Dark gray or red, natural-looking substrates?

[WhistlingBadger]

So, I was just doing some reading. Seems most soils in Sumatra are either reddish rhyolites or dark gray/black margalite. So...I'm looking for a good-quality, medium to course textured sand that is either red or gray-black. If red, something that won't leach a ton of iron into my water. I have no problems with blasting sand, but I'd like something a little more natural looking and varigated for this setup. Any ideas?

 

[Circus]

I know that Zoomed has a line of red Reptisand*, and they claim it can be used in aquariums. I have not used it myself, though, so I don't know what minerals are in it.
*had to edit my auto correct.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Oooh, I like the reptisand. Looks like it's just natural quartz, too. OK, they have black and red, both very natural looking, both fairly affordable. I'll have to decide which color to go with, but I think that will work. Thanks, Circus!

 

[GuppyBreeder180604]

I myself wanted to make a Sumatran biotope and from what I have seen and read there are too many rivers, lakes, and ponds to decide on 1 type of substrate, for example, I have come across some videos of ponds having reddish sand but not as red as rhyolites and some that have white sand, some that are a mix of both and some that have mud or peat, for my case anyways I am gonna stock it with trichogaster trichopterus (three spot gourami), my guppies (even tho they are not native) and some mystus bimaculatus, maybe some tiger barbs and at least the mystus bimaculatus and the three spot gourami can be found in peat swamps with mud and small ponds with sand, here is one of the videos that I saw

in here you can see a sandy substrate that is not one solid color so at least in my opinion completely red or black sand would look unnatural

 

[GuppyBreeder180604]

there is also a lot of leaf litter so at the end you could choose the shade that you like the most as long as most of it is covered by dry leaves

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I myself wanted to make a Sumatran biotope and from what I have seen and read there are too many rivers, lakes, and ponds to decide on 1 type of substrate, for example, I have come across some videos of ponds having reddish sand but not as red as rhyolites and some that have white sand, some that are a mix of both and some that have mud or peat, for my case anyways I am gonna stock it with trichogaster trichopterus (three spot gourami), my guppies (even tho they are not native) and some mystus bimaculatus, maybe some tiger barbs and at least the mystus bimaculatus and the three spot gourami can be found in peat swamps with mud and small ponds with sand, here is one of the videos that I saw

in here you can see a sandy substrate that is not one solid color so at least in my opinion completely red or black sand would look unnatural

Cool video, thanks! My tank is going to be a flooded rice paddy, so a more uniform soil would probably be appropriate. I don't know how much the soil color will matter because I plan on having a good bit of it covered with leaf litter.

I've kept Mystus bimaculatus, and they are really cool fish. A bit fragile in my experience, but worth the work. I can't keep them because this will be a nano tank, and I'm hoping for breeding populations of the bettas and possibly the rasboras, too.

 

[GuppyBreeder180604]

Cool video, thanks! My tank is going to be a flooded rice paddy, so a more uniform soil would probably be appropriate. I don't know how much the soil color will matter because I plan on having a good bit of it covered with leaf litter.

based on this I decided to do a little research on rice paddies and as you just said! they are mainly a uniform color but as I suspected they are all mud and dirt with walls of stone so how about this? you use a fake background that simulates the texture or red rhyolite and then use fluorite dark sand or another nutrient-rich dark brown fine substrate as your bottom for that uniform look, then add some rhyolite pebbles here and there and plant it densely with riparian grasses to simulate the rice plants and in my opinion this will simulate perfectly a rice paddy with native labyrinth fish and rasboras

 

[eatyourpeas]

Ohhh, I would go for the red! Rice paddy from Mars appeals to me, but then again, I have been told I am not from this planet

 

[WhistlingBadger]

based on this I decided to do a little research on rice paddies and as you just said! they are mainly a uniform color but as I suspected they are all mud and dirt with walls of stone so how about this? you use a fake background that simulates the texture or red rhyolite and then use fluorite dark sand or another nutrient-rich dark brown fine substrate as your bottom for that uniform look, then add some rhyolite pebbles here and there and plant it densely with riparian grasses to simulate the rice plants and in my opinion this will simulate perfectly a rice paddy with native labyrinth fish and rasboras

You know, I was planning on doing a moss wall across the back, but I've done fake rock walls before, and that would look really cool...

And I'm going to do real rice plants! I got some black madras seeds last week. Check out the "Sumatran rice paddy" thread for more info. I think this will be a fun build.

 

[GuppyBreeder180604]

You know, I was planning on doing a moss wall across the back, but I've done fake rock walls before, and that would look really cool...

And I'm going to do real rice plants! I got some black madras seeds last week. Check out the "Sumatran rice paddy" thread for more info. I think this will be a fun build.

that sounds cool, but I have 1 concern tho, don't rice plants live 1 year?
Edit: they are killed after a year to plant new ones but they can live up to 30 years so all good with that

 

[Sgooosh]

So, I was just doing some reading. Seems most soils in Sumatra are either reddish rhyolites or dark gray/black margalite. So...I'm looking for a good-quality, medium to course textured sand that is either red or gray-black. If red, something that won't leach a ton of iron into my water. I have no problems with blasting sand, but I'd like something a little more natural looking and varigated for this setup. Any ideas?

red lava??

 

[eatyourpeas]

I will even build you a little rover to clean the algae!

 

[GuppyBreeder180604]

And I'm going to do real rice plants! I got some black madras seeds last week. Check out the "Sumatran rice paddy" thread for more info. I think this will be a fun build.

I read it and let me tell you that you are a smart man, it sounds great and I am also flattered that you liked my ideas enough to incorporate them, using real rice plants sounds cool, if you ask me I would say that you should plant most of the space with the rice plants and only leave a few inches near the rock walls for the Sagittaria latifolia and Limnophila aromatic, then in the crevices of the rock wall and in the base of the other plants you could use the Vesicularia montagnei, I personally wouldn't use the Zantedeschia aethiopica since I think it looks out of place, in my opinion with this plant order it would look more like a real-life rice paddy, as for the animals I think it is a great idea but I would still clean the plants before adding them and I would add every single one of the animals to make sure I don't get undesirable species. Rice paddies also don't seem to have a lot of leaf litter so better leave most of the floor uncovered so that people can see the fine brown substrate and just use some dried rice leaves on some areas for the looks and the tannins.

 

[GuppyBreeder180604]

real rice paddy

 

[Sgooosh]

real rice paddy

Rice paddies sometimes have lobsters and big fish sometimes which is cool saw a video once where they just grab giant fish out of the water!