# Cheap Black Substrate for Red Cherries?



## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

Where can I get some really cheap black substrate for a 10G red cherry tank with a 10G hang on back Top Fin filter?


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## Philip.Chan.92 (Apr 25, 2010)

I advise you to add a protective mesh over the intake of your filter, they have sponges available or you can simply use a clean stocking so that your shrimps don't get pureed. As for substrate, I just wait for LFS to have a sale, Big Al has them sometimes.


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## bae (May 11, 2007)

Menagerie has black sand in bulk for IIRC, $1 or $2 per pound.


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

A 50 bag of black blasting sand is $7.50.


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

Get the black stuff @ menagerie it's $1/lb you should probably be ok with about 12 lbs in a 10 gal. Maybe 15. Its dense.


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## Philip.Chan.92 (Apr 25, 2010)

I just redid my substrate and I am replacing my current black gravel substrate with silica sand. PM has been sent.


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

Philip.Chan.92 said:


> I just redid my substrate and I am replacing my current black gravel substrate with silica sand. PM has been sent.


Make sure you cover your filter intakes and stop your filters momentarily when you refill during a water change. Silica sand likes to get sucked up into filters and damage impellers.


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## Philip.Chan.92 (Apr 25, 2010)

Thanks, will do. If you want a picture of the gravel it is in my gallery for my old setup of the 25 gal.
http://gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14480


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

Philip.Chan.92 said:


> I advise you to add a protective mesh over the intake of your filter, they have sponges available or you can simply use a clean stocking so that your shrimps don't get pureed. As for substrate, I just wait for LFS to have a sale, Big Al has them sometimes.


I have a Fluval pre-filter sponge on it (waste of money, I should of bought the Aquaclear sponges). Thanks for hte offer for the gravel but I think I'm going to try and use sand.



AquariAM said:


> Make sure you cover your filter intakes and stop your filters momentarily when you refill during a water change. Silica sand likes to get sucked up into filters and damage impellers.


My sponge is the one below, should I be worried if I leave me filter on during a water change with sand?

http://www.sunnyfishtank.com/sites/QKAMUANGA/_files/image/Hagen Fluval Edge Pre-Filter Sponge.jpg

Also, how do I clean sand before I first put it in? Do I just put it in a bucket and rape it with the hose? How do I clean it during a water change too, I think my gravel vac would suck up the sand too.


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## Philip.Chan.92 (Apr 25, 2010)

I personally don't like sand and shrimps, all blasting sand that I have seen are not black, they are grey or dark grey like this http://www.northerntool.com/images/product/images/155472_lg.jpg. A lot of food gets trapped a bit under the sand and my cherry shrimps never get to them. with gravel, it gets stuck between the pieces and the shrimps can easily get them. My uncle has multiple shrimp tanks (he's a breeder) with different substrate in each, black blasting sand, black gravel, white silica sand and the blasting sand is never as dark as the black gravel. If you are looking for pure black to bring out the cherry shrimps colour, you either need to go to your LFS such as menagerie for pure black sand which is quite pricy or get black gravel.


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

My blasting sand is pure black. It is what you see in ashtrays. I believe the sand at Menagerie is blasting sand.


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## Philip.Chan.92 (Apr 25, 2010)

I had a hard time finding black substrate, unluckily for me, all the blasting sand I found were grey. For $2 a pound for black sand seems a bit steep. I actually have no use for my gravel so I am willing to sell it for cheaper if you want it. I've been helped out by many people on this forum and I wish to spread the good karma lol. Need money to start up my 10 gal betta + neon tetra tank.


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

Philip.Chan.92 said:


> I personally don't like sand and shrimps, all blasting sand that I have seen are not black, they are grey or dark grey like this http://www.northerntool.com/images/product/images/155472_lg.jpg. A lot of food gets trapped a bit under the sand and my cherry shrimps never get to them. with gravel, it gets stuck between the pieces and the shrimps can easily get them. My uncle has multiple shrimp tanks (he's a breeder) with different substrate in each, black blasting sand, black gravel, white silica sand and the blasting sand is never as dark as the black gravel. If you are looking for pure black to bring out the cherry shrimps colour, you either need to go to your LFS such as menagerie for pure black sand which is quite pricy or get black gravel.


