Real plants in tank with sand substrate?

[dondon123321]

how do u clean the sand without having it sucked up in the siphoning tube?

 

[RockabillyChick]

just swirl the siphon over the top of the sand. the small current created will pull the waste up into the water and you can suck it up. it takes a little practice.

 

[loaches r cool]

Yeah ^ just get 'close' to the sand with the gravel vac, after a bit youll get the hang of how close you can get before it starts sucking it up. Nice thing about sand is the crap just sits ontop of it so you really dont have to work the surface to get to the crud like with regular gravel were it collects down in the gravel.

I am in the process of starting up a 45g bowfront brackish planted tank using Aragonite sand, the stuff thats the consistincy of sugar. This will be the first time I have tried aragonite, plus the first time planting in sand... hopefully I can pull it off without to much problem.

 

[quiksilver]

my sands sugar size and the vac doesnt suck it up very easy to clean

 

[z71silverado98]

nutrients will build up over time from the fish waste. My sand tank actually grows plants faster than my gravel.