# Struggling with Substrate decision for Corydoras



## Oddie65 (Aug 4, 2016)

Alright, I think it goes without saying the 20 long I'm working on is going to be planted. For the past few days I've been scouring the interwebs trying to decide on what substrate I can use that will not adversely affect my corydoras paleatus (Peppered cory's). These guys were in a 45g with cardinal tetras and glolights and when I encountered the inevitable Ich, the cory's had to be moved and found their way into a hospital tank that I've decided to turn into their new home. With the exception of a GBR (or two, if I can find a pair), they will be the tanks only inhabitants. This will be my third planted tank, albeit this one the most in-depth. Pressurized CO2 down the road, but for now liquid ferts and root tabs with a Finnex Planted plus, solely because it's a good light for how shallow a 20 long is, and is the only bar I know of and can find in a 30 inch. Right off the bat, it took some thought but I've decided against using any soil. I do not want to deal with changing the substrate anytime within the next year or two and that seems to be a necessity with Mr Aqua's soil, as well as ADA's stuff. That, and ADA amazonia is known for causing an ammo spike, that I also deem unnecessary seeing as I'm still relatively inexperienced with planted tanks. And again, don't want to _have_ to change later down the road. At this point, I'm still thoroughly torn between sand and gravel such as eco-complete. I'm hesitant with using EC again, because the peppered's did have noticeably shorter barbels after about two months in the 45 with EC. Cory's are a dense fish and I'm very anal about water quality, so I'm fairly certain lack of water care was not the issue. I love these fish but c'mon, they're not exactly the shapest knives in the drawer so them rubbing down their barbels in search of food isn't so far fetched. I'd like to get some recommendations and or others' first hand experience with substrates and corydoras' well being. I know they love sand, but I've gotten conflicting answers regarding what to use, some even suggesting sand is not appropriate for planting. For now the tank will remain low-tech, and probably won't be "heavily planted." To me, it will be, but after seeing what others on this forum consider heavily planted, I don't think my idea quite fits the bill. To make this easier, my questions are as follows:

-What substrates, other than soil products, may I use that will not hinder my ability to have healthy growth, but aren't quite as rough as I know EC to be?
-Is it true that sand will prevent my plants from flourishing? I'd like my rotala's to be nice and pink, and such.
-Is Flourite sand really _that_ messy/difficult to clean? Price isn't as much of concern as availability is, I'm in the midwest and do not wish to order anything online.
-If sand won't adversely affect plant growth, with the addition of root tabs and water column fertilization, do I need flourite sand or can I do just fine with pretty much any sand except blasting sand and the notoriously sharp tahitian moon sand from caribsea?

Any additional suggestions are fully welcomed. It definitely seems I'm leaning towards a sand substrate, *so the corys can dig*, but having read a few people suggesting it isn't a good idea and or can negatively impact plant growth, I've grown a little weary.


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## longgonedaddy (Dec 9, 2012)

I think to allay some of your concerns, first decide whether you want plants or cories to be the focus of the tank. Then you can make a better decision on things like substrate. For example, if you want coris to be the focus, get pool filter sand, or some other sand of your choosing and call it a day. There are many beautiful sand based, planted tanks on this forum. Keep up on your ferts, like you'd have to do with any of the inert substrates anyway. Supplement with root tabs, and you'll be fine. 

To answer some of your direct questions:
I've had cories thrive on flourite. Nice long barbels, and they laid eggs all the time. With some light rinsing, and care when filling the tank, you won't get that bad of cloudiness, nothing a few water changes or if you're impatient, Acurel can't cure. 

I punt that your rotalas will care if they're in sand or gravel or dirt. The pink color comes from light and nutrients, not the substrate. 

I don't think that Tahitian moon sand is "notoriously sharp" as you say. I had cories on that as well for years, with no issues. And I had a low tech tank with wonderful plant growth in that sand. 

So all in all, from what I've read of your post, go for the sand, which despite my defense of flourite, is likely the most suitable sub for Cories. I don't think that any, other than maybe some specialized plants, would be adversely affected by sand. 

What sand, of course, will spawn a whole different debate, but read the threads here, pool filter sand is the standard. But with my experience with regular flourite, I wouldn't hesitate to use the flourite sand it if cost is not an issue.


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## Nlewis (Dec 1, 2015)

Black Diamond blasting grit😉.


