Fish for the upper half

[Byron]

I'll check home depot tomorrow for the grey sand. My local Lowes only had beige sand.

I have only seen the grey Quikrete Play Sand; members elsewhere have mentioned the beige/tan. I like the dark grey, it lightens up under water and tank lighting, but very authentic Amazonia stream sand in appearance.

I looked around at a local landscaping yard for river rocks. When I mentioned this to my friend, he warned me that some rocks can affect the alkalinity of the tank and sent me to YouTube to find out how to test rocks for safety... Now I have a gallon of muriatic acid, lol. That's the only size Lowes sells.

Calcareous rock will slowly dissolve calcium, raising pH and GH. River rock is generally safe, but I buy mine from a local landscape outlet. A pail is 75 cents, and it comes in various sizes so you can get a nice boulder and pebble effect, very natural. This is the rock in the photos posted earlier. Be careful collecting rock, it can absorb any liquid it comes into contact with. River rock is rock collected from a river that has been tumbled around for hundreds of years.

Aside from scrubbing and boiling driftwood that I find, are there any other safety precautions I need to know about using found driftwood in my aquarium?

Wood has a real risk, much worse than rock. Collected from water is probably safer respecting toxic substances soaked into the wood, but then you have the risk of water pests. Temperate fish diseases are different from tropical fish diseases and pests, and tropical fish do not have any immunity to temperate fish issues, and vice versa. But if you still want to risk it--it must be hard wood, meaning oak, beech, etc. Soft woods generally rot rapidly. Coniferous wood is soft but more importantly often highly toxic. I had a chunk of cedar many years ago, purchased from a reliable fish store too, and after a few months fish started dying. Finally traced the toxin to something seeping out of the wood, with the help of a professional biologist/aquarist. I do collect branches (oak, maple) but my larger wood is Malaysian Driftwood from fish stores/online.

 

[HazMatt]

Thank you, again.

 

[cowgirluntamed]

@HazMatt

Check ebay for manzanita and spider wood. They have some amazing pieces there. A little on the expensive side but amazing. I buy my malaysian and mopani wood from Dr's foster and smith online. You don't get to choose what you get but great prices. Here is the tank I JUST got planted finally yesterday. This also has the beige playsand from Lowes but I love it.

 

[Byron]

@HazMatt

Check ebay for manzanita and spider wood. They have some amazing pieces there. A little on the expensive side but amazing. I buy my malaysian and mopani wood from Dr's foster and smith online. You don't get to choose what you get but great prices. Here is the tank I JUST got planted finally yesterday. This also has the beige playsand from Lowes but I love it.

View attachment 88630

That is really very nice work, well done. I would make one suggestion, and that is to change your background to black. You will be amazed how much larger the space seems, and how much more the wood, plants and fish stand out. Simple black construction paper works well, I have it on all my tanks.

 

[HazMatt]

Well poop. I guess quikrete stopped making the dark grey play sand, at least it's not available around here.

I've been checking ebay for driftwood. It can be quite expensive especially when you want pieces 2-3 feet long.

I might use the darkest natural sand I can find at the local landscaping places.

 

[Byron]

Well poop. I guess quikrete stopped making the dark grey play sand, at least it's not available around here.

I've been checking ebay for driftwood. It can be quite expensive especially when you want pieces 2-3 feet long.

I might use the darkest natural sand I can find at the local landscaping places.

I would not advise this, as the sharpness of the natural sand can be problematic. As an aquarist who had to move cories after the substrate tore off not only their barbels but part of the mouth of one of them, I would go with play sand. I corresponded with Quikrete a while back, and discovered that their play sand is the most highly refined industrial sand.

They do make the dark grey and the buff; some Home Depot (and Lowe's presumably) carry one or the other; the stores in Vancouver area have the dark grey. In the east apparently it is primarily buff. The latter is OK, as one can always darken much of the substrate with chunks of dark wood, dried leaves, etc. You might be able to order the dark grey from Quikrete?

