Adding sand to a planted aquarium

[Spewn]

This is Estes Marine Sand, which I'm told is essentially dustless. It has the issue of trapping air and rising to the surface, but my plan is to pre-wet the sand sufficiently that this does not happen(hopefully). My thinking is that I don't want the sand rising up into and getting caught in my fan-leafed plants.

Basically, I'm thinking I'll remove the large centerpiece driftwood, pour the pre-wetted sand all into the middle in a pile, and spread it out from there underwater. I don't want to cover my plants, and I'm sure that this stuff would get all stuck into my cabomba and hornwort.

Any advice? Right now I've got flourite down, so I'll be putting the Estes sand over-top of the flourite, maybe 1/2" layer.

No fish right now.

[oscaremmy]

Will the sand increase water hardness? Is it some form of calcium sand? Loose sand in the water also damages filters sometimes, so you need to guard against that. It would get stuck in your cabomba, for sure! If I add pool filter sand, I have to keep it away from my filter impeller (it's a hang on back design). I also have to shake my plants to get loose material off them, although a little is harmless, I don't want to block light. Good luck!

[Spewn]

The sand is quartz, I believe, some grade of 3m colorquartz(recommended on other boards for rays which like to bury themselves). From what I've read, it doesn't typically float about in the water column unless it's caught some air between a few chunks(they're crushed up bits, so they're odd shapes). The grain is fairly fine, but it's certainly not as fine as play sand, not sure about pool sand. I'd say it's almost like table salt, although slightly less regular particles/more fine. It won't affect hardness, pH, etc, and comes in a rainbow of colours. I picked black.

I'd probably turn the filter off while putting the sand in, but I've got the intake tube wrapped in a foam prefilter so that should catch any bits anyway. I was also thinking that to initially get the sand in, I'll drain a lot of the water out. Right now my main concern is how easily my moneywort come out of the flourite...It's a pain to get them back in, and they break easily :/

[oscaremmy]

The sand is quartz, I believe, some grade of 3m colorquartz(recommended on other boards for rays which like to bury themselves). From what I've read, it doesn't typically float about in the water column unless it's caught some air between a few chunks(they're crushed up bits, so they're odd shapes). The grain is fairly fine, but it's certainly not as fine as play sand, not sure about pool sand. I'd say it's almost like table salt, although slightly less regular particles/more fine. It won't affect hardness, pH, etc, and comes in a rainbow of colours. I picked black.

I'd probably turn the filter off while putting the sand in, but I've got the intake tube wrapped in a foam prefilter so that should catch any bits anyway. I was also thinking that to initially get the sand in, I'll drain a lot of the water out. Right now my main concern is how easily my moneywort come out of the flourite...It's a pain to get them back in, and they break easily :/

Quartz is great...no impact on water chemistry...:cool-1:

You're right about moneywort...nice enough plant, but easily dislodged until I guess it gets deep enough roots, then floats around until you push it back again. The stems are fragile. Sand is easier to replant in compared with gravel, though, IMO. Just a steady gently push and the stem buries nicely, or drag it in sideways. With gravel, that's when the stem can become damaged.

[Spewn]

That's good to hear. I'm hoping the added density and extra thickness provided by the sand in the top layer will make planting(and keeping things planted) easier. The flourite floats around a lot, and you can't exactly press it down once you have things where you want them like in a terrestrial garden :P haha

[oscaremmy]

That's good to hear. I'm hoping the added density and extra thickness provided by the sand in the top layer will make planting(and keeping things planted) easier. The flourite floats around a lot, and you can't exactly press it down once you have things where you want them like in a terrestrial garden :P haha

That's also true - I have flourite on its own in my tank at work - boy it gets murky fast if you move anything around!!!:grinyes:

[Spewn]

Yeah the flourite kicks up some dust for sure. I wrapped the filter intake with some poly-fill type stuff I bought for $4(it should last about forever...), helps the water clear up *very* quickly and keeps all the crap out of the pump.

