how deep do I need the sand in my 40 breeder for live plants? Planning on putting sword plants and other plants that my wild angels will like.
sand subtrate
- Thread starter born2lovefish
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i would go with 2 1/2 to 3 " min i've had up to 6" it really depends on the plants you choose some require deeper plantings while others can do well in shallow most plants come with the info needed on the tag .
that is about the amount I have in there and I thought it looked like too much. I guess I will leave it in there. I have about 100LBS for a 40 gallon breeder of pool filter sand in there. Think that will do the trick?
I think that is too thick if you are going with sand! I would keep it at around an inch MAYBE an inch and a half. You can't clean sand like you can gravel, you dont want to have nitrogen building up and killing the tank.
I have sand in my 75 gallon and I never clean it. The 40 gallon has a 20 gallon sump with a diy wet/dry. The return pump is about 500 gallon an hour, but some of that gph gets directly returned to the wet/dry. I have some compact flouresants I am putting on the tank. I have 4 65 watt bulbs, but don't really think I need them all. Any thoughts on lighting would be great too.
I would do a minimum of 4", but personally prefer 6". Anubias can't be kept in shallow sand beds easily. As to lighting, it is greatly dependent on the type of plants you are keeping. If you are heavily planted, and have co2, and ferts present, then your lighting can work great. However if you do not have co2, and nutrients at the optimum levels, then you will have algae blooms.
that might be a bit too much sand i'm having a hard time seeing a hundred pounds go with 3-4 inchs should cover all types of plants and give you some landscaping as well.i wouls use two of the 65w bulbs for average plants that dont need a lot of light and to add intrest you could put some low light plants and use tin foil to block lighting above them.
as for the coment about nitrogen some trumpet snails will keep the sand agitated i also use a rake to turn the sand over to remove any dead pockets of air trapped before you plant.
as for the coment about nitrogen some trumpet snails will keep the sand agitated i also use a rake to turn the sand over to remove any dead pockets of air trapped before you plant.