooted plants in the past.

So my question is, if I want a darker colored sand, but not black, what type/brand is my best bet? I was thinking of mixing some tan and black sand together, to get a look similar to this sand in the following link.


Should I go with a mix of CaribSea Naturals and Tahitian Moon sand? I've been reading mixed opinions about keeping Cories in the Tahitian Moon sand, so I'm worries it might be too sharp. Or is there another brand out there that carries a range of natural colors? I'm seeing a lot of bright beach white, and black, and not much in the middle.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

There are several color varieties available in play sand now a days, also it's super cheap. The regular "brown/tan" color tends to be darker and less uniform in grain size than silica sand. The down side is that it takes a LOT of cleaning, but it might be worth looking into if you want something different.

 

I'm considering play sand, but I see mixed opinions on that too (whether it's soft enough for Cories, and that it might have stuff added to it that isn't ideal for a fish tank).

Money isn't a big issue. My time is worth more to me so I'd rather not have to spend a crazy amount of time cleaning.

After my little one wakes up from nap time I'm going to go to my LFS and maybe Lowes and/or Petsmart to look around. So far I can only go by what I see on the screen, color wise.

 

I'm a stay at home mom so was able to turn the sand cleaning into an activity with my kids, but I hear you about the time! My cory's seem to love the sand I use and tend to sift it- I assume because it is mostly very fine. When you look, maybe try to find something with a finer grain. If you are looking for black, you might want to stay away from what they call black beauty. It's pretty but is really ground up iron slag, which is totally fine for your tank, but might have sharp edges that could hurt sifting fish. Tahitian Moon sand is supposedly much safer. Good luck. I hope you find something you like!

 

My daughter is only 15 months, so she'd probably be willing to help for a few minutes, but it would be a messy situation!

I just found this online. It is quite expensive, but I'm considering it if I don't see something I like while I'm out. Maybe I could mix it with a small bag of black to get a more interesting look.

 

Haha! My youngest is 5 so it wasn't that bad for me, but I know how hard it can be to do ANYTHING with an 15 month old! I think that sand looks nice and really fine, but it is super expensive. Especially for something you probably want to alter. I'd keep shopping around. There are so many options, and really corys can deal with a variety of sand substrate as long as it's not too sharp. I have corys in each one of my 4 tanks and have never had any problems.

Just a thought... Have you looked at pool filter sand? It's what one of my tanks has. It looks just like what's in this picture- the darker one on the right.

 

Yes, I have already recruited one of my sisters and may recruit a couple more of my siblings to come over and keep my baby entertained while I do the substrate switch...it will certainly be the biggest project I have undertaken since before she was born haha!

I'm definitely going to keep looking. If I can find very small bags that aren't too expensive I'll buy them so I can see what ratio of colors I'm going to want, and go from there.

Just a thought... Have you looked at pool filter sand? It's what one of my tanks has. It looks just like what's in this picture- the darker one on the right.

I like the look of that. It's a lot darker than most of the natural substrates out there. I did look online and didn't find much. I went on Lowes' website and they had no pool filter sand listed as available at my local branch. I wonder if it's just too early in the season to find it.

 

Well good luck! The switch shouldn't be too bad. Without the 45 minutes of cleaning I had to do, you could probably get it knocked out during a naptime. It's probably best to have back up so you can get it done though!

I like the look of that. It's a lot darker than most of the natural substrates out there. I did look online and didn't find much. I went on Lowes' website and they had no pool filter sand listed as available at my local branch. I wonder if it's just too early in the season to find it.

Sometimes I find that calling or going to the store to see what they have is way more accurate that what's on line. Home Depot sometimes has it too. You can also look for local pool stores since they will be open all year for people with hot tubs. Most of the stores should be able to get some for you if they don't have it in stock.

 

I have 3 tanks, all with Dolan blast sand, it's about like the stuff on the left side in the picture ylime posted above. Two of the tanks are cichlids with some BN and Clown Loaches (I know not the ideal fish to have with cichlids, but they are healthy and happy now for over a year). The 3rd tank is a community tank with 7 corys and they have been there for about a year and seem fine. All of their fins are healthy and they act just fine.

I tried sand but in the end hated it with my easy fil vac system when it came time to vacuum the substrate and do WC's as too much sand would clog the discharge valve, not to mention on of the tanks is upstairs where I have to connect it to the bathroom sink and I didn't want an accumulation of sand in the p-trap.

Anyway, for me this Dolan blast sand sold at a few LFS here in Austin TX rocks, literally. It vacuums super easy and looks good IMHO.

