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Gravel


Aaron

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Hi was just wondering if you could use sand in a cichlid tank, if so what type.....,probably looking @ around 15kg, im planning a south american tank, ive done alot of browsing the last few weeks on the net and have seen heaps of sand bottoms. Is this right ? I know Ira uses very fine gravel witch is the look im trying to acheive but he told me that he cant find it any more . also have seen a black gravel around witch really seems to bring out the colour of the fish

Heres some information i found

Heater (1 W for 1-2 l)

Sand ( 1kg for every 10-15 l water)

Stones (that you can add a well-looking decoration. Some species must have caves, look at the "Tanks"-Section)

Styrofoam or similar stuff to put under the tank (place must be very straight).

Plants

Probably an air-pump and an air-stone, most of the cichlids need much oxygen.

Some species do need special things, like the shells for the Tanganyikan shell-dwellers.

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Next day you've got off have a look through the phone book for landscaping places and quarries in your area and have a drive around. Hopefully you'll find something that works. Though, you'll burn up more in petrol than the sand will likely cost you.:)

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I ended up going with the pool filter sand, as the shop gave me a bag free. I've moved the intakes for the filters so theyre as close to the top of the tank as possible (its 18" deep) and so far so good, the sand is pretyt heavy and I havent had a problem with it getting stirred up. You only need a thin layer (about 1") and most fo the muck/poo/etc sits on top of it, so its easy to clean, I just give it a quick syphon every 3-4 days.

As for the sand being bad for their digestive systems, from that I've heard most ca and sa cichlids encounter sand in their natural habitat, and no one I know of who uses sand has had any problems.

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