So I have only had a dark substrate (aquasoil) in my first and only tank. Now I have a second tank with pretty light sand (no fish yet). I have heard that the colors of most fish are not as bright with a light substrate. Does anyone have experience with this?
Posted by New-Requirement-5713
7 Comments
Aquasoil is not just a substrate. Aquasoil works with the water and makes it soft, but if you don’t use osmosis water you get a ph up down swing every waterchange which is bad. If you want dark substrate use dark gravel if you don’t need low ph.
Light ground is beautiful but hard to keep clean and you have to match the light so it’s not to bright for the fish.
Yes it’s true, the fish change their appearance according to the substrate. They feel more at ease in dark substrate. For eg. Green tiger barbs look bright green with light substrate, but almost black with dark substrate (check youtube for videos)
However, I have both light/ dark types and neutral substrates, and overall prefer the light sand color ones for plants and fish. White/ very light substrate is very difficult to maintain as well.
Match the substrate to the tank you’re building, it is an integral part of the aquascape. The wrong substrate can ruin and otherwise well designed tank.
I would generally suggest avoiding bright white sand. It looks great for about a week, then you get to do constant maintenance fighting to keep it clean.
Rainbow gravel all the way 😎
It depends on which color you want your fish to poop. If you want your fish to poop white, then put black soil. If you want them to poop black, then white soil is the best.
Don’t ask me why is it that way, but IT IS THAT WAY.
Just like birds pooping white on black cars and black on white cars.
The dark side is faster to achieve results, the light is longer but doesn’t consume you.
🙄
https://preview.redd.it/ibysat47zh0h1.jpeg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=07bacac4b6b204e2a9845d9590128009d9f4b55e
I used black, then almost white, and now I have sand colored. So beige / yellow. Super light substrate sucks in every way. Washes out the color of the fish, and it’s a bitch to clean.
Black is awesome and I might do it again. Fish really pop, and you don’t see poop as much. However, if your tank is super heavily planted, with floaters and such, it can get kinda dark.
This beige color I have now is the most natural looking. It’s still pretty light, and does wash out the fish color a little bit, especially if the light is strong. However, once the tank grows in, with plenty of plants above, it’s going to look awesome.