I am setting up an aquarium (65 gal) where I'll keep angelfish and maybe a few clown loaches and I'm planning to have live plants. I like the way sand looks when it is used as a substrate, but I'm worried how will the live plants hold on to the sand? I thought maybe to put first a layer of gravel on the bottom, and then cover it with a thin layer of sand. Does anyone have any suggestions about this? Thanks in advance!
Using sand as substrate
- Thread starter Dado
- Start date
I've gone both ways--put in a layer of laterite, then put sand on top, and used straight sand. If you want this to be heavilyplanted with plants that get most of their nutrients from the soil, then you'll want to add some sort of supplement. For other plants, those that get nutrients from the water column (and most willbe happy with this), straight sand works fine.
I've been unsing sand for years in fresh and saltwater tanks and the few I've had plants in stayed down as long as there wasn't something in the tank that stirred them up or moved them.
I've since switched from sand to a sand/pebble mixture I get from a local mountain stream. It looks great, really natural, and since the "grains" aren't as fine as "play sand" or the other sands found in the local hardware stores the plants are held down better. At least they have so far. They seem to be doing very well also with this mixture. Since adding my first plant almost 3 weeks ago I've got new shoots springing out everywhere on almost all of my plants. I'm sure it's not just the substrate however since I'm also adding Sechem supplements, organic CO2, and I've got 3.2 watts per gallon of lighting. However if you're looking for a really natural substrate and have a clear mountain stream nearby I'd suggest picking up you substrate there.
Just for a note if you decide to get your own substrate... I didn't clean this substrate. I took it straight from the river bottom and into a bucket. It does have some fine stuff in it and it will make the water a bit dirty. I filled the tank with the substrate, then water. Let it sit unditurbed for 24 hours then turned the filters on. The water cleared up in under a day.
I've since switched from sand to a sand/pebble mixture I get from a local mountain stream. It looks great, really natural, and since the "grains" aren't as fine as "play sand" or the other sands found in the local hardware stores the plants are held down better. At least they have so far. They seem to be doing very well also with this mixture. Since adding my first plant almost 3 weeks ago I've got new shoots springing out everywhere on almost all of my plants. I'm sure it's not just the substrate however since I'm also adding Sechem supplements, organic CO2, and I've got 3.2 watts per gallon of lighting. However if you're looking for a really natural substrate and have a clear mountain stream nearby I'd suggest picking up you substrate there.
Just for a note if you decide to get your own substrate... I didn't clean this substrate. I took it straight from the river bottom and into a bucket. It does have some fine stuff in it and it will make the water a bit dirty. I filled the tank with the substrate, then water. Let it sit unditurbed for 24 hours then turned the filters on. The water cleared up in under a day.