# Cheap black substrate suitable for corys ?



## Polly (18 Aug 2016)

Or it could be really dark brown, but really dark.

The Cat litter has lasted for many years, but I've never really liked the colour.   I personally love the dark substrates and they work better in a lowlight tank (for me, I know some will disagree)  Fish certainly show better colours over a dark gravel.

I've been searching the forum, but there's so much to take in.

Have seen a mention of a fine natural black gravel from eBay but no mention of whether it's safe for Cory's.   Mine have lovely long barbels so I'd hate that to change.

And of course, having used Cat Litter, I'm not wanting to go down the super expensive route

Tank is low light, no co2, have liquid carbon instead.

Edited to say..... and thank you for reading this and any thoughts you may have


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## zozo (18 Aug 2016)

No idea about it's allover availability, but they have EU site.. But i have very good experience with their gravels. ALso have the black one.. 
http://www.hsaqua.eu/en/substrate-m...bodemmaterialen/159-hs-aqua-gravel-black97587


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## Polly (18 Aug 2016)

A Web search for UK brought nothing up, and their website would only deliver US results 

But thank you anyway ☺


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## dean (18 Aug 2016)

Go for black sand much better than gravel for Corydoras 

http://www.unipacpet.co.uk/aquatic/aquarium-sand/

Regards
Dean


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## Polly (18 Aug 2016)

Hmmm Thanks Dean,

I took out 'Black'  sand when I replaced with Cat Litter.   It didn't have a name but i'm guessing it was Limpopo, from MA in smallish unlabelled bags at the time.

Cant say the Corys' barbels were any better than they are now - they have magnificent Barbels now!   and it wasn't black, but disappointingly grey with black bits :-/  Not really something you want to find out after spending almost a day rinsing out the dust before getting it in the tank.

Would really like something coarser than fine sand to be honest

Was quite excited about the Kaizen Bonsai Supalight Black Soil until I read this http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/cost-effective-fine-black-high-cec-substrate.40508/   

Is this the only experience with this as a substrate?

Can anyone say whether the coated sand/gravels lose their coating?   Don't like the idea of going to the trouble of putting a coated one in only for it to degrade.  And have seen how unattractive that is in my son's tank, (gravel from PAH)  but have they changed now?


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## dean (18 Aug 2016)

Course gravel with cause problems with the Corydoras barbels 
That's why breeders and showers keep them in bare bottom tanks 


Regards
Dean


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## Polly (18 Aug 2016)

Dean,

I'm not actually looking for coarse gravel.  It would be fine gravel or coarse sand.

Regards
Polly


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## alto (18 Aug 2016)

Not cheap enough llikely but Carib Sea does guarantee their products - their Tahitian Moon is about as black as it gets & is graded for "softness"

The cheap black sands are usually some sort of coal slag which can vary from suitable to deadly (total livestock die off with no measurable cause - at least with the sort of tests accessible to most hobbyists)

The coated sands/gravels are often more a grey than true black, & most start to lose coating after some time (though this seems variable, some coatings are great for years, others are degraded within the year)

You might look at the ornamental pool etc sands
- you can see Estes here
(again note that the "black" is not the same as Carib sea - further note that I'd email Carib Sea about the suitability of their product for your intended/desired use)

Carib Sea's Hawaiian Black is the most natural looking black substrate (TM has too much glitter for me, this is an issue with most of the coal derived sands as well) so if you think the cost is acceptable you might contact them about suitability for freshwater use

Barbel erosion in Cory's is often linked to poor quality water/"dirty" substrate (debris + bacteria) ... in a sharper substrate they will often just not dig as much but still retain very good barbels.
You can also see shipments of young Cory's arrive with only stubs or no barbels at all (this is likely due to water quality issues when young fry) - they often fail to develop any, or normal barbels (fortunately they still seem their cheerful selves)

When I set up a tank with Tropica Soil Powder & soft natural sand areas, the Cory's much preferred sifting through the Tropica soil


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## bridgey_c (18 Aug 2016)

I have used a substrate called 'aqua gro' that can be found on ebay. I've had great success with breeding plenty of species of fish (rams, tetras, cory etc) and crystal red shrimp with it. 

A good black colour, soft and nice to the touch. 8 litres for £19 seems reasonable


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## Polly (19 Aug 2016)

Thanks alto and bridgey_c.

I think aqua gro might be a tad more than I want to pay, although if it were a smaller tank I'd go for it 

Looking at Tahitian Moon - I agree about it being too glittery - and at the prices I'm seeing, I may as well go for something like Eco Complete or Flourite Black Sand so unless I find something cheaper, that's the way I'm leaning at the moment.


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## Tim Harrison (19 Aug 2016)

Have a look at these threads...
http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/budget-black-substrate.32626/#post-346586
http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/...tre-bow-fronted-tank.33987/page-2#post-367981


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## zozo (19 Aug 2016)

Amazone UK gives several hits on black aqaurium gravel/substrate  Hydor has, a brand we all know from the inline heaters.. Also Karlie Flamingo (which is from belgium) aint very expensive.. I use Karlie flamigo sand in my FB filter..
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_s...quarium+gravel&sprefix=black+aquarium,aps,224

Substrate gives a bit more hits..
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_s...ate&rh=n:340840031,k:black+aquarium+substrate


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## alto (19 Aug 2016)

Given that you're changing out something that is working but you don't like the esthetics of - I strongly recommend that you try to find substrate samples (or display tanks etc) so that you can judge whether the considered product is really what you're envisioning ...

