changes in their world

[Luis.Ventura]

Good Morning,

I´m in the mood to change the display of my catfish.... i´m felling that they are not in the best can offer.

i´m doing this post because i´m not sure of one thing that is the gravel.....

i don´t like the bright color (white) one that is sand, and all other Sand´s i can think of is the beach one, sadly the sand around my place are all full of calcarium stones and sea shells...

in the stores i can see others types of "sand" are little stones very very tiny but they seem to be full of edges that i´m afray of being able to cut my fish belly and barbels.

other are the big (4/5mm)round gravel, its black that is a a must to me but they are to big...


what should i go for?
The tank is for some wip tails (rinoloricarias, farlowelas, Sturisomas), Corydorasand litle pleco´s that like sandy bottoms.

[Richard B]

My favourites are, Senegal & Limpopo sands from Unipac http://www.unipacpet.com/.

Also pool filter or kids playpit sand have proved suitable and cheaper alternatives.

These are fine round, smooth grain which are suitable for corys (barbels) or fish that like to bury themselves (banjos & some plecos)

[MatsP]

I too like the Senegal and Limpopo sands. I'm not sure how easy they are to find in Portugal tho'.

You may find that there are companies that do "sand-blasting" (blowing sand with compressed air to remove paint and such). Some of the blasting-sand is suitable for aquarium use (it is nearly always silicon sand) and can come in differnet colours. Unfortunately, I can barely find a company in England that sell that sort of thing, so not sure how easy it is (using the web, at least) to find a supplier in Portugal. But perhaps you can find a company that DOES sandblasting that you can ask for where they get their sand from.

--
Mats

[Luis.Ventura]

its a bit difficult to get some stuff mostly because they are not known around here i guess.
Also i didn´t want something really expensive, i thought of beach sand because if darker(ish) then most sands i see (the one i see most its beach white), i would perfer a black sand but i can only get black quartz that's freaking ugly.

what i thought was maybe beach sand but its dangerous because of sea shells then i remember that some of constructions sand come from rivers and actually are really small grains and have the right colors (dark tea brown)

my prob now is finding it ><

[wgtaylor]

what i thought was maybe beach sand but its dangerous because of sea shells then i remember that some of constructions sand come from rivers and actually are really small grains and have the right colors (dark tea brown)

I use construction or play sand for my Corydoras but my water is extremely soft. I use sea shells or crushed coral to buffer the water so the ph doesn't drop too low. Are sea shells dangerous to Corydoras?
Thanks,
Bill

[Richard B]

Are sea shells dangerous to Corydoras?
Thanks,
Bill

Crushed sea shell if in the substrate might damage cory barbels

[apistomaster]

Hi Bill W. T., would you look at what the catfish brought in?

Sand blasting or pool filter suppliers are the most likely to have suitable fine grained sand. Sand blasters sell a fine gradation of slag sand which is black as night but is fine grained and Corydoras safe. It is a glass and the particles do have sharp edges but at this small scale the material gives way easily to their digging and I know from experience that it poses no special hazards.
I would generally avoid any sand with any calcareous minerals but a few crushed sea shells do not in and of themselves present any notable hazard to Corydoras barbels.
If you can reach some mountain streams you may be able to sieve sand that is nice looking and of the desired size. Avoid areas of limestone geology or the sand will raise the pH and hardness. Decomposing granite forms attractive sands which are fairly chemically inert. I have tried basalt sands/fine gravel and granite sands I collected from regional streams which were all Corydoras and Discus safe.