Fertile Substrate Under Sand

[tata]

Hello,

It is possible to have a bottom layer with a fertile substrate and top layer with pool filter sand, without the risk of sand going down and get mixed?

I will setup a 80G tank, with swords, vallisnerias, cryptos.

Thanks

 

[elmo666]

It is yes. Carefull cleaning is the key, sand lends itself to this very well as detrius and debris sits very nicely on the top. Am wondering if you could put something between the two, maybe some thin filter wool or the landscaping fabric used to stop weed growth, I know that allows water/nutrients to pass through it.

 

[KittyKat]

I have seen photos of it working successfully, but when I tried to do this myself, I failed miserably on the filling the tank part and water changes, so it does require plenty of carefulness.

 

[tata]

I am not the most careful person on the world... For sure I will also fail miserably.

Tbe alternative is to use root tabs...

 

[elmo666]

tata, if this is the set-up you want, come on, be a little more positive. Bare tank, lay in your soil substrate. Thoroughly clean your sand, then, when you think it's clean, do it again as you don't want the hassle of a strip down if not happy after filling. Best way I found was to 1/4 fill a five gallon bucket with sand, then using a hose pipe with a moderate flow fill the bucket and keep swirling the sand around until gin clear. After adding the sand to your tank, place a dinner plate in, trickle a hose pipe onto the plate and very slowly fill the tank. Whilst the tank is filling you can dream away as to how it will look and add the correct doseage of de-chlorinator. Install filtration and heater then, when your satisfied all is working correctly, go through normal cycling procedure, plants in or out, it's your choice. Plenty of info on here to help you with cyling and opinions on when to add the plants.

 

[raptorrex]

Hello,

It is possible to have a bottom layer with a fertile substrate and top layer with pool filter sand, without the risk of sand going down and get mixed?

I will setup a 80G tank, with swords, vallisnerias, cryptos.

Thanks

Fullers Earth might be worth a look.

 

[tata]

Well, my local fishshop advised to add Tropica Plant Growth as bottom layer, just enough to cover the botom, something like 1 cm.
On top of that, as much sand as possible, around 6 or 7 cms of sand.

How it sounds?

 

[snazy]

If the tank is deep enough, it won't disturb the sand during water change. I haven't used pool filter sand but the one I have from the LFS does not float around one bit during water changes and it has settled like gravel.