Stephen's 550L tank log:

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PaulVerrall
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Stephen wrote: Sat May 23, 2020 21:17 pm @PaulVerrall
PaulVerrall wrote:Once I set my 2 Fx4s up, should I take all my old media from the old tank and split it evenly between the 2 new filters and just mix it in with the new media that came with the Fx4s?
Yes mate that sounds good. Although I would use better media than the ceramic rings that come with the FX4.
I would also dose the aquarium with Seachem Stability (once it is set up and full of water) as previously advised. ;)



Good Luck Paul
Cool cheers mate, yeah got the stability ready, going to order sand and media tomorrow so hopefully weds/Thurs start adding water
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Stephen
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@PaulVerrall

I spotted some good Unipac Limpopo sand.
20kg bags for £26.99 at SwellUK and in stock Link
10kg bags for £12.99 at Aqua Essentials Link

Hope it helps



Stay safe & healthy everyone
425L SeaBray Elite aquarium - Rio Mamoré (Bolivia) theme
4 x Cupid Cichlids, 14 x Cory caudimaculatus, 13 x Cory sterbai 52 x Reed Tetra, 4 x Honeycomb Bristlenose (L519)

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PaulVerrall
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Stephen wrote: Sat May 23, 2020 22:54 pm @PaulVerrall

I spotted some good Unipac Limpopo sand.
20kg bags for £26.99 at SwellUK and in stock Link
10kg bags for £12.99 at Aqua Essentials Link

Hope it helps



Stay safe & healthy everyone
Thanks Stephen, the Limpopo sand, is that fine? I've noticed in my search for sand that some shops class 2-3mm as sand but that big looks like gravel to me. Can't see the grain/particle size on there

Image

Image
These are the two I narrowed in down to, top one grey silica sand 0.5 and bottom one cream silica sand 0.5
Do you think the Limpopo would be a better option?
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Andys temperate tank
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The limpopo is very fine gravel Paul. I would say its smaller than 2mm. Theres some pics of the black limpopo in my tank log might be of use.
64l kitchen tank: 16 golden tetra.
5ft 425L: 7 blue angel fish, 30 rummie nose tetra, 20 black neon tetra, 1 longfin bristlenose plec, 2 corydoras sterbai, 2 SAE.
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Andys temperate tank wrote: Sun May 24, 2020 6:51 am The limpopo is very fine gravel Paul. I would say its smaller than 2mm. Theres some pics of the black limpopo in my tank log might be of use.
Have you got a link please? Just went through and couldn't find them
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PaulVerrall wrote: Sun May 24, 2020 7:03 am
Andys temperate tank wrote: Sun May 24, 2020 6:51 am The limpopo is very fine gravel Paul. I would say its smaller than 2mm. Theres some pics of the black limpopo in my tank log might be of use.
Have you got a link please? Just went through and couldn't find them
It's on the first page.

https://www.aquariumforums.co.uk/viewto ... 5&start=90
64l kitchen tank: 16 golden tetra.
5ft 425L: 7 blue angel fish, 30 rummie nose tetra, 20 black neon tetra, 1 longfin bristlenose plec, 2 corydoras sterbai, 2 SAE.
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Cheers, I was looking in the wrong place! That looks really nice, does the colour fade over time?
I'm literally torn between black sand and cream.
Leaning towards the cream as I want a bogwood and plant theme one end and maybe red rock caves the other end, I'm thinking cream would enhance the colours more but seeing yours, the plants etc look great against black
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Stephen
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PaulVerrall wrote: Sun May 24, 2020 7:15 am Cheers, I was looking in the wrong place! That looks really nice, does the colour fade over time?
I'm literally torn between black sand and cream.
Leaning towards the cream as I want a bogwood and plant theme one end and maybe red rock caves the other end, I'm thinking cream would enhance the colours more but seeing yours, the plants etc look great against black
Go black Paul (out of the two), light colours do not look good in a tropical aquarium.
The Limpopo sand is more of a dark grey to black colour, it's not pitch black.

Unipac Limpopo sand grain size is 1000u to 1200u which is basically 1.0-1.2 mm
Unipac Samoa fine sand (which I use) is 1000u to 1600u which is basically 1.0-1.6 mm
Unipac Silica sand is 1500u to 2000u which is basically 1.5-2.0 mm
Anything finer/smaller will be too fine.

Here are some pics of the above sand.
Unipac Limpopo sand (black sand)
Image

Unipac Samoa fine sand (natural gravel sand)
Image

Unipac Silica sand (reddish sand)
Image

One of those would be my choice, I have tried others but have removed them as they were too light or did not look natural.
That includes Nyasa sand which when I put it in my aquarium I immediately knew it was wrong and Fiji fine sand (on paper) looked very similar to the Samoa fine sand but in reality it was lighter in colour.

Take a look at my video and go to about 2.00 minutes onwards, this is the Unipac Samoa fine sand, it still looks quite light in the video but the tank lights are on, it's what I describe as a natural fine gravel, not just one colour but a nice mixture of colours as in the pic I uploaded. Video

Edit:
It may be worth while noting that when I checked my cory this week their barbels were in superb condition, no wear whatsoever.

On my current set up I used Unipac Samoa coarse sand at the rear as the grain size was a little larger (1.4mm to 2.0mm) to help anchor the plants and the Samoa fine sand at the front (1.0mm to 1.6mm).
I actually bought 4 x 10kg bags of each (80kg in total), I could of easily bought just one grain size as the difference (in reality) was minimal and the colour was exactly the same.
The Samoa coarse sand is not really coarse just a slightly larger grain size.


Stay safe & healthy everyone
Last edited by Stephen on Sun May 24, 2020 9:01 am, edited 3 times in total.
425L SeaBray Elite aquarium - Rio Mamoré (Bolivia) theme
4 x Cupid Cichlids, 14 x Cory caudimaculatus, 13 x Cory sterbai 52 x Reed Tetra, 4 x Honeycomb Bristlenose (L519)

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I've got Unipac Black sand in Sunnyside , if anything I would describe it more as "grey" once it's in the water
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The wife loves the colour you have in the 600l Stephen, whereas I prefer the colour in Mikey's!
I might let her have her way as it's gets her more invested in it, which makes life easier for me
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