125 G planted help urgent!

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SkySouza

Candiru
MFK Member
Sep 29, 2009
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Santa Maria, Ca
So as I had stated before I just recently bought a 125 G set up which I plan to have planted. I have about 10 yrs experience with planted set ups.

I'm runnin two new ac70s and two older marineland hob filters for the next month or two to help establish the new filters.

I have a 5' metal halide/flourescent hood set up that I was going to run but instead decided to go with the two 36" coralife power compact systems I had been running on my 40 G and also a 5' T5 light strip that I had on a 75 G set up.

I have a large variety of plants in my old 40 G that I plan on transfering over along with 3 discus, a bgk, some rosaline sharks, 9 albino long fin bushy nose, an eel, cherry shrimp, and a variety of tetras (don't worry they didn't all come from the 40 G setup)

Anyway here is my I drive by the beach (pismo, shell, avila) every day on my to school up at cal poly.I was down at shell beach the other day and was really fond of the coarser sand that I had seen. If I thoroughly rinse the sand and then bake it twice for 20 minutes will I be ok?

How do you think the plants will fair with this sand? (I do plan on supplementing iron along with other ferts)

Since the sand is from the beach I am concerned that it will raise the ph out of the comfort level for my discus. I plan on waiting a week or two and closely monitoring my levels before adding my discus.

The main reason I am wanting to give this sand a try is because I can not afford to spend 300 dollars on flourite again. Stuff gets expensive and I'm trying to get this tank set up asap.

I'm less concerned about the immediate effects of the sand on my tank as I will not have many fish in it at first. I am more concerned about two years down the line when I will hopefully have several hundred dollars worth of discus in this tank :)

I don't not want any poisons or toxins leachin into the water over a long period of time.

I've read a number of articles on this subject and found their to be mixed reviews.

Any guideance would be greatly appreciated.


Skyler
 
Also what can I ad to help my plants re-root into the new sand. I've had bad experiences with moving plants from one tank to another. Root tabs? Any other ideas?

I am trying to avoid co2 for now as it's too expensive.

Thanks again
 
I wouldn't use ocean sand, IMO it will look very weird having sea shells and crushed up coral in a freshwater tank. Also the sand will probably bring up your pH a lot. I would just use pool filter sand or play sand which will not affect water quality and will look better.
 
There are very little to almost no shells or coral mixed into the sand. Like I said before I really liked how it looks. Free and dang good attractive lookin stuff. I was told by a friend of mine who owns a lfs that it would not affect the ph much because it is silica sand and there is not enough of the right minerals to change the composition of the water. It's not coming from the gulf so no texas holy rock or crushed coral at all. Beaches here are too cold. Is he wrong?

Any other opinions

Thank you for your input.
 
I would just go with simple Home Depot $3 for 50 lbs of sand, sand. looks great in my tank and two bags is more than enough. just make sure to wash it alot
 
My only other otpion is this pool sand that I'm hearin about. How will my plants fair with this as a substrate?
 
Hey zpetrichko could u send me some pictures of ur tank with this sand in it or post it on this thread.

Thanks I really appreciate it
 
bump
 
TTT
 
Anyone ever use beach sand for a planted aquarium... ?
 
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