Freshwater Aquarium Setup - Start Out With The Right Substrate

Freshwater Aquarium Setup - Start Out With The Right Substrate

When setting up your aquarium the substrata is the stuff that you put in the bottom of your tank.

Some people don't use any at all, in an unplanted aquarium it's not needed. Quarantine tanks often have bare bottoms so that they can be kept perfectly clean and the fish excrement monitored. However it is not very attractive to have a bare bottom tank and fish are unable to orientate themselves well without it. Substrata also reduces glare for the fish.

Some substrates affect the aquarium water's pH, hardness and filtration which in turn influence the wellbeing of the fish population.

Unless you specifically want to achieve a particular water chemistry it is best to use products which are certified inert and are sterilised. For instance, it's unwise to collect sand from the beach since it will contain many living organisms that will contaminate the tank when they inevitably die.

As well as providing a rooting medium for plants the substrata provides a habitat for the beneficial bacteria which enables the nitrogen cycle to continue in the tank. It also provides a burrowing medium for certain fish and shell dwellers.

Depending on the material that you choose for the substrata it can raise or lower the pH. This need not be a problem unless it continues over a long period. In any case pH is something you should monitor with test strips on a regular basis.

Types of Substrata

Gravel and Epoxy covered quartz

This is the most common substrate for freshwater aquaria. It comes in all sorts of sizes from 1 mm diameter to about 10 mm (pea size). Ordinary gravel has natural colours but the epoxy covered quartz, as the name implies, is quartz gravel coated with colourfast epoxy resin. It comes in all sorts of colours and is completely inert. It is important that any gravel is free from sharp edges.

Some aquarists believe those dark coloured substrates are beneficial to the fish because the fish tend to display brighter colours by comparison.

Sand

Sand is favoured by many aquarists as an excellent planting medium. Catfish and other burrowing fish love it. The downside of sand is that it needs to be stirred up regularly (every week) to avoid anaerobic bacteria from growing which produce toxic hydrogen sulphide gas (rotten eggs smell). Malaysian trumpet snails will do a lot of the stirring up for you.

Aragonite, dolomite and crushed corals

These contain calcium carbonate which will raise the carbonate hardness of the water and therefore buffer the pH.

Peat

This is used in aquariums which are attempting to emulate a soft water environment. It is not only good for plants but also improves the reproductive health of fish. It can prevent algae growth and even kill certain micro-organisms. The downside of peat is that it tends to stain the water brown.

Some aquarists with large tanks use a variety of substrate to get the best out of all of them.

Conclusion

Before adding any new substrata it needs to be washed thoroughly without using any detergents. It should be placed deeper at the back of the tank than at the front, say about 4 inches maximum at the back reducing to 2 inches maximum at the front. This tends to make waste products fall to the front of the tank where they can easily be siphoned off. It also means that your plants which are mainly planted at the back have the deepest substrate for their roots.

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