sand with plants?

[Temo]

does plants work well in sand?
will calsium sand do any harm to fish?
how to clean the sand?
will my fish,shrimp eat the sand?
and if i use sand,what will i need to do to help the sand grow well?:help:

 

[Temo]

and im thinking about getting black sand is that ok?

 

[new2tanks]

Hi there,

I will only answer a few of your questions.

you can clean the sand with a gravel vaccum, just remember to stir it up well to avoid any toxic gases from developing.

I dont belive any fish/shrimp eat sand as such...they will sift through it but not consume it.

And teh colour of the sand,depends solely on you, I dont think the plants or fish care.
Though black sand is a great choice as more of your fishies colour will pop against it.

Good Luck!

 

[akalafut]

Plants in sand probably depends on the type of plant. I have had some not work very well, but my Amazon Sword plants grow great in sand.

Cleaning the sand is easy, just hold the gravel vacuum over the sand, unlike gravel the dirt will not fall between the grains and get mixed up with it. If you only make the sand about an inch or two deep, there is no need to stir it, deeper than that I would. Also in areas of the tank with lots of plants you should not stir it up much to avoid damaging the roots.

Most types of black sand I have seen (such as caribsea tahitian moon) have sharp edges, this can be harmful to catfish or loaches, but for other types of fish it should be fine.

 

[Plecosterone]

My plants thrive in play sand (see sig) although I would go with a bigger grained sand like pool filter sand. Most people say that plants roots have a hard time in packed sand but when I pull my plants out they have very long root structures. The only thing with sand is that it is inert and gives no nutrients to the plants so water column ferts are recommended. I would never go back to gravel in a planted tank. To clean the sand before putting it in the tank just put it in a bucket with a hose in it and stir until it runs clean. You probably won't get it real clear and it will cloud the water when put in the tank but will settle and clear in time.

 

[ChunkyMonkey]

You probably won't get it real clear and it will cloud the water when put in the tank but will settle and clear in time.

Not trying to thread jack, but I once had white sand, man was it great lookin'. I didn't look before I leaped and bought 80lbs for my 100gal FW, whoops. I never thought of cleaning it. I have a python I always used for my rocks, but how about when the said is finally settled in the tank? Do you use the same method you originally did when you first bought it? Or are you able to use the python? I want to go back to sand, but was worried about the maintenance, especially since I'm in an apartment, up stairs to boot.

 

[JoeQuality]

Just saw this at a store:

http://www.seachem.com/products/product_pages/Onyx%20Sand.html

 

[geofied]

Onyx Sand is not sand

Just saw this at a store:

http://www.seachem.com/products/product_pages/Onyx%20Sand.html

Onyx Sand is not sand. It is relatively course and ranges in size from about 2mm-4mm average.

See this thread for additional info about it:
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=109132

If you want to see it in action, I posted some pictures in a thread about rinsing flourite, which is very similar to Onyx Sand.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=964942&postcount=8

 

[geofied]

For the record, I do like Onyx Sand. I put Corydoras in the tank, and had to put a layer of small, smoothe Estes "river pebbles" over top of the Onyx Sand. It seems to do a great job holding onto nutrients for the roots.

 

[KidInTheHall]

I have pool filter sand in my tank, anacharis grows well but so far cacomba isn't faring too well, I just added hornwart and java fern this past week to see how it goes. My lighting isn't that great, just the standard fixture that came with the tank but I use API Leaf Zone.