 

[cowgirluntamed]

That is really very nice work, well done. I would make one suggestion, and that is to change your background to black. You will be amazed how much larger the space seems, and how much more the wood, plants and fish stand out. Simple black construction paper works well, I have it on all my tanks.

Problem is I don't really care for black. Lol. I think I should have went for a darker blue though.....but this is only house paint and I found when setting up my filters that it comes off very easily. So if I want to change it I can. I love the plants I have. Just gotta let the right side grow in more...patience.....lol. and I want the Mexican Oak leaf plant but it's not available right now. I think that will do better than the marsh mermaid in the back. Anyway I won't hijack this post! Lol. Oh...added the quarantined fish this morning and they are adjusting well!

 

[HazMatt]

Today I hit the local petco, petsmart, and the local mom and pop LFS and bought all the black aquarium sand in my county, 50lbs total. Not exactly enough but, the LFS also had 25lbs of dark blue sand. So, I also bought all the dark blue sand in my county. I think that mix will give me a nice hint of blue.

 

[HazMatt]

Oh, and the LFS has a special on driftwood, everything is $10 each. There are all fairly simple pieces but, even the 14-18 inch pieces, of manzanita, in their display tanks are for sale. A few of these pieces have been in the tanks for many years and are covered in algae. I'm thinking about buying 6 to 8, maybe 10 pieces and making a tangle of driftwood in my tank.

 

[HazMatt]

@cowgirluntamed
I don't consider that hijacking. I like seeing other people's setups. One day I hope to have that much greenery in my tank.

 

[Byron]

Today I hit the local petco, petsmart, and the local mom and pop LFS and bought all the black aquarium sand in my county, 50lbs total. Not exactly enough but, the LFS also had 25lbs of dark blue sand. So, I also bought all the dark blue sand in my county. I think that mix will give me a nice hint of blue.

Just a cautionary note here...mixing colours of substrate generally does not work well. It looks very artificial, meaning not natural. I've done it, bad choice. And once you mix it, you cannot un-mix it.

 

[Colin_T]

Problem is I don't really care for black. Lol. I think I should have went for a darker blue though.....but this is only house paint and I found when setting up my filters that it comes off very easily...

I like the blue and it shows off the branches better than black will. With a black backing and not much light getting thru the surface plants, you will struggle to see branches and ornaments.

Just a cautionary note here...mixing colours of substrate generally does not work well. It looks very artificial, meaning not natural. I've done it, bad choice. And once you mix it, you cannot un-mix it.

Yeah you can, it just takes a really long time.

Hey, I have nothing better to do with my life than separate multi-coloured gravel into separate colours

 

[cowgirluntamed]

@cowgirluntamed
I don't consider that hijacking. I like seeing other people's setups. One day I hope to have that much greenery in my tank.

Just remember it was only just planted. Not a clue if there will be more or less greenery in a month or more! Hopefully they will take off.

I like the blue and it shows off the branches better than black will. With a black backing and not much light getting thru the surface plants, you will struggle to see branches and ornaments.

True. And this is before water change day so the blue is a bit different right now due to tannins. But it's not bad. Lol. I had a blue and red betta before and took a picture of him against a blue background and black...he looked way better on blue.

 

[Colin_T]

In the shop we had black on most tanks but blue on some tanks. Basically any black fish went into tanks with blue backgrounds so you could see the fish. The other fish went into tanks with a black background, which showed them off better. But trying to see black mollies on a black background, it doesn't work

 

[HazMatt]

@Byron
Good call. I'll mix a small batch to see how it looks before mixing the whole thing together.

Also, quite a while back, you told me about some sponge filters at Amazon. Have you seen these sponge filters yet? They have cups below the sponges to hold bio balls. Interesting concept and the reviews are mostly positive. What do you think about them?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M32L1LC/?tag=ff0d01-20