 

Well good luck! The switch shouldn't be too bad. Without the 45 minutes of cleaning I had to do, you could probably get it knocked out during a naptime. It's probably best to have back up so you can get it done though!

Oh if only I could get things done during nap time! I'm a human milk bar during most naps and confined to the bed. I call it nap jail lol. That's why I called for backup!

Thanks for the help! I just snuck away and discovered my husband has taken my car and left me with his (sans car seat) so it looks like my shopping around may have to wait until tomorrow...grr!

I have 3 tanks, all with Dolan blast sand, it's about like the stuff on the left side in the picture ylime posted above. Two of the tanks are cichlids with some BN and Clown Loaches (I know not the ideal fish to have with cichlids, but they are healthy and happy now for over a year). The 3rd tank is a community tank with 7 corys and they have been there for about a year and seem fine. All of their fins are healthy and they act just fine.

I tried sand but in the end hated it with my easy fil vac system when it came time to vacuum the substrate and do WC's as too much sand would clog the discharge valve, not to mention on of the tanks is upstairs where I have to connect it to the bathroom sink and I didn't want an accumulation of sand in the p-trap.

Anyway, for me this Dolan blast sand sold at a few LFS here in Austin TX rocks, literally. It vacuums super easy and looks good IMHO.

I have never heard of Dolan blast sand. I will look that up. Thanks!

 

Human milk bar! Hahaha! Love it! Enjoy every minute, because it's over before you know it! I feel your pain on the shopping....I've been trying to leave the house all week, but things keep coming up or people keep stopping by. Tomorrow I WILL get to the fish store to get some neon tetras, even if it kills me!

 

I use black diamond sand blasting sand. It is actually coal slag....but it is safe for aquariums. Some people have said it is sharp...but I have cories in my tank and they burrow with their faces and stuff all the time with no damage to their barbels.

I use the 20/40 grit...I think that is the fine grade. Are you willing to consider black sand? There is also the extra fine 30/60 grade that has sort of a mixture of black and white, so it is lighter....I haven't used that size before but others have.

Edit: and you can't go wrong for $7.99 for 50 pounds!!

 

I use black diamond sand blasting sand. It is actually coal slag....but it is safe for aquariums. Some people have said it is sharp...but I have cories in my tank and they burrow with their faces and stuff all the time with no damage to their barbels.

I use the 20/40 grit...I think that is the fine grade. Are you willing to consider black sand? There is also the extra fine 30/60 grade that has sort of a mixture of black and white, so it is lighter....I haven't used that size before but others have.

Edit: and you can't go wrong for $7.99 for 50 pounds!!

I definitely don't want an all black substrate but may want to mix a natural color with a smaller amount of black, so either way I will probably want some black, unless I find a color/mixture I'm happy with as is.

I'm basically catering to the Cories, so want to go the route of the softest sand possible.

It gets so confusing! It seems there are differing opinions all over regarding the blasting sand.

Human milk bar! Hahaha! Love it! Enjoy every minute, because it's over before you know it! I feel your pain on the shopping....I've been trying to leave the house all week, but things keep coming up or people keep stopping by. Tomorrow I WILL get to the fish store to get some neon tetras, even if it kills me!

I try to! The first 15 months has already flown by at warp speed!!

Good luck with the neons! I'd love to keep them, but my ph is 8.2 with 300+ppm hardness. They're so pretty, especially in a group!

 

If you go with black diamond blasting sand and do the 60/80 grit it's more tan like what is in my avatar. Definitely soft enough for cories/kuhlis

 

I definitely don't want an all black substrate but may want to mix a natural color with a smaller amount of black, so either way I will probably want some black, unless I find a color/mixture I'm happy with as is.

I'm basically catering to the Cories, so want to go the route of the softest sand possible.

It gets so confusing! It seems there are differing opinions all over regarding the blasting sand.



I try to! The first 15 months has already flown by at warp speed!!

Good luck with the neons! I'd love to keep them, but my ph is 8.2 with 300+ppm hardness. They're so pretty, especially in a group!

My son is 15 months old
He always wants to help with tank maintenance. Sadly, my supply stopped around 6-7 months, and I miss nursing. But you could always pump and freeze for those moments you want some freedom. I got the Lansinoh bottles with the natural nipples when I first started working again and the transition was easy enough. When I ran out of frozen milk, he had already used the bottle and switching to formula was easy enough.
Though nap time for him usually means I'm on fishlore the whole time. You know how it goes. You start one task and they wake up, or the only stuff you need to do is relatively noisy and just not worth it.
Haha.

