Silica Sand

Northernforest

AC Members
Jun 1, 2005
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Sterling Hts,MI
www.geocities.com
Well this past spring I setup my first true planted aquarium.It is a 100 gallon.It has been a learning experience and I have enjoyed it.The plants are growing like weeds, as a matter of fact I have ran out of room for the fish.Well now since I have the plant bug I want to convert my 72 Gallon Bow tank to a planted tank.I have Discus in the tank at this time and I plan on keeping them their.I now have a 260w power compact light on it.My filter and heater will all do fine.In my 100 gallon I went with Eco complete. I must say it was a nice chose and has served me well.But I have been out of work for 11 months and just can't afford to use it in my 72 Gallon Bow too.So what I want to know is if Silica Sand will do OK for plant or is it better that I just stick with the fine gravel I got in it now?I plan on keeping Amazon sword plants.What do you guys think?I have seen many Discus tanks will silica sand and I like the look of it. It is the Ideal substrate for discus as they are scavengers and like to let their food sink before searching for it then eating it. :headbang2:
 
Silica sand? It looks a bit too fine for aquarium use, it should work though...maybe larger grained ones. But you can always use pool filter sand, it works great and actually looks kinda white under bright light. Sand is a good substrate for discus, I have it and it works great! Very easy for them to see the tetra colorbits on it :D
 
I have plants in a mix of ecocomplete and silica sand (1:2 ratio) with flourish tabs under my deeper rooted plants, they're all doing great so far. I posted pics on another thread...on my iphone so I can't post a link, but I have mayaca, sunset hygro, java ferns, and some others I can't remember at the moment. I also have Malaysian trumpet snails to help keep it stirred and the roots aerated.
 
Silica sand works great, just understand that it is completely inert so you need to enrich it somehow.
 
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