i have recently bought a new 230 litre tank. I am planning to run it as a planted tank. I am currently experimenting with co2 in my 180 litre 40 gallon tank. I have been using a simple Tetra system which adds co2 to the tank using diffusion. I have been using it for 10 days now and can definetly see an improvement in the rate and quality of plant growth already. The substrate in this tank is fine approx 2 to 4mm gravel. I know that this is not an ideal substrate for a planted tank but i have only been keeping fish for just over a year and I am living and learning. In my new tank i plan to have a shoal of Cardinal tetras and a shoal of Dwarf neon rainbow fish. i already have some of the dwarf rainbows and have noticed that when they are hanging out over the dark bogwood they darken and look absolutely stunning. I have also read that Cardinal tetras look best with a dark substrate. Is there anyway I can use black sand with a good plant growing substrate? any ideas?
Black sand as a substrate?
- Thread starter nid
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tanker
Josh Holloway--Be mine!!!
I use ordinary gravel (natural) but I do add plant root tabs. My swords are HUGE . I too use CO2 and lots of light.
So, IMO, it is not just the gravel but everything combinded. Use the black gravel, get good lights, CO2, and some root tabs---then go at it.
So, IMO, it is not just the gravel but everything combinded. Use the black gravel, get good lights, CO2, and some root tabs---then go at it.
Mixing sand with any substrate won't work long term, the smaller particles will sink to the bottom. Sand is also not a good plant substrate since it has no nutritional value, this can be solved by root tabs like Tanker suggested.
I'm just not a big fan of root tabs, since they can cause algae problems should they be disturbed and exposed to the water. If you use them, don't go re-arranging your plants for awhile.
I'm just not a big fan of root tabs, since they can cause algae problems should they be disturbed and exposed to the water. If you use them, don't go re-arranging your plants for awhile.
Thanks for the advice. Approx 2 weeks ago I added some root tabs and lo and behold I seem to be developing the algae problem I had got on top of. The tabs i used were Seachem tabs and I did notice that they contained Nitrate and posphate. I suspect the original cause of this problem was the high Nitrate and posphate levels we have in the tap water round here. to combat algae I use Amquel as a water conditioner and I have a Nitrate munching sponge and posphate removing medium in my filter. When i do a water change I always hoover the gravel, this has probably disturbed them. Think I will remove them next water change.
I have also discovered a dark grey sand by seachem called Onyx. This is a plant substrate that may can raise the ph of the water though it is designed for tropical freshwater aquariums. This is a worry as the ph of our water is already high at around 7.8. The GH is >16 with the KH being somewhere between 6-15. With these readings do you think this substrate will raise the ph? Thanks again. ps I set up my new tank next week. hooray!
I have also discovered a dark grey sand by seachem called Onyx. This is a plant substrate that may can raise the ph of the water though it is designed for tropical freshwater aquariums. This is a worry as the ph of our water is already high at around 7.8. The GH is >16 with the KH being somewhere between 6-15. With these readings do you think this substrate will raise the ph? Thanks again. ps I set up my new tank next week. hooray!
Onyx shouldn't raise your pH. There are cichlid substrates meant to do that. If it does, don't do it with your fish in the tank. You will have to allow them to adjust slowly to the new pH. Onyx is supposed to be just as good as Flourite (however, I don't know from experience).
I've been told by many other (experienced) members not to use root tabs. They allow too many nutrients to leach out into the water column. I've been having some decent results with some advice from djlen and another guy from another forum. Take a look at this.
http://rexgrigg.com/dosing.htm
It helped me ALOT!!!
I've been told by many other (experienced) members not to use root tabs. They allow too many nutrients to leach out into the water column. I've been having some decent results with some advice from djlen and another guy from another forum. Take a look at this.
http://rexgrigg.com/dosing.htm
It helped me ALOT!!!
tanker
Josh Holloway--Be mine!!!
sardesign said:
I have been using root tabs for a while now. No algae problems, or algae of any kind yet. I do bury them deep and do not disturb them. My gravel is 3 inches deep and when I vac, I only vac down about 1/2 inch. I have a "JUNGLE" in my tank. All my big swords are over 15 inches high, and I must prune them of the big leaves every week to keep them from shading my other plants.