I really like the idea of mixing the sand. I think adding some accent spots of a finer natural gravel would be a good way to tie in the mixed sand. Say you have a larger focal point piece of wood, you have rocks of varying sizes and kind of scale down to the gravel so it looks like natural weather erosion, with some smaller foreground plants here and there. I'll have to see if I can find a picture.

But when I move I will likely be upgrading. I have the black diamond blasting sand and was going to mix with play sand, but now that I see the pool filter sand is darker I'll probably go that route.

Also I love that you're getting C. Sajica, I'm trying to get mine this week!

 

My son is 15 months old
He always wants to help with tank maintenance. Sadly, my supply stopped around 6-7 months, and I miss nursing. But you could always pump and freeze for those moments you want some freedom. I got the Lansinoh bottles with the natural nipples when I first started working again and the transition was easy enough. When I ran out of frozen milk, he had already used the bottle and switching to formula was easy enough.
Though nap time for him usually means I'm on fishlore the whole time. You know how it goes. You start one task and they wake up, or the only stuff you need to do is relatively noisy and just not worth it.
Haha.

I really like the idea of mixing the sand. I think adding some accent spots of a finer natural gravel would be a good way to tie in the mixed sand. Say you have a larger focal point piece of wood, you have rocks of varying sizes and kind of scale down to the gravel so it looks like natural weather erosion, with some smaller foreground plants here and there. I'll have to see if I can find a picture.

But when I move I will likely be upgrading. I have the black diamond blasting sand and was going to mix with play sand, but now that I see the pool filter sand is darker I'll probably go that route.

Also I love that you're getting C. Sajica, I'm trying to get mine this week!

My daughter has never taken a bottle, but I only have to work from home, and I'm lazy haha, so we didn't try very hard. She'll drink milk out of a straw sippy cup though. I've gone out for a few hours without her a few times, and it was pretty great, but I also missed her, so I'm looking forward to the freedom as she gets older but not at the same time, you know... And yup, entire naps are being spent on fish lore here too!

That sounds really awesome, with the gradual transition from sand to gravel and rocks! Do you think it would end up just mixing together though? I'm wondering too, if say I mix pool sand with black diamond or Tahitian moon, if I have to make sure they're exactly the same grain size. Because wouldn't the larger grains end up sitting on top while the smaller grains get packed down, eventually? I may have to do some experimentation with different types before I make the final decision for my tank!

If you do find a picture of what you described, I'd love to see it!

 

My daughter has never taken a bottle, but I only have to work from home, and I'm lazy haha, so we didn't try very hard. She'll drink milk out of a straw sippy cup though. I've gone out for a few hours without her a few times, and it was pretty great, but I also missed her, so I'm looking forward to the freedom as she gets older but not at the same time, you know... And yup, entire naps are being spent on fish lore here too!

That sounds really awesome, with the gradual transition from sand to gravel and rocks! Do you think it would end up just mixing together though? I'm wondering too, if say I mix pool sand with black diamond or Tahitian moon, if I have to make sure they're exactly the same grain size. Because wouldn't the larger grains end up sitting on top while the smaller grains get packed down, eventually? I may have to do some experimentation with different types before I make the final decision for my tank!

If you do find a picture of what you described, I'd love to see it!

The sands should be pretty similar and the gravel and rocks will stay on top. If you don't have MTS to stir the sand, then you will be stirring it occasionally to prevent pockets of gas or bad bacteria from forming. I imagine that would take care of finer sand settling. An easy way to do this is to attach a chopstick to your siphon, with it extending an inch or so deeper than your sand bed. So if your sand is 4" at the deepest, have the chopstick go about 5" past the siphon. That way any dust fine particles or gross stuff that is buried gets sucked right up.

Little one has 6 teeth coming in and a cold. And now he needs a nap. Goodbye for now, Fishlore.

 

This is a members tank but I can't for the life of me find the original thread. If anyone else can link it so they can be credited for such a gorgeous tank, that'd be awesome.

 

Yes, thank you!
I drool over all of cooperbh tanks. That thread inspired me to go with a totally different look than I am used to. I was kind of scared of using rocks because a lot of times they definitely look like they are placed artificially, and I usually go with black background and sand. For my mom's 5.5, I frosted the background and used rockwork for the hardscape, and have hills and slopes made with a mix of natural gravel, with a "pathway" of white sand. A total opposite of my other tanks. And now I want to blend the looks when I upgrade, now that I'm feeling more brave. But that whole thread was major inspiration.

 

It is a beautiful 'scape which is why I remembered the thread, wish my tanks looked half as good

 

Wow that is an awesome setup!

Now I have too many ideas lol!