I want the black substrate because of a dream I had, I had a stealth heater which ended up breaking and boiling my fish. When I touched the tank it burned my hand I plug the stealth heater, I leave and contemplate taking down the tank after because of unfortunate aquatic-related events leading up to the stealth heater. I come back an hour later to find that the size of my tank has become 55G (it was originally 32G) and there is black sand, the wood in my tank turned into rocks while the cabomba and hygrophilia in my tank were arranged in a different manner. I then see a few snails coming out along with a khuli loach then an amazing discus. Cardinal tetras then began to appear from the rocks with these white but transparent shrimp.

So that's why I want black sand rather than gravel.


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## Philip.Chan.92 (Apr 25, 2010)

lol you have a wild imagination and seems like your passion for fish is visiting you in your dreams.  But I wouldn't base what my tank inhabitants need on a dream , I personally found gravel to be more effective because you can easily clean it with a gravel vac to have pristine water conditions whereas sand is much harder to clean and maintain and is easier for detrius to build up resulting in atleast traces of ammonia in your best case scenario and has a high chance of killing your shrimps. I had a planted tank in sand with cherry shrimps and stirring all the sand was simply impossible and anaerobic pockets grew and when I pulled a few plants out the gas was released and my shrimps were all dead within a day  lesson learned there, I will never keep shrimps with sand ever again.


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## Darkside (Sep 14, 2009)

I keep all my fish and inverts with sand as a substrate and I've never had any issues with it. I don't even have a filter or heater with my RCS and they breed like rabbits. I think you may have to try to kill them.


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## Philip.Chan.92 (Apr 25, 2010)

You are sooo lucky, ive had bad experiences with shrimps and sand, fish are fine...but inverts. Well if anyone wants black gravel for shrimps just PM me


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

I don't plan on having much sand at the bottom of my tank. 'll probably have half a centimetre to two centimetre because I don't plan on putting plants in. I might throw in some guppy grass though.


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## Philip.Chan.92 (Apr 25, 2010)

Breeding Cherry shrimps require plants like moss and such, even without predators, they feel a lot safer in plants and the shrimplets won't drift around endlessly. My shrimps are never on the ground unless during feeding time, they are always climbing. Shrimps need something sturdy as well as things they can climb on to prevent stress. I never really like grasses with shrimps because they tend to eat a bit more than just the algae on the tips and the grass becomes brownish at the tip and risks dying as a whole plant. Not as damaging as plecos, shrimps can do a fair amount of damage on grass if you don't have a very lush lawn.


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

Philip.Chan.92 said:


> Breeding Cherry shrimps require plants like moss and such, even without predators, they feel a lot safer in plants and the shrimplets won't drift around endlessly. My shrimps are never on the ground unless during feeding time, they are always climbing. Shrimps need something sturdy as well as things they can climb on to prevent stress. I never really like grasses with shrimps because they tend to eat a bit more than just the algae on the tips and the grass becomes brownish at the tip and risks dying as a whole plant. Not as damaging as plecos, shrimps can do a fair amount of damage on grass if you don't have a very lush lawn.


My shrimp are in a barebottom tank with literally only water and a piece of mesh I bought from Michel's. The 7 females I have in there are all pregnant so I don't think they're stressed.


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## Philip.Chan.92 (Apr 25, 2010)

You will see the stress soon, shrimps absolutely hate barebottom tanks because they are slippery, they need something that they can walk and climb on. For long term, bottom dwellers such as shrimps prefer and sometimes require the tanks to have substrate. If you wish to breed the shrimps and sell them, substrate and plants are a must since plants add a much higher surface area of where the shrimps can be without clambering over each other. Imagine the plants growing up as apartments, more residents with the same amount of ground surface area.


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