help!sand color...

[prince]

i have a trio of inca but they are too shy to even think about it(u know what )
in fact there are many hiding places where they stay,my sand is white.
my question is:
what is best besides leaf litter:black or white sand?
i read that they prefer white sand but i know also that black sand stop shyness. :?:
what do u know about this,what's your experiences :?:

 

[farm41]

I have had both black and white sand with the Inca, the white washes out their colors. Black is too dark, for my personal likes. I like the color of beach sand, or flourite. Unfortunately, beach sand has many shells that add to the carbonate hardness.

The inca look good on any sand but white IMO

 

[cootwarm]

I've also use both black and white sand. I found the same thing as Matt, although there are some colors of fish that are enhanced by the white gravel and other colors enhanced by black gravel. I like to decorate black gravel with rocks made of black slate with quartz veins through it. It looks very natural, yet attractive. I haven't enough experience yet to predict which colors are best with black or white. I've put very colorful fish in with dark gravel expecting their colors to be brighter and contrasty, but unfortunately in with the black gravel, their colors darkened also.

Lately, I've been using quartz gravel and sand packaged by FilPro. It's about the same color as beach sand (mostly tan), but I don't believe it contains any shell fragments. I don't know for positive. but I don't think quartz leaches any carbonate hardness. I've been using 2 parts of #1 grit to 1 part #0 grit. This gives it a more natural texture like beach sand. I haven't used it long, but I seems to have a texture that won't easily compact.

Does anyone else have experience using quartz sand & gravel?
Am I correct in assuming there is no carbonate particles in quartz?

One last thing about color. I haven't tried photographing most of my fish yet. But those that I have photographed, I've found the colors in the photo aren't always the colors you see with your eyes. Sometimes they're more enhanced, other times the colors are washed out. Sounds like a good experiment to try one of these days. I've got tanks with all 3 colors, I'll have to start making note of the differences when I notice them so I can get a better understanding of what background colors enhance what fish (to the eye & photos). :wink:

Michael