Does light-colored substrate stress fish?

Chrisk-K

Chrisk-K

Theodore P. Charles Fellow of AC
Dec 1, 2009
897
0
0
Maryland
I personally love the look of light-colored substrate (white sand, peral sand, etc.) but I think I've read somewhere that light-colored substrate stresses fish because it reflects too much light, especially when a T5 fixture is used.

Any thought on this? I'm not in love with the look of my black onyx gravel.
 
I think the answers will vary as much as the number of members we have. Tank/farm raised on bare bottoms may not even care. And for most every fish, you could probably make up a reasonable argument for one or the other.
 
I have white gravel in my 46 gal and white sand in my 75 gal with no noticeable problems for any of my fish. I do not have super bright lights though - they are both low-light setups. So maybe that makes a difference.

But I have not noticed any issues with any of my fish on lighter colored substrates. I have black gravel in my 5 gal hex and 10 gal setup, but definitely like the lighter colored substrate better.
 
I wouldn't worry if I had a regular light fixture. I have a 30 inch T5 fixture on a 40g tank and I use only one T5 bulb (it can accomodate two bulbs). Still, it's much brighter than my old regular fluorescent fixture. I'm afraid it'll be blindingly bright if I replace onyx subtrate with light-colored substrate.
 
mix and go for a light grey, like sand and eco-complete...
 
I have white sand and my fish are freeking out but I don't really care , I told them to shut up or no food for you. :nilly::huh:
 
I think the dark sand just makes them look better, I had white sand in my 30 with neons and cardinals and they didn't look so colorful. I switched to black and the colors popped :)
 
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