Show me your brown-colored substrates?

[PineSong]

I need to add real substrate to my new 20g long. Right now it has a thin layer of gravel brought over from my established betta setups, just for the bacteria, but I want to add enough for rooting plants to grow in and a darker color to show off the lighter colored fish in this tank.

I'd like something with a mix of browns, ideally. My local stores are strangely out of natural color substrate other than larger pebbles than I want. I bought a bag of Flourite to try because the photo on the bag made it look brown, but it was wayyy too red. Looking online, Carib Sea Peace River seems like one option, and maybe Rio Grande but I can't really tell from the tiny photo what it would look like in a tank.

If you have brown substrate you like for plants, I'd love to see it and have the name. Thanks!

Edited July 8, 2021 by PineSong
wrong brand name

[Guppysnail]

Eco complete. Starts of dark but in a short time becomes variegated browns

[Guppysnail]

Here is some more pics of mine

[PineSong]

Thank you, Guppysnail. That is a nice dark color that would make the plants pop. Your snails look happy!

[HH Morant]

Eco complete  looks a lot like my substrate, but mine is lava rock from Bonsai Jack.

[Expectorating_Aubergine]

Is that a walking catfish?

[Nana Finopolis]

This is a 40g breeder with only a stingray light, no CO2. Peace River is my favorite substrate.  It's not as tiny as sand so I don't have to worry about compacting or getting it in filter intakes. It's great for growing plants and my cories love it.  I watch them bury their little faces up to their eyeballs. They also have the most beautiful barbels. It's great for soft bellied fish. What more can I say? Since I switched over I have absolutely no complaints.

Edited July 9, 2021 by Nana Finopolis

[HH Morant]

On 7/8/2021 at 8:26 PM, Expectorating_Aubergine said:

Is that a walking catfish?

The white catfish is an albino spotted hoplo, sometimes called a marbled Hoplo.

[PineSong]

On 7/9/2021 at 12:19 PM, Nana Finopolis said:

This is a 40g breeder with only a sting ray light, no CO2. Peace River is my favorite substrate.  It's not as tiny as sand so I don't have to worry about compacting or getting it in filter intakes. It's great for growing plants and my cories love it.  I watch them bury their little faces up to their eyeballs. They also have the most beautiful barbels. It's great for soft bellied fish. What more can I say? Since I switched over I have absolutely no complaints.

Thank you, Nana Finopolis. Your plants look great and I hope the Stingray and gravel combo works as well for me. I like that Peace River works for the cories. I don't have any at this time but I would imagine my snail would also appreciate the smooth glide. I ordered the Peace River.

[Ozymandias]

I also have Caribsea Peace River in the new unheated tank I am seasoning, and I quite like it. Easier to work with than sand in my opinion, seems traps less debris than larger gravel, and good looks as well.

I had aragonite sand in my multifasciatus tank to ensure the water was well-buffered, which I also liked. They seemed to enjoy digging around in it.

Edited July 9, 2021 by Ozymandias

[GameCzar]

Someone on the forum mentioned Pisces Midnight Pearl, and it has a natural brown mix I really like.
 

[Expectorating_Aubergine]

On 7/9/2021 at 9:30 AM, HH Morant said:

The white catfish is an albino spotted hoplo, sometimes called a marbled Hoplo.

Oh cool. It's actually kinda funny. There's a lfs near me that keeps getting walking catfish. The first time i asked about them they said they were "spotted catfish", not walking catfish. Nice hoplo tho.....