Adding sand to a planted aquarium

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