Opinions on substrate

[Jeff1192]

I am now trying to decide on the substrate for my tank. I really like the Seachem flourite in black. I'm planning on planting the tank with some driftwood and some black and white granite that I got from sniggir (thanks again) . Do you guys think that this would make it too dark? Would there be a better colour that I could use to make the other things in the tank stand out better. It's going to be a 75gal planted tank and it will be well lit. I really like the Seachem but I want to make sure it's going to look good since it's pretty expensive.

Thanks,

Jeff

[MikeM]

I did part black substrate, part light brownish in my planted 75.  If I did it again, I'd go with all black, as it's getting all mixed up as I vacuum it and the fish dig around in it, anyways.  At the end of the tank with the dark substrate, I find I see the highlights on the plants better, and the colours on some fish, like the diamond tetras, stand out much more against the black.  Well lit, with lots of greenery and driftwood to break up the dark bottom, I think it would look really good.  What fish are you planning on?

[Jeff1192]

I'm planning on a community tank. Some livebearers, plecs, shrimp, tetras. I haven't totally decided yet. It will also depend on what fish my 3yr old gets excited about. I plan on letting him pick quite a few of them out, once I've limited him to tanks with appropriate fish in them, otherwise who knows what he'd end up picking out!
Thanks for your input because I was also considering mixing in something lighter coloured and I wasn't sure what would be better.

Jeff

[Jeff1192]

Mike I just noticed on your profile that you're from Orleans. I was just starting to think that I was the only one from the east end in this group. Everyone with fish seems to live out in Kanata....haha.

[BigDaddy]

A warning... all black substrates show off everything... just like a black car.  Every speck, every bit of detritus, every little thing stands out against the black background.

I had Tahitian Moon Sand in my 75 planted and I pulled it all out for Flourite.  Much happier.  My original 75 has Flourite too, and I punched myself for not doing the same thing with tank #2 that I did with tank #1

[Jeff1192]

What colour of flourite did you go with? I have also seen a kind of red clay colour that looks nice.

[fischkopp]

A warning... all black substrates show off everything... just like a black car.  Every speck, every bit of detritus, every little thing stands out against the black background.

That's a fair point. I have done different substrates, white/brown/flourite clay and black and from all of them i liked black the most as it best shows of the greens and the fish colour.

The original Flourite has the red brown clay look.