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im going to be stripping and redoing my 55g tank soon and am in the process of researching and gathering...

at the moment its setup and has 3 peacocks and two mpangas and 1 bn .. as well as about 30 peacock fry which i will be hopefully taking to an aquarium before i strip the tank.

i am searching for caribsea eco complete cichlid sand however it doesnt appear to be available in australia. im looking at how much im gng to need and will see if i am able to ship some in.
but other thank that what other substrate can i use to help buffer the water?
i want to go for a salt/pepper look.. more black than white though...

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

I think CaribSea (people that make Eco) has another African Cichlid sand. I think its more brown/tan though.

The buffering capabilities of the Eco Sand depend alot on your water, I've found. I have 2 bags in my 55g (plus a bag of Tahitian Moon Sand) and it didn't raise my pH much at all. I've had to add crushed coral to the filter and it didn't really do much either.

If you can find the Eco, I'd get 3 bags. 2 bags, plus the TMS (all 20lb bags) was enough to give me a good inch, maybe inch and a half of substrate. If you don't want that much substrate, then 2 bags would be fine.

If you can't find either, then I'm not sure what you could mix.

Hopefully that helped a little...

*Kristin*

Thanks for your reply Girlie.

The only other product is the sahara sand which is a mix of black white and tan. plus i would mix in a bag of tahition moon...

i have emailed caribsea to find out if they can give me any details of ppl that distribute their products here.
so im waiting to hear back from them.

When you say you add crushed coral to your filter whereabouts do you place it?

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

are you looking to go MBuna, haps, or mixed. I see you already have peacocks. I buffer my water with cichlid salt made by seachem's, but there are other less expensive ways. It keeps my water @8.2 & I only add it during water changes. I also have lava rocks to help keep it satbalized. Remember though that all you really need is a PH around 7.6 & the crushed coral should do that by itself, not sure why it hasn't worked for girlie girl. Also check your water from the tap as I know in some places it comes out high enough with no need to buffer.

sidenote: dang your color scheme makes your posts hard to read.

By all means marry; if you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.
Socrates-
I happen to have become a philosopher

i havent really looked at types of fish as yet
probably some yellow labs and not sure what else...

having looked at the price of the carib sea products (i cant justify $170 on gravel )
what other mix of sand/gravel can i do for a malawi tank?

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

sidenote: dang your color scheme makes your posts hard to read.

WiseIves, it might be the theme you are using. Someone said this to me as well. I use a light yellow background with black text - which should be really easy to read. It seems that people with the Angel background can only read my posts if they highlight the post first.

Wondering if this is what is happening for you. Change themes (just for a test). It it is the problem & you really like the Angel theme, it just means highlighting the posts you find harder to read.

carpe_diem, sorry to steal your thread here. There is a place in QLD, Ben from Age of Aquariums that told me they were going to start stocking the carib sea substrates. The one I asked about was the black eco planted tank substrate - I didn't ask about the cichlid sand. But you could check with him.


Cheers
TW

I was having trouble reading the posts too, but I changed themes and it changes you two's text to black (like it should be).

When you say you add crushed coral to your filter whereabouts do you place it?

I have a XP3 cannister filter so I put it in the top basket. I only had a couple handfuls in first (in a media bag) and it didn't work very well, so I added in 2 more handfuls (in another media bag) and now my pH is up to 8.

I don't know of anymore substrates...sorry!

*Kristin*

Thanks for that tankwatcher. i emailed Ben and he said they will be stocking it in around 4-5 weeks so will check back then.

And until then i will look at purchasing all the other bits and pieces and turn this more into a log post!

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them