A quick trip to the best local pet store, Country Pets and Ponds, helped resolve the issue of which substrate to use. My debate had been between Seachem’s Flourite and Eco-Complete from CaribSea. Having used Flourite in the past to rather great success, I had leaned strongly in favor of returning to the familiar solution from Seachem. After consulting online discussion boards and various forums, I couldn’t find any particular, reasoned argument for a preference of one substrate over the other. However, before I purchased the substrate from Amazon online, I figured it was worth the effort to see if the local pet store carried either of the two.
A quick check found that they carried Eco-Complete from CaribSea. In addition, the owner gave it a strong recommendation, indicating he has used the black version (which they had in stock) and topped it with a layer of CaribSea’s Tahitian Moon sand, to great effect and success.
The idea of a layer of sand endeared itself to me because at least one blog post I read recommended a layer of sand to cover either Flourite or Eco-Complete if loaches and cory catfish will be kept. These fish have a habit of nosing into the substrate, the post suggested, and the sharp edges of these gravels could injure them. Previously, I always had a few cory cats in almost any tank, and I do not recall particular health problems for the cories.
Loaches are another story entirely. I loved keeping clown loaches, kuhli loaches, dojo loaches – almost any variety of loach − but I must admit a general lack of success keeping loaches. Clowns were far and away my favorite, and when I had an established, long-running tank, I was able to keep several healthy for quite some time. But they were always the first to die if any shock or illness occurred in the tank. Kuhli loaches, one of my favorites for their strange shapes and curious, frantic behavior, never ever lasted long at all. After a time, I quit trying.
So now, we’ll see if the sand helps this new tank provide a healthy environment for these, some of my favorite freshwater fish. After about a month of having the tank set up and inhabited for about three weeks, things are relatively healthy, and the CaribSea sand provides a lovely backdrop for the plants, fish, rocks, and other assorted decorative pieces (shells, mostly).
Two comments on the sand:
- I didn’t rinse the sand (or the Eco-Complete substrate), and I certainly regretted it. With both, I slit the bag, placed it at the bottom of the tank, and then slowly emptied the contents out, to provide the least possible disturbance and the least likelihood to throw up tons of sediment. The Eco-Complete (which says it’s ready to go) worked like a charm. The sand, on the other hand, produced an incredible number of sand bubbles that floated to the top and behaved almost like an oily film on the water. I figured sweeping my hand through it would release the air and cause the sand to sink – no such luck. Even straining it out with a fish net was only moderately helpful. After a couple of weeks, and several rounds of trying to cause the sand bubbles to settle, they did disappear. But the black film was certainly not attractive and, well, unsettling.
- Fish poo shows up loud and clear on top of the stark, black sand. I thought about this briefly, but then dismissed it. It’s not overly dramatic, but it’s a bit noticeable. We’ll see what happens over time.