(I'd try emailing  - with some detail - Seachem, Carib Sea etc & attempt to obtain product samples  )

You've not mentioned anything about plant goals or long term care goals ...


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## Polly (20 Aug 2016)

Thanks for the links on UKAPS Tim,  had read them, and many others too    Unfortunately, most either bring up more unanswered questions or lead to a conclusion of not suitable for my fish 

Thanks zozo for the links, had searched both Google and Amazon - Yes, there are some really cheap substrates out there but many would be far too sharp for Corys, or too fine for my purposes, or too suspect for using with livestock - not a chance I'm willing to take  - have used fine sand in the past and ripped it out. 

Thanks alto, I hadn't thought of emailing for samples - thats a great idea, then at least I know what I'm dealing with 

Tank is Low Light, Low Tech, plants that will grow well in this set up,  Hygros, Java Fern (grows like a weed for me no matter what set up I've used) Anubias (also grows like a weed)  Crypts, may be able to find some Limnophila aromatica if I'm really lucky as this has been a real weed in the past and looks so purdy 

Fish - Corys,  a few Jordanella floridae and a small shoal of Nannostomus beckfordi. 

I'm leaning towards the Black Limpopo sand at the moment - if I can find the stuff that is about 1mm and has the brownish bits in.  Not keen on the greyish one 

Have now read so much on substrates my head is aching lol


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## zozo (21 Aug 2016)

Polly said:


> Thanks zozo for the links, had searched both Google and Amazon - Yes, there are some really cheap substrates out there but many would be far too sharp for Corys, or too fine for my purposes, or too suspect for using with livestock - not a chance I'm willing to take  - have used fine sand in the past and ripped it out.



Well you still can cap such a to rough for cory substrate with a rounded black gravel.. For example i did it with Fuji sand, wich is black crushed lava rock, pretty porous, hard and sharp and capped this with a few centimeters of that gravel from HS Aqua which is mainly rounded silica gravel. Both are very cheap, only fuji sand doesn't come easy in an lfs, bought it via bonsai garden store.

Its very common to use 2 kinds of substrate, base for plantgrowth which is usualy in a rougher shape to create air pockets and than the finer stuff to cap it to protect the fish. You could cap any substrate with something like this
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Classica-B...1799&sr=1-7&keywords=black+aquarium+substrate

Which is probably only smooth rounded mini pebbles as what the pic shows.   It said nowhere you should do it with one type of substrate only. And as long both are black you'll barely notice..


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## GHNelson (21 Aug 2016)

Not cheap....I've used this in the past with good results!
A very fine black sand.
http://www.warehouse-aquatics.co.uk/brands/seachem.html?seachem=984&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=.text (seachem)&utm_term=+seachem +flourite&utm_content=.seachem (fluorite)
Seachem



Another option!
https://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/un...6.html?zenid=52491586ecd3f5b10cc4d90a25989b38
hoggie


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## zozo (21 Aug 2016)

'Now that's something i can not get my hands on, that Seachem Flourite is nowhere to be bought in my country or neighbours. . And they have very lovely substartes in their collection, i was particularly charmed by floutite red shapes and colors, cause it looks so much like a forest floor in a tank...  No other has that.


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## GHNelson (21 Aug 2016)

Another supplier below!
They maybe able to order the Red substrate if you contacted them Zozo!
https://www.aquasabi.com/search?keywords=seachem+flourite+black+sand


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## zozo (22 Aug 2016)

hogan53 said:


> Another supplier below!
> They maybe able to order the Red substrate if you contacted them Zozo!
> https://www.aquasabi.com/search?keywords=seachem+flourite+black+sand



Thank you Hogan, never realy searched the forums sponsors. I'll keep that in mind. Germany is possible cause i got a German deliver address as well if nessecary. Else the international shipping would spoil it with the weight it has. And that's stuppid only living 2 miles from the german border and still it's international and triples the shipping bill.. For now i only know it from pictures, i realy would love to see it real time before i spend some serious cash. But it seems very nice natural looking substrate.. Every lfs in a 30km radius from me doesn't have any seachem products.


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## Polly (24 Oct 2016)

Update 

Thank you all for your suggestions 
I found what looked like an interesting prospect on the All Ponds Solutions website.
Looked like the perfect substrate for my needs.  But couldn't find a review anywhere.  So phoned them up and was told it's very light.  They use it and have capped it with sand.
Well I have Corys.  They love sifting the substrate and would likely mix it all together.

So in the end after much further research, thank you Clive,  I went for Limpopo sand.

It's definitely a lot coarser than the black sand I used to have.  So hopefully it will be fine 

Now I just have to find the time to strip the tank down and rescape.  Sometime before Christmas I hope


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