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## maxhrbal (Mar 19, 2016)

IMO the fluorite black sand is to rigid and sharp for corys. It looks and feels perfect in the bag and even when you pour it, but by the time it settles, all the bigger sharper particles are on top.

Fluorite sand (black) is not bad at all to clean. People who complain about it are either lazy, or not doing it correctly. Use a Tupperware bin (15 or so gallons,) rinse half a bag at a time separately. Useing a hose, fill up bin halfway or so, vigorously stirring everything up into a black cloud...let settle for a minute or so. 
Repeat steps... stir up the sand/water with the jet of water getting more gently each rinse. Also allow more time to settle each rinse. It's ready when you can gently fill up the bin with water and it still be relatively clear. Your filter will do the rest in a day.

For corys, I think Caribsea supernaturals sand is the best..super soft and very round particles. Moderately difficult to grow plants at first. Once the tank matures after a few months, it works fine. You have to use root tabs for a while. My tanks been set up 9months and the sand is just now becoming healthy, soon I will stop using tabs. I did a lot of research when setting up and caribsea supernaturals is far the best for corys. My 8 peppered corys LOVE it. They didn't do so well in my gravel tank but quickly Gains perfect health in the smooth soft sand when I desperately upgraded. 


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## burr740 (Feb 19, 2014)

Blasting sand is fine for corys, they love it. Ive had dozens of them in multiple tanks with it.

This guy is about 2 years old


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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

I like river sand with nice round grains. It gives me pleasure watching the corys dive eyeball deep into the stuff.

I put about 30 cories out into a 130gal pond, the last few about 1 hour ago. They are going crazy for the live bloodworms and all the daphnia and water life I cultivated over winter. I must go fetch some sand for them from the river later. I am raising zebra danio larvae in the pond.


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## Oddie65 (Aug 4, 2016)

I've not read enough posts suggesting blasting sand is safe for cories to risk their health on it, so I think I'll avoid that. The only store that carries the HTH pool filter sand is about half an hours drive from work and even further from home, but I'm not entirely opposed to it @ 12.99 for 50lbs. I'm just concerned about discoloration. The super naturals sand is available at a few stores near me, as well as the tahitian sand. The only reason I say the tahitian is sharp is because when I was cleaning it to mix with my EC in the 45, I noticed my finger nails were scuffed pretty good and my fingers themselves were worn pretty smooth, if that makes any sense. I read another article on this forum were someone else had a similar experience. @longgonedaddy , I'm definitely building this particular tank around the peppered cory's. In your experience planting with sand is no more or less difficult than planting with something inert? My first tank is still using black gravel I acquired from petco and aside from the few neon pieces I missed, looks and is doing quite well, so as long as nothing about the sand changes how root feeders intake nutrients, perhaps I won't have any issues.


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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

I've made little islands with dirt where I wanted my plants, this was then covered with sand.


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## longgonedaddy (Dec 9, 2012)

Oddie65 said:


> @longgonedaddy , I'm definitely building this particular tank around the peppered cory's. In your experience planting with sand is no more or less difficult than planting with something inert? My first tank is still using black gravel I acquired from petco and aside from the few neon pieces I missed, looks and is doing quite well, so as long as nothing about the sand changes how root feeders intake nutrients, perhaps I won't have any issues.


Like you, I'm a fish-first aquarist, let's get that disclaimer out of the way. I'm going to build a tank around the fish, plant it with presumably suitable species, and see what happens. Obviously, my expectations are somewhat tempered for plant growth, but it is a compromise. For example, You can over gas CO2 for great plant growth, but obviously fish can't live through that. 

What I've done is use plants that should work fine given my parameters. The plants that disagree with "should" move on. The ones that agree stay and end up flourishing. And for what it's worth, after analysis of the failed plants, I was able to easily point to some other deficiency, like light or CO2 as the cause of their demise, never the substrate. In fact, some plants which didn't thrive in my more plant friendly tank did very well in my very low tech, Tahiti moon sand tank. 

So after that,long-winded answer, here's the short one. Build the tank around your fish, and plant what you want. If the he plants don't like it, find ones that do. :nerd:


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## Nlewis (Dec 1, 2015)

Oddie65 said:


> I've not read enough posts suggesting blasting sand is safe for cories to risk their health on it, so I think I'll avoid that.


It's safe, I have multiple tanks using it with cories with no problems. FYI all sand is coarse and sharp to and extent.


