Substrate and Driftwood :)

[WmTasker]

1st -- I can't decide if I am going bare bottom or not. At first I was going to do gravel. Everyone comments about it trapping stuff and messing with water quality. I have had many many freshwater tanks with gravel and I really don't mind gravel vacuuming it with every water change. I really don't like sand but I was looking at Caribsea's Cichlid substate (http://www.caribsea.com/caribsea_africancichlidmix.html) and really like the ivory coast sand. Its not as small as normal sand but not as big as gravel. I think I might be able to still vacuum it to keep it clean. Does anyone have thoughts on this or have you used any caribsea's substates?

2nd -- I would like some driftwood in my tank but Im not sure how to go about it. Should I order some online, try to make my own, or maybe get the fake driftwood. I was watching a video on making fake driftwood. This might be the easiest to get a large center piece for my new 75g. Can anyone share how they did their driftwood and maybe where they got it from?

Thanks
Billy

[pmkappy]

I took my granddaughters for a walk along the banks of the Connecticut river and found some fantastic driftwood. Cut it, took it home, boiled it for 4 hours, submerged it for 3 weeks until it was water logged. Great fun. Check your local river.

[WmTasker]

I took my granddaughters for a walk along the banks of the Connecticut river and found some fantastic driftwood. Cut it, took it home, boiled it for 4 hours, submerged it for 3 weeks until it was water logged. Great fun. Check your local river.

Thanks for the tip. Did you just find branches on the ground or in the river? I guess my biggest question is what wood is safe for our discus? Are there some wood that I should stay away from?

[jmf3460]

1st: as for your gravel question, the answer is no, definitely no gravel. I would not recommend it at all, it holds way too much crap and drives your nitrates wayyy up. As for the caribsea sand, I use this, I use the CaribSea instant aquarium sand, but in sunset gold as seen here, http://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/caribsea-instant-aquarium-sunset-gold-gravel Its a great substrate and i have used it for years, all the poo and waste sits on top of the sand and can easily be siphoned off by hovering your siphon tube about 2" over the sand during water chages, it will suck up the poo and not the sand. make sure not to get the caribsea kind for salt water as it will up your PH. After looking at the ivory coast, it isn't a sand at all, more like a fine gravel, I do not recommend this.

2nd: driftwood is a great idea. you can get some pretty killer pieces from Rich at manzanita.com, he has cool stumps and his aquarium packages are awesome too.

[WmTasker]

1st: as for your gravel question, the answer is no, definitely no gravel. I would not recommend it at all, it holds way too much crap and drives your nitrates wayyy up. As for the caribsea sand, I use this, I use the CaribSea instant aquarium sand, but in sunset gold as seen here, http://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/caribsea-instant-aquarium-sunset-gold-gravel Its a great substrate and i have used it for years, all the poo and waste sits on top of the sand and can easily be siphoned off by hovering your siphon tube about 2" over the sand during water chages, it will suck up the poo and not the sand. make sure not to get the caribsea kind for salt water as it will up your PH. After looking at the ivory coast, it isn't a sand at all, more like a fine gravel, I do not recommend this.

I do like the Instant Aquarium. it would be nice to cutdown on the setup and cycle time. I liked the ivory coast mainly because it is a little larger. The size of caribsea sand is 0.25-1.0 mm and the ivory coast is 1.0-2.5 mm. Under the Instant Aquaium section, they have one called peace river and it is 1.0-2.0 mm. That might not be too bad.



2nd: driftwood is a great idea. you can get some pretty killer pieces from Rich at manzanita.com, he has cool stumps and his aquarium packages are awesome too.

I was looking at their website. They do have a lot of nice looking pieces on there. I will just have to look at the price and shipping to see what I might be able to do.

[WmTasker]

I found this video that show the size of the peace river


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyJCS2ZgGUc

[bluelagoon]

I prefer gravel(pea size) over sand.The reason is that gravel will act more as a media than sand and the gravel is easier to clean deep whereas sand you get just the surface area.In the microscopic world the water can get in between the gravel better so it won't be anaerobic.You can get pea stone gravel at Home Deport or Kents for dirt cheap or pay extremely high prices for the some thing at the pet shops.I have never had any problem with pea stone sized substrate and seems to work great for me.Plants do not do as well in a packed sand either.

[Leland F.]

If the Caribsea sand is being marketed for cichlids, it likely is calcium based, or has a calcium based sand mixed into it, which you do not want in a discus tank, it will drive the pH up too high and raise the carbonate hardness.

-Leland

[WmTasker]

I prefer gravel(pea size) over sand.The reason is that gravel will act more as a media than sand and the gravel is easier to clean deep whereas sand you get just the surface area.In the microscopic world the water can get in between the gravel better so it won't be anaerobic.You can get pea stone gravel at Home Deport or Kents for dirt cheap or pay extremely high prices for the some thing at the pet shops.I have never had any problem with pea stone sized substrate and seems to work great for me.Plants do not do as well in a packed sand either.

I will have to look at my local Home Depot and see what they have.


If the Caribsea sand is being marketed for cichlids, it likely is calcium based, or has a calcium based sand mixed into it, which you do not want in a discus tank, it will drive the pH up too high and raise the carbonate hardness.

-Leland

I was wondering about that since it states that it helps maintain pH. The instant aquarium doesn't mention doing that. So maybe I would be better off going that route.

[jmf3460]

the instant aquarium does NOT affect PH, I can attest to that. caribsea makes both types, for fresh and saltwater, and for African cichlids. the salt water type is made of some type of crushed coral and aragonite something or other, the African cichlid is something Idk but its meant to raise ph and the instant aquarium is neutral, it will not raise your ph.

[pmkappy]

The greatist looking driftwood came from the roots of trees washed up on the banks.(we never got our feet wet). Any hardwood( Oak, Maple etc) will do, but boil it or you will have tea colored water.

[pitdogg2]

Paint outside bottom tank with pebbled type spray paint. Best of both worlds. One of our members here had done something like this and you couldn't tell it was a bare bottom tank.