can i use sand?

[mtdewlover]

I have a 29 gallon tank with three red zebra cichlids and two yellow tailed violet cichlids and one huge sucker fish. I want to change this to a low light planted tank. I currently have big chunk blue gravel I got from Walmart. Can I use regular play sand? Or do you recomend something different? Could I use the play sand and my regular gravel mixed together?

Thanks
Alicia

[OrionGirl]

Sand is fine. I have it in 2 planted tanks, and it hasn't been a problem. Make sure you have good filtration to stir up the solid wastes so the filter can remove them.

[BluEyes]

I dunno how the sand/gravel mix would go - you'll end up with alot of sand on the bottom with gravel on top. Definately have to add a bunch of sand to fill in all the spaces between the gravel...

But, I have a 20L with sand - all from the wild, and the plants grow fine. It's even pretty low light.

[Tim Bo]

Mixing sand and gravel can make quite a mess in the long run. I have done it in the past by putting in 'pools' / segments of gravel or sand surrounded by plastic tubing to keep the 'pools' from mixing in with each other. This worked frairly well, though mixing both sediments together didn't give the aesthetic quality I was hoping for.

[punch]

http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=1282755&uid=653489&members=1

My tank has gravel and sand. I think it looks pretty good.
You can take a look thru the link above.

[BluEyes]

that's a nice-looking tank, punch!
I see you've got an area of sand, surrounded by gravel. Do you have a problem with the sand working its way into the gravel and disappearing, or does it mostly stay there?

[punch]

actully, the way I set up my tank is I put down the sand 1st.,
Then I put the gravel in the areas I wanted and the area I didn't I added more sand. So I don't have sand over gravel but gravel
over sand! Theres a little mixing but not to much to be a bother.

[Tim Bo]

That looks very nice punch.

[Sumpin'fishy]

How does it turn out if you add Flourite to sand? Can I get it throroughly mixed and have the benefit of both? Does it look decent/natural? I have access to the red or blackish-red versions of Flourite, which is best?

[tyler]

some people mix the flourite with the sand as the bottom layer and put a layer of sand on top.

[OrionGirl]

I tried using that method. It works great for tanks that don't have any fish that dig. My killie tank has a layer of flourite, a layer of sand, and some 'drifts' of peat. The plants are doing fine, and the flourite stays put, mostly because I never stir up the substrate.

My work tank, on the other hand, is a mix. The kuhli loaches charge around the tank and dig everything up, so the flourite has come to the top in most places. It doesn't look bad, and I don't dislike the look. There's only one plant in the substrate, and it's tripled since I setup the tank (about 3 months ago--maybe 4).

[tyler]

do the khulis ever uproot plants?

[Sumpin'fishy]

Hey, OG

Did you use regular Flourite or Flourite Red to mix with your sand? I figure it would just look like clay rocks mixed with sand....pretty natural sounding lake/stream feature to me!

[carpguy]

Hey Sump,
I just set up a small tank with the darker Flourite and I like it. I was a little concerned that the red would look too brickish and unnnatural. The darker is a rusty brown and seems fairly natural looking.

For my 30g I used mostly a large grain sand/fine gravel (sold by Estes, I think). I topped it with a bag or two of natural gravel/small pebbles. The sand is better for holding stem plants IM limited E, the pebbles just sit on top.

[Sumpin'fishy]

I have 2"- 3" of medium sand in my 20 gal which is currently cycling. How much Flourite should I add to the sand to get a good mix and not look bad? I don't mind it being visible, but I want it to look like a natural river/lake bed. I've often seen sand with small clay-looking pebbles scattered throughout it in a natural environment. Hopefully I can mimic this effect.

So how much Flourite should I add, and do I need to remove any sand? Thanks for responses.

[punch]

I used latrite in my tank. layer of sand then latrite, another of sand then the gravel. Plants grow good and the little digging I get dosn't seem to effect it. (I think kulli's are little small to dig up any plants) And thanks for the kind coments on my tank!.
This is my first foray into planted tanks. It looks a little diffrent now. I've discovered as I go along I change my mind and want to
reange a bit. I think I'm close to my final set up!:D