Another question: I like the look of the pool filter sand at Ace Hardware which is 20 grade silica. Is 20 grade too large to be ideal for Cories? It says the grain size is .4 to .6 mm.

 

Wow that is an awesome setup!

Now I have too many ideas lol!

Another question: I like the look of the pool filter sand at Ace Hardware which is 20 grade silica. Is 20 grade too large to be ideal for Cories? It says the grain size is .4 to .6 mm.

If 20 grade is the same as the 20/40 grade BDBS, it should be fine. But I'll let someone else confirm.

 

If it's the same as the 20/40 grit you should be fine. I use the 30/60 grit for my kuhli's but I plan on going to the 20/40 grit when I upgrade to the 75.

 

Well I couldn't stop stressing over whether PFS and blasting sand would be ideal, so I decided my best bet would be to get sand specifically meant for aquariums. Though it was expensive, it has eased my mind for now. I ordered 25 lbs of brown sand (Jurassic brand), and 15 lbs each of beige and black (Estes brand). It is a bit more than I'll need, so I can play around with different ratios. I'm excited. And nervous haha. I hope I can get it to look natural yet unique!

 

Well I couldn't stop stressing over whether PFS and blasting sand would be ideal, so I decided my best bet would be to get sand specifically meant for aquariums. Though it was expensive, it has eased my mind for now. I ordered 25 lbs of brown sand (Jurassic brand), and 15 lbs each of beige and black (Estes brand). It is a bit more than I'll need, so I can play around with different ratios. I'm excited. And nervous haha. I hope I can get it to look natural yet unique!

Any updates or photos for us?

 

Any updates or photos for us?

Still waiting for my shipments, but as soon as I have something to take a picture of I will definitely share here!

 

I just got my C. Sajica babies! I'll take some pics tomorrow morning if I remember.

 

Update: my Estes sand has shipped and I should get it this week. However, Jurassic sands called and they made a mistake on their website so the "quicksand" which is the dark brown sand I ordered should not have been in the aquarium substrate category. The woman I talked to explained that it is extremely fine and soft, great as play sand or reptile substrate but she is afraid it would clog an aquarium filter. The only sand they have that is for aquariums is the "river rock" which I will post a link to a picture of. I'm not sure if the grain size is small enough to be my best choice for cories, so when I explained my situation she said she would send me samples of each and I can decide what to do. If I don't like either I can get a refund.



What do you guys think of this substrate?

Kwig, that's very exciting! I can't wait to see a picture! I have 2 LFS's nearby and both seemed like they had never heard of T-Bar or Sajica cichlids, but one said they can get anything, and the other has me on their wish list for them, so I hope I can end up finding some! There is also a really amazing LFS about 45 minutes away and I haven't checked with them yet...but I've got time. Hopefully I can get this substrate change done soon so I can start adding more fish!

 

I just got my C. Sajica babies! I'll take some pics tomorrow morning if I remember.

Any new pics? ��




I got the samples today, so here is a picture of each type of sand. The river rock is the largest grain, but smooth. Estes black sand is comparable. Estes natural tan (beige) and Jurassic quicksand are close in size too, but the quicksand is definitely the softest and smoothest.

I think they may be right about it being too powdery. What do you guys think? My filter is an Eheim classic 2217.

I like the multicolored look of the river rock, but do you think it might be too big for Cories? I plan on getting Sterbais. Don't they like to sift it through their gills?

 

I don't think it would be too large but it's hard to say for sure. If you want off color you could try the 60/80 grit black diamond sand as that is the color I have and it is about the same shade as your river bed sand but probably finer.

 

I don't think it would be too large but it's hard to say for sure. If you want off color you could try the 60/80 grit black diamond sand as that is the color I have and it is about the same shade as your river bed sand but probably finer.

Maybe. I'm hesitant to purchase more sand that I'm not 100% on though...I'll start building up a collection of it! Lol!

Do you think the Quicksand looks too small?

 

I think it would be too messy and hard to maintain but maybe not. i'm not a sand expert as i've only ever had black diamond.

 

Any new pics? ��




I got the samples today, so here is a picture of each type of sand. The river rock is the largest grain, but smooth. Estes black sand is comparable. Estes natural tan (beige) and Jurassic quicksand are close in size too, but the quicksand is definitely the softest and smoothest.

I think they may be right about it being too powdery. What do you guys think? My filter is an Eheim classic 2217.

I like the multicolored look of the river rock, but do you think it might be too big for Cories? I plan on getting Sterbais. Don't they like to sift it through their gills?

 

Aw they're so cute!

 

They're getting the orange fringe on their dorsal fins and getting the dark bar midway down the body. I love that they have gold and blue eyes <3