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Substrate, african cichlid mix with eco complete?

04rwon

Members
We use regular carib sea african cichlid mix in our 29 gallon. We are moving that to the 55 gallon when we move in 2 weeks. We need some more substrate and see that carib sea offers a eco complete version of the same stuff. My understanding is theres no neesd to rinse that stuff, just dump it in. That would be alot better for us since the tanks have to be set up ASAP once we get there, so time spent rinsing the sand is more time spent leaving the fish in their temp buckets, and takes time that we need to unload the truck.
So is it ok to mix this with the regular stuff
 

Becca

Members
If you want some more of the CS cichlid mix I have 15 or so lbs of it that's been used and I've recently rinsed out. Might not be worth it for you to come pick it up given your location, but it's yours if you want it.
 

WendyFish

Members
We've used Eco Complete and other designated fish sand substrates purchased from fish stores... we have found that it basically always pays to rinse them. You don't have to do it to PFS levels but a bit of rinsing mitigates some initial cloudiness and water changes to get the funk out. You can do it in a quite low maintenance way.

Our strategy: set a long, low Rubbermaid in the bathtub. (4-6in high type one) Put a 5 gallon bucket with 10-15lb of sand in the bucket. The purpose of the Rubbermaid is to precipitate out some of the funk and keep it from going down your drain. Stick the shower hose into the bucket and fill. The bucket will overflow into the Rubbermaid and that will overflow into your drain. Run for 20-30 min, stirring sand occasionally.
 

dogofwar

CCA Members
There's no need to immediately set up the fishtank.

Why not just set up a rubbermaid or two with air-driven sponges?

Matt
 

04rwon

Members
Well, i actually went to HOT today and picked up a bag of eco complete. The 2nd lid came in for our 55 this morning. I couldnt resist....i set up the 55. Its going to be more to take down when we move but whatever. Were having a going away party this weekend and i didnt have anywhere to put the 55 and where it was, ppl could have bumped in to it or worse. So we packed up some stuff, moved some stuff around. So i took down the 20, packed it up, loaded those fish, sand, and decorations into the 29. Took the cichlids from the 29 and loaded them in to the 55. Surprisingly the cloudiness has gone very quickly. Both tanks are pretty clear. I think by morning they should be crystal clear. Gotta make a few adjustments to the decorations and bubblers but other than that, its all good.


Heres some pics:
2jevafa.jpg

9t243p.jpg

mhdr2e.jpg

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