Tropheus Substrate Discussion

[Chris Derrick]

It takes a lot to offend me dude, dont worry about that. I am in no way offended by any comments such as that. Everyone has opinons and there are more than one way to skin a cat.

My tanks are just without substrate, they are not without aquascaping. Fish have to have a place to recover from stress that is a requirement. Otherwise there is a problem.

And like I said, I do think they look better, but for me with so many tanks and my time as precious as is it, it is so much easier for me to not have it for cleaning, and for fry catching. My tanks are a lot about functionality, and not really display.

To keep the bottom glass clean keep a bristlenose pleco. I have one in every tank but the 115 and the small QT tanks. They do a really nice job. I got a single little female in the 300 8ft and she keeps a really clean house.

Geoff offended me by telling me my Bristle nose was lazy because he will not clean a darn thing! He hangs in his hole and rarley comes out in day time. My algea grows and grows only one working on it is the trophs! I never feed the bristle nose at night I figure he grabs a bite at feeding time in am or pm when I might toss in some spirlina disks? I have had this fish almost two years his head is covered in bristles nice and long! Lazy he is! Hey Geoff want to trade bristle nose's and see if you can train mine?

[Chris Derrick]

Nice! Is it priceY? How many pounds for a 125 gallon? You say you can siphon it without sand going all way up? Thanks CD

[TaTeR ToT]

yeah pretty much, the sand is cheap!
~$10 for a 50lb bag.
i used 2 bags in my old 125g 6ft tank and it gave it a nice even 1.5" layer.

[Chris Derrick]

We have quite a few of those Leslies pool places around me I took a look on there site and they have a Zeo pool filter sand says its light green etc..... and cost $24 bag I am guessing they have just regular pool filter sand also? I got pool filter sand local pool place and it was just like sand box play sand dirty brown nothing special. Why is leslies so white like your tanks shows? Thanks CD

[TaTeR ToT]

idk,lol
its just that color, its higher quality and bigger grain size.
its a silica based sand.

[Mzungu]

What is the difference between leslies and any other pool filtersand? Thanks

Be careful with other brands of pool filter sand. I've heard of other brands wiping out tanks before. Leslie's is the way to go. :)

[myjohnson]

thank god you finally coming out your shell and starting to make threads on here Chris!

You know where I stand on the issue.

There are a lot of right answers to this one.

But don't forget the golden rule: HAPPY FISH BREED!

[cichlid1409]

Man, do whatever you want in your tank, hopefully everything will be cool and your fish will start makin babies. I kind of feel like the fish in the tank are only half of the equation and aquascaping the other half.

i agree with both of these statements. do what you want to your tanks, but i would never go bare bottom. in the wild you'll never see a biotope without substrate.

[peterp63]

But I wasn't aware that Tropheus were "sand-dwellers."

Knowing is half the battle
-G.I. Joe

[TaTeR ToT]

Knowing is half the battle
-G.I. Joe

nice1
lol

[Chris Derrick]

heres a pic of the leslies pfs in my 75g troph tank.

its a larger grain size, lighter in color, and doesnt stay stirred in the water colum

I called leslies today and asked about there pfs silica base it's 11$ for 50lbs but ur picture looks white is it or just pic? I want lighter color but leslies claims there sand is light tan? Thanks

[bethesdaboy]

Home Depot.
50lbs is 2 bucks.

[peterp63]

Home Depot.
50lbs is 2 bucks.

+ a month of cloudy water..... priceless.

[myjohnson]

dude, clean the sand before you put it in the tank.

[peterp63]

i always do. leslie's is clean after two washings. playsand may never get clean....