Going from Silica to Aragonite

Just arrived 180 lbs of Aragonite delivered to my house, it's going in my 220 tonight. I've had silica sand for quite some time now, but decided to switch it up for a couple reasons.

First reason being I wanted to go with a brighter look in the tank. I have two 48" 1W Beamworks LED lights, hoping to see an increased overall level of brightness.

Second reason is PH. I purchased a few full grown haps and peacocks from a guy in Brooklyn, NY. Every fish in his 180 gallon tank showed stunning color. He was feeding his fish NLS, which is exactly what I feed my fish, however his PH was 8.0 where as mine is 7.5. The guy had Natures Ocean Aragonite for his substrate.

The Protomelas Lobodichromis Hertae and Aulonocara Malaeri were Full of color in his tank, unfortunately they lost much of their bright color when introduced to my tank. I know fish are extremely stressed when introduced into a brand new environment. It's been roughly 6 weeks since the new fish have made my tank their home, yet their color has yet to improve.

Please don't get my wrong I have some very beautiful and healthy fish in my tank with great color, just would love to see some more color out of a few fish

I guess my question is do you think it's possible to see improvement in the fishes colors? Is their anyone who may have switched from silica to aragonite? Do you think it's possible to achieve an increased level of PH closer to 8.0 by swapping the substrates out? Size of tank is 96"x 24"x 22" 220 gallons 180 lbs of aragonite.

Looks like I'm getting ready to find out either way. I will post the results of my substrate experiment to help fellow hobbyist.

-Steve

Yes your ph will settle at 8.0-8.2 after the switch, you won't be able to change it if you want to. Substrate can have a huge effect on how the fish appear just as lights make a huge difference. My assumption is that the new fish are lower on the pecking order so they are surpressing their colors intentionally. This happens to me all the time I buy the dominant fish from the tank at the pet store then 24 hours later they dull and I drive myself crazy trying to figure out why. Several times I've taken them out put em in with a female and 24 hours later they are bright again. Its maddening at times but after several months they settle and slowly regain their color sometimes slowly to escape being noticed. Tank will be brighter, fish will appear brighter, ph will go up post some pics I'd love to see it.

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cichlidaddicted said:

Yes your ph will settle at 8.0-8.2 after the switch, you won't be able to change it if you want to. Substrate can have a huge effect on how the fish appear just as lights make a huge difference. My assumption is that the new fish are lower on the pecking order so they are surpressing their colors intentionally. This happens to me all the time I buy the dominant fish from the tank at the pet store then 24 hours later they dull and I drive myself crazy trying to figure out why. Several times I've taken them out put em in with a female and 24 hours later they are bright again. Its maddening at times but after several months they settle and slowly regain their color sometimes slowly to escape being noticed. Tank will be brighter, fish will appear brighter, ph will go up post some pics I'd love to see it.

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Thanks for the input! I will post some pics tomorrow night. Changing substrate out of a large aquarium has been just as stressful on me as it has been for my fish.

Waiting for the tank to clear up before I post a youtube video. Shooting for this weekend check back then

I think the move and change of tanks is the reason for decreased colors. 0.5 isn't that big of a change in pH. I think lighting and their place in the pecking order had more to do with the coloration.

Just curious, Did you PH raise and the fish color up as a result of changing you substrate?

I have just recently pulled the aragonite out of my tank. I have a big project going on with my 220, when I do get it back up and running I am going to a small diameter crushed coral. I used crushed coral in a show tank 6 years ago, my fish looked great and were healthy.

As for did the aragonite help the fish show more color? I would have to say no it did not. The aragonite is extremely fine giving the tank a cloudy look. I have clown loaches, they enjoy sifting sand and stirring the substrate up. I will be posting the aragonite for sale in the market place shortly.