[oscaremmy]

That's a great idea. I'll try that too.

[Cory Keeper]

I use play sand for my tank, I can move thinks without it getting murky, at least from sand, not dirt and debris that gets trapped by the rocks and driftwood.

[oscaremmy]

I use play sand for my tank, I can move thinks without it getting murky, at least from sand, not dirt and debris that gets trapped by the rocks and driftwood.

How well do plants grow in your sand corykeeper? We used Flourite specifically to grow plants; I used filter sand and peat in my 2nd tank at home, and gravel with UGF and HOB in my first tank at home. I have flourite alone in my desk tank at work (all 10g tanks). I have 4 corys in each home tank and I can already tell they are happier in sand than in gravel when it comes to feeding.

I think the advantage of quartz pool filter sand is that it's very well washed already and can go straight into the tank at setup, as well as being suitable to add later if you do some landscaping changes.

[Spewn]

I'd love to plant straight into sand, I wonder if root tabs would make up for the crummy/nonexistant nutrient profile?

In nature, plants very seldom have the "ideal" soil. I don't think I know of any lakes or anything with a 2" coating of flourite on the bottom :P In-fact, sand/silt is what a lot of plants grow in. Most of what I read said, essentially; Don't plant in sand because it compacts too much for the roots. Really? I may try straight pool filter sand next time because of its cost(I plan on going with a larger, maybe 55+, gallon aquarium and don't want to think about the cost of filling *that* with flourite).

[oscaremmy]

In my 10g (kitchen tank), I mixed filter sand with sphagnum peat, soaked it for several days to waterlog the peat so it doesn't float up too much. Then did a 50/50 sand peat mix by volume. I stirred in 2 caps of aquarium plant ferts, then put this wet mix into the base of the tank. I covered it with about 1/4 to 1" of clean filter sand. That way, there is a nutrient rich, slightly acidic substrate with a clean look, at low cost. You can see this setup on my planted tank thread, toward the end. The plants are growing well even after about 3 days, but obviously, time will tell how successful this turns out to be. It made sense theoretically. The peat/sand mix is nowhere near as dense as pure sand, has a slow release nutrient source and won't harm pH either, if your water is too high on the alkaline side. Putting in the plants disturbs the peat a little, but not much, because of the covering of sand, so you end up with small patches of peat debris here and there which, for my taste, looks perfect, because in nature the substrate of a peaty area would not look pristine. This can be removed by netting it out if you want an operating theater look!

[Spewn]

I got done adding the Estes sand a couple hours ago, great stuff!

Pre-wetting the sand is recommended on the bags(I didn't know this); It's a good thing too because the sand does two things; One, it forms these little sandspheres which are really sand bits covering an air bubble. If I can squish the bubble against the side of the tank, all the sand falls down. The other thing the sand does is coats the surface of the water, but this is easily coerced to the tank bottom via surface agitation. The HOB filter does that for me in the tank, but I Figured it out in the bucket by splashing around(literally).

Putting the sand in was SUPER easy! I just picked up a handful, dropped it a couple inches above where I wanted it and it spread out into a nice perfect layer, I had to do this a few times, then dig out under where I wanted my driftwood a bit(to increase the space between the driftwood's curve and the substrate, hiding spot), presto; Black sand bottom! :D

I'm very happy with this, and I'd recommend it to anyone doing a small aquarium. I bought 3 5lb bags because I had no idea how much I'd need and I was ordering online(hard to go get more in the middle of filling the tank). I emptied two bags into a bucket and wetted it down, used a little over half I'd guess. Some areas are mixed with the flourite a bit, but I don't mind. I had to rearrange/replant the cabomba and a couple others, the sand held the flourite dust down :D

Overall, very happy with the Estes Marine Sand.

[oscaremmy]

Cool! Take pics of the stages, if you get the chance. Certainly post some pics of the new setup if you can!