Live plants and Sand Substrate

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Jesseliu13

Jesseliu13

Polypterus
MFK Member
Jun 27, 2012
1,129
140
96
Holmdel, NJ
So Currently I have a 20 gallon tank with 3 Parrots, 2 Bichirs, and a knife. now before you get your panties in a knot, its only temporary. They are all really small and i do frequent water changes. so there are no worries. I will be moving them to a 75 in about 2-3 months. Dont ask why not now.
But Here is the thing, In the 20 gallon tank i have plants growing(week old bulbs) from those cheap topfin bulbs you get at your local petsmart. The current set up is gravel. and since its only temporary i dont want the grown plants to be a waste. if possible i would like to move them to the New tank as well. But the New tank, I plan to use Sand Substrate for the first time. Because i know Bichirs and Knives are soft skinned. i prefer the sand anyways it looks better. I do not plan to put more than 1.5 inches of sand in the tank as well. so how would this work?
I plan to buy more bulbs from topfin petsmart as well. and i want the plants because they definitely help with the water chemistry, not to mention it helps with the oxygen as well...
so what do i do? get some plastic plant pots and fill em with gravel then put them into the sand?
btw i do not plan on buying other plants that are for sand. those are 30$+... about 10x the amount i pay for the bulbs.
 
I think sand is superior to gravel for plants, you could add some fluorite underneath to provide extra minerals if you want, but the pic below is just pool filter sand, with a little gravel in the back.
Venturiday012.jpg
 
My Crinum natans and Vallisneria spiralis are being grown in playsand and they are growing very well. I've had to trim the Val several times now because the leaves grew so long they bent across the surface of the water. I started the Val with a single plant of just 5 leaves 2 months ago. Sand is far superior to pure gravel in every way.
IMG_1938.jpg
 
I am actually a little confused of what is a pool filter? The New set up will be a 75g. then Much later it will be bigger than that. But i dont really understand what is a pool filter? Currently i have this DIY Canister Filter made from a 5 gallon Bucket, power Head.... hopefully the water wont blow away the sand. And i am considering White sand. Where did you guys get your sand? Local Pet Shop? =_= petsmart is expensive with their sand.
 
Pool Filter Sand
It's used in a fluidized bed filter for filtering waste out of people's pools.

I bought washed playsand from Home Depot; 40 lbs for 4$. It's much less expensive than buying from LFSs and corporate pet stores (if they even sell sand in the first place)
 
I vacuum the sand all the time, but don't need to jam the siphon tube in, because the mulm stay on the surface of the sand instead of working in, like it does with gravel. I vacuum near the top of the sand, and the debris sucks right up the tube.
Pool filters are what are used on large swimming pools, the filters use a heavy sand to catch debris, and are automatically back washed. The sand is heavier than play sand, so it doesn't easily get blown around like "play sand" or some of the silica sands. It is light brown, to cream in color.
It is also called water filtration sand, and is what water providers use to filter drinking water, it is chemically inert, and won't easily dissolve.
194.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom