Substrate?

[jball1125]

Im setting up a 75g planted tank soon. I was wondering what was the preferred substrate? Is sand any easier to clean or does it get sucked up by the siphon? I wont be siphoning the entire tank as part of it is going to be covered by cuba but i was still wondering.

Also, wet dry or eheim pro 2026? I dont think I will be injecting CO2

THANKS

[mareshow]

i had gravel before but personally i like sand A LOT more, you just have to run the siphon over the top to pick up the garbage rather that sifting through it all. One thing with sand is you have to mix it with your hand once in a while to prevent the anaerobic bacteria from building up but otherwise its awesome! I dont have to do that last part because i have stingrays so they do it for me :D and as for the sump or eheim it all depends. Sump you get better filtration, more bio filtration, more mechanical filtration, and more chemical filtration BUT it can be a bit of a pain in the a## to clean. A canister filter on the other hand is a nicely put together filtration utopia that is easy to service and does a great job (i have a 2026) If i could do i sump i would, but i have rays. If i were you i'd do a canister filter but not a 2026, its too small for a 75g in my opinion. I'd do two if them, or, better yet an XP5 from kens fish, with an xp5 you would not have to worry about getting enough filtration on that tank EVER and kens fish has them for a great price! But seriously if you decide to do a canister don't just use a 2026 its not near big enough for a 75g. Trust me it's way better to have too much filtration than not enough.

[jball1125]

Stingrays are so cool! Do you keep them with discus? I'm assuming you don't have plants in the sand with a stingray right?

[mareshow]

i mounted all my plants on the rocks and wood in my tank, it keeps them out of the rays way and yes they are with my discus and an arowana :)

http://s575.photobucket.com/albums/ss194/mareshow/New%20Tank/DSC_00026.jpg

i think if you do sand and want to plant stuff in the sand you need to fertilize it quite a bit because sand won't have the nutrients of some substrates but i think it would look amazing :)

[jball1125]

Wow very nice setup!

I think ill give stingrays a try when I have space for a bigger tank one day!

Im probably going to go with sand on top of sometype of fertilizer. What type of sand did you buy?

[scottishbloke]

That is a very nice, clean looking tank!! I like the use of space and uncluttered appearance, it is very appealing and emphasizes the fish rather than drawing attention away from them IMHO. My setup is quite similar but at present I am finishing growing out sub-adults and juvies, so have no sand as yet.

Colin

[mareshow]

yeah the rays are still very little but i dont want to take up anymore space from them so hence all the space :) as for sand i'm switching mine right away, due to how tiny it is and the rays flopping around in it all the time Its everywhere hence the "haze" in my tank. I'm probably either going to get the peace river sand from caribsea, or just some regular old playsand from my local hardware store, I'm going to rinse both obviously.