Okay so im in the process of assemblying everything together to start my 75g planted tank, one question, i do have a type of beach sand in the tank currently, at my LPS they have this substrate that is black and the guy says it already has bacteria and chemicals in it and he said it was almost like alive... and you can kill it...? any ways instead of draining my whole tank and takign the sand out, would it be safe to just put the substrate right on top of the sand? would the plants still grow right and such?
Substrate / sand
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sounds like Eco Complete (or similar) . . . pretty sure they recommend against using it on top of your existing substrate . . . if I were doing this, I would drain the tank and remove the sand, but others may have different ideas . . .
Sab_Fan;4360179; said:
okay well wont that bring up more ammonia and nitrates ect draining that much?. the guy at the lps said if i use this stuff i dont need to cycle my tank i can add a fish that same day as long as the temp is correct. is this true?
I don't know if it's true, I've never seen anyone document any sort of test with a substrate that claims to instantly cycle a tank, but I find it very hard to believe. Your filter is where the majority of your beneficial bacteria is going to live so a cycled filter is more important than a cycled substrate.warlord651;4360285; said:
If you've already got a mature filter I don't think you'll have any problems swapping out your sand.
I recently swapped out gravel for sand in two of my tanks with no problems at all.
If the sand in your tank isn't very deep I'd consider laying the new substrate over the top of it, or just keep the sand and make it fertile with root tabs. Otherwise, you might be best to just swap the lot out for the new substrate.
Burto;4361388; said:
not deep at all only 25 lbs in a 75gal so its very light, one handfull will see the bottom, should i go over the top or what