aragonite vs african cichlid sand?

[AquaMike]

What is the big difference and what would be a better substrate for a low-end brackish setup for a Figure 8? I'm also looking for something that is Not super white, something with a more natural/darker appearance.

[RTR]

Those products were not available when I was keeping F-8s, and I have not tried them. I have used several of the Carib Sea aragonites (then aimed at SW/BW tanks), and they were useful and what I suggested using. But I have no personal experience with the newer African Cichlid products. If the newer products are all aragonite sand, they should be fine. If they are mixed with non-aragonite sands, I'd stick with the all aragonite material. It is the aragonite that helps buffer the alkalinity of low density BW, as for F-8s.

HTH

[AquaMike]

Thanks! I never noticed this before but the Eco-complete African Cichlid sand(s) does contain a good amount of aragonite. I just don't know how much. This was the one I wanted cosmetically (fine black/white sand mix). Now I know it can help me biologically as well. There will also be holey rock and reef rock in there as well to help buffer.

[Pufferpunk]

Be very careful with feef rock. Be sure it's been out of water for years, as it could contain living bacteria & other creatures which may foul your water as they will continue to die off. You can get 100% aragonite sand in different colors.

[RTR]

+1 to PP's comments on available colors of aragonite sands. These are all natural material and should not leach anything unsedirable, but the colors are not nearly as strong as dyed sans.gravels or man-made ones. The natural colors are lighter and "softer", never gaudy.

Home-curing reef rock is tedious and should be kept entirely separate from any pet critters.

[AquaMike]

it's not live rock, it's basically a skeleton of old corals. It seems pretty dead, but will also be cleaned VERY thoroughly before hand. If there is anything left over after I clean the crap out of it maybe it'll help me cycle when it dies off.