# African Cichlid Substrate. Who sells it?



## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

Im in the middle of setting up my african tank and have decided I want to use substrate with aragonite in it. Carib sea makes african substrate but I never seem to see it at any of the LFS. Im not crazy about white so Im looking for other colors. Does anyone know where to buy it? It doesnt have to be Caib sea brand. I want to see all my options before I pick one

Also my tank is 125g. So how much substrate do I need? Is their an easy way to calculate how much I need?

Thanks in advance

Justin


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## sunshine_1965 (Aug 16, 2011)

How deep do you want the substrate? I use an average of 1 pound of substrate per gallon. 125g tank would get 125lbs of substrate. Will you be growing plants? Will you be using lots of big rocks? I would check with Charles @ Canadian Aquatics for substrate. Good luck with your setup.


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## tony1928 (Apr 22, 2010)

If you just want aragonite sand, J&L sells huge bags of Caribsea stuff. As cheap as anyone locally. Check their website.


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## jkcichlid (Apr 21, 2010)

I believe ADA has cichlid sand. Check with MiyabiAqua or Canadian Aquatics
Otherwise, get some aragonite from JL and mix it with a colored, say black sand to get the look you want


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## hp10BII (Apr 23, 2010)

I'm using about 70 pounds of aragonite sand in a 125g, gives me a depth of around 3/4".

I'm using this:

Caribsea Aragamax Sugar Sand / Substrate - 30 lbs.

It's a high flow tank so the grain is too fine, I should have gone with a larger grain size:

Caribsea Seafloor Special Grade Sand / Substrate - 40 lbs.


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

sunshine_1965 said:


> How deep do you want the substrate? I use an average of 1 pound of substrate per gallon. 125g tank would get 125lbs of substrate. Will you be growing plants? Will you be using lots of big rocks? I would check with Charles @ Canadian Aquatics for substrate. Good luck with your setup.


You use a pound per gallon. How deep does that make your substrate?
I havnt decided how deep I want my substrate. I will probably go 1.5 inches
I will be growing plants. Mostly anubias and java fern. I am going to be using big rocks and some small. Most likely mexican bowl rock. 
I have been looking on line at different substrates. Its hard to decide when you cant physically see it. Looks so different in a picture.


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## Nicole (Nov 21, 2011)

+1 J&L
They've got so many different kinds. Check them out and you'll prob end up leaving with a bag of substrate you're satisfied with.


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

hp10BII said:


> I'm using about 70 pounds of aragonite sand in a 125g, gives me a depth of around 3/4".
> 
> I'm using this:
> 
> ...


Thanks for the tip about sand size and how much to buy. I will be going high flow aswell. I was hoping for a darker color rather than natural. I dont want to mix 2 colors as someone mentioned.


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## tony1928 (Apr 22, 2010)

Yeah, unfortunately you won't find aragonite in anything other than white I believe. Are you wanting it for buffering capacity? If so, just put a bag of it in your filtration. That would help. I've mixed black sand with the aragonite before and it looked ok.


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## hp10BII (Apr 23, 2010)

I find that with aragonite as substrate, it will maintain pH to around 8, adds a little for KH. If you are planning on buffering the water with one of the African Cichlid buffers ie. Malawi Buffer, Tanganyikan Buffer, it will raise KH and pH to whatever dosage you add, so you really don't need aragonite sand especially if you don't like the colour.

I may take out out my aragonite and substitute it with pool filter sand - I'm using one of the commercial buffer products so the argonite sand is redundant.


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

tony1928 said:


> Yeah, unfortunately you won't find aragonite in anything other than white I believe. Are you wanting it for buffering capacity? If so, just put a bag of it in your filtration. That would help. I've mixed black sand with the aragonite before and it looked ok.


Actually on Carib Sea's web page they have a few different colors even black. I cant decide though if I want to go natural or change it up a bit. Im trying to decide what would look the best with mexican bowl rock. After looking at a few videos Im leaning towards the grey. If you buy carib sea aragonite their is no need to add buffers at all and it eliminates cycling a tank.


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## tony1928 (Apr 22, 2010)

Yes, I would say that in an african tank, if you use aragonite, there is likely no need for buffers but you should still monitor it from time to time. As for elimination of cycling, I'm not much of a believer in any products that eliminate cycling. There have been many products that claim that you could do an instant cycle. I've not see any conclusive evidence that they actually work.



jbyoung00008 said:


> Actually on Carib Sea's web page they have a few different colors even black. I cant decide though if I want to go natural or change it up a bit. Im trying to decide what would look the best with mexican bowl rock. After looking at a few videos Im leaning towards the grey. If you buy carib sea aragonite their is no need to add buffers at all and it eliminates cycling a tank.


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

This is off of the carib sea web page. 

Cichlid Substrate contains live, water purifying bacteria that makes cycling a new aquarium faster and safer. In the hustle and bustle of today’s world, many of us simply don’t have time to wait, and wait... That’s why busy professional, and eager beginning aquarists alike appreciate the benefits of Eco-Complete™ Cichlid. They enjoy the fact that after all of that careful and patient planning - they can forgo another 4 to 8 weeks of practicing patience as the break-in cycle will now be complete in DAYS, not months. Both mineralogically and biologically complete

For a company to claim they have elimanated cycling I would assume they have proof. Carib sea is a big name in substrate. So I think I will beleive them when they say you can cycle a tank in days. Looks like im going to try it and put theie product to the test.


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## hp10BII (Apr 23, 2010)

I've seen that product - it's tough to find around here. I think Roger's may carry it and IMO, it's pretty expensive for what you get. You also have to like the looks of it, a salt and pepper kind of look, mainly white with black sand mixed in.


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

I work for a LFS so I can order it in. I didnt realize until yesterday that we carry Carib Sea products. It can be pricey. I have seen it for $22 for 20lbs online. Everything I have read about it makes it sound worth it to me. The problem is I wanted to see some before I ordered it. Seems like no one really carries any. There is around 8 different styles and colors.There is sand and gravel.


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## tony1928 (Apr 22, 2010)

Yup, I had to order my caribsea sand too as I wanted specific colours. It's also dirt cheap online from the states if you could find free/cheap shipping which I was able to.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

jbyoung00008 said:


> I work for a LFS so I can order it in. I didnt realize until yesterday that we carry Carib Sea products. It can be pricey. I have seen it for $22 for 20lbs online. Everything I have read about it makes it sound worth it to me. The problem is I wanted to see some before I ordered it. Seems like no one really carries any. There is around 8 different styles and colors.There is sand and gravel.


April used to carry it. Not sure that she does anymore. Send her a PM or phone her.


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