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## Oddie65 (Aug 4, 2016)

I think I've decided to try the supernaturals from Caribsea. Both of of other tanks are using a black substrate and I'd like to create a more natural, "amazon river/basin" look and experiment with something brighter. I.e. swords and such, plants that can be found in South America and such. An unidentifiable disease hit my school when I transferred them to the hospital tank almost two months ago, and it took a round of paraguard, two rounds of metronidazole and a round of kanamycin to knock it out, but before it was gone it took 6 of my 9 paleatus with it. Granted, it took all my young-lings and the older ones survived, but seeing how difficult it was to source these guys I'm absolutely going to build this tank solely around them. Petsmart is the only store in a 45 mile radius with the stuff but since I'm only getting the sand from them, that shouldn't be an issue. I know where I'm getting my plants, now the only problem that remains is tracking down another school of corydoras paleatus somewhat locally. To put this in perspective, I can find green and orange laser cory's easier than I can peppered. Wish me luck! :/


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## maxhrbal (Mar 19, 2016)

Here are some Before and after pics of the caribsea supernaturals "sunset gold" with root tabs, if it helps you get a better idea. 


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## Nlewis (Dec 1, 2015)

Oddie65 said:


> I think I've decided to try the supernaturals from Caribsea. Both of of other tanks are using a black substrate and I'd like to create a more natural, "amazon river/basin" look and experiment with something brighter. I.e. swords and such, plants that can be found in South America and such. An unidentifiable disease hit my school when I transferred them to the hospital tank almost two months ago, and it took a round of paraguard, two rounds of metronidazole and a round of kanamycin to knock it out, but before it was gone it took 6 of my 9 paleatus with it. Granted, it took all my young-lings and the older ones survived, but seeing how difficult it was to source these guys I'm absolutely going to build this tank solely around them. Petsmart is the only store in a 45 mile radius with the stuff but since I'm only getting the sand from them, that shouldn't be an issue. I know where I'm getting my plants, now the only problem that remains is tracking down another school of corydoras paleatus somewhat locally. To put this in perspective, I can find green and orange laser cory's easier than I can peppered. Wish me luck! :/


Search for local aquarium club as they generally have monthly auctions. The one I goto always has tons of cories up for grabs.


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## maxhrbal (Mar 19, 2016)

. You can see my corys in this one in the early stages of this tank. They love the stuff! (granted they e probably only ever seen gravel.). I'm sure some of the other substrates suggested are perfectly fine too though, I've never had experience with many other than fluorite and caribsea supernaturals, and gravels. 


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## All4Fish (Jun 23, 2014)

Long story, but maybe it will help! I started my planted tank with eco-complete in the background as I wanted black; and caribsea crystal river in the foreground. I had cories on it and thought they were doing fine, but always had trouble finding them! I have an 80 gallon low tech and plants grew in the sand and in the eco-complete (no carpet plants though, but e.tenellus grew like crazy in the sand). I decided to rescape and wanted more cories so started the research! Yikes, got all kinds of opinions and experience with the sand and cories. I had actually removed, carefully over weeks, most of the eco-complete and replaced it with Tahitian Moon Sand (keeping the Crystal River in the foreground), then got worried and contacted Caribsea. They said the TMS was a bit sharper and not typically recommended for cories, they recommended the Sunset Gold. So, OCD that I am, figured I would replace the TMS before I ordered a dozen more cories!. Again, took my time and carefully removed it. In the interim I found the Black Diamond Blasting Sand #20-40 that is highly recommended by many. So because I had all 3 I could feel the textures of each (actually found a link that showed pictures of grains of each); eco-complete was easy to use (no mess, a bit bigger texture, but dulled over time, the TMS looked beautiful but did feel sharper than the BDBS. The BDBS required a ton of rinsing for me (still doing!) because it had an oily film which I could feel and smell. BDBS is definitely a cost savings. So I rinse and rinse and add only a small amount at a time. It looks awesome, nice and black. Ordered my cories, and at first they were all over the tank which I loved, even schooling with the harlequin raspboras! Now, after a few weeks, they are hard to find again! Soooo, many have said it is the debris on the gravel which is most harmful to cories (assuming it is not sharp), so I am not sure which is really 'best' for cories. I tend to think the lighter colors would be nice so they would be more visible, so I would use the Sunset Gold; but I still like black and am sticking with the BDBS. Long, sorry, but hope it helps!!


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