Black sand in a discus tank?

[thekarens]

Just say no...... This is going to be my simple no work tank. The only thing I want to have to do to it is change the water and feed the fish.

[jeb102385]

If you don't want to do a planted tank I would do black gravel over sand I hate sand it gets everywhere and is so hard to clean

[szidlon]

If you want to go with bare bottom, get some really nice wood and attach anubias and other assorted plants. Be watchful of the plants temperature limitations. Dan used to have a bare bottom tank that just had a couple of large swords planted in pots and wood with plants attached. It was simply beautiful, the key word here being simple.

[thekarens]

Wouldn't cories miss the sand? I really want a school of cories, maybe pandas.

[szidlon]

I think I saw cories in Dan's current discus tank, which is bare bottom, I think, check with him for sure. I picked of some of the Virginae Cories and they are just as cute as a button.

[wesleydnunder]

I think bare bottom would be a good choice for your tank. Cories will not mind and cleanup will be so much easier. I'm not a big fan of most brands of black "sand". Most of what I've seen is coal slag, which has the consistency of shattered glass; very sharp edges. Since discus pick most of their food from the bottom (excluding the use of a worm basket or feeding sock) they will pick up sharp grains with the food. This can cause cuts and abrasions inside their mouths...same for cories.

Mark

[thekarens]

I need to see some pics of some pretty bare bottom tanks. For the most part I REALLY don't like the looks of them

[jeb102385]

dark substrates darken up the discus which is what i like but if you want them to look like what they do in dans tanks i would not recomend it