JayBee Posted November 19, 2009 Report Share Posted November 19, 2009 I am redoing my 4ft as a malawi tank. It currently is currently an american tank with plain river gravel. I would like to know what would be the best substrate for a malawi tank? I was thinking bunnings white play sand or the white calcium carbonate gravel that you can get from LFS. Also I would like to know where I can get african holey rock? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattstevens Posted November 20, 2009 Report Share Posted November 20, 2009 I started with calcium carb, and then switched to white play sand from bunnings. I much prefer the play sand. Easier to clean, looks better, and is apparently better for fish health. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damo83 Posted November 20, 2009 Report Share Posted November 20, 2009 The main problem with sand is getting sucked up in the filter. What filtration do you have? Otherwise I'd go with the sand... looks heaps better and is much easier to clean... its also easier on the wallet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfingfish Posted November 20, 2009 Report Share Posted November 20, 2009 if you use sand as a substrate how do you buffer your water like the calcium carb does? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damo83 Posted November 20, 2009 Report Share Posted November 20, 2009 if you use sand as a substrate how do you buffer your water like the calcium carb does? Coral pieces in the sump Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfingfish Posted November 20, 2009 Report Share Posted November 20, 2009 so if you only use canister and internal filters you easy way would be calcium carb... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damo83 Posted November 20, 2009 Report Share Posted November 20, 2009 If you have a canister you could put some coral in that too... What is the pH of your water straight from the tap? If you're only keeping malawi's you may not really need to buffer... mine from the tap is about 7.5 and apart from a small amount of coral in my sump (been in there about 2yrs and probably not buffering at all anymore) I don't use any buffers and have kept and bred malawi's successfully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishHeadSoup Posted November 20, 2009 Report Share Posted November 20, 2009 make sure u keep on top of the cleaning if u use play sand as it doesnt allow the smaller particles to filter into the substrate and break down and will tend to sit on top... if u don't mind losing a bit each time u clean just use a gravel vac and take off the top layer Brisbane water has stopped buffering their water (apparantly) i say apparantly as mine hasnt changed but according to a few of the lfs it has... its best to check the ph before adding anything mines pretty consistant at 7.5 too so as i said apparantly As for holey rock its just lava rock anyway but its generally dear as poison! cheapest i have seen around is rocklea or AOA. Cheers, Scott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
