How Much Sand, How Much Gravel?

[silenthawk2x3]

I am getting a new tank and I really love the look of sand, but I want to have Eco Complete gravel underneath for my plants. The dimensions are 13.6 X 13.8 for the bottom of the tank and I would like to know how much sand and gravel I need by weight. I do like to have my substrate a little thicker for nice roots and plants so that should be accounted for. Thanks. :3

 

[Jay-93]

The problem with this is that with sand being finer than gravel, eventually, the sand will simply fall through and over time it will just be mixed together.

Many people also have their substrate higher at the back, giving better perspective of the tank, and usually this is where plants are most commonly kept. It's really upto what you think is appropriate. I have 2 plants in my tank that have around an inch and a half of sand to support their large root system, but many see 3/4 inch as appropriate. Think, the more substrate you put in, the less room you have for the fish, so don't go too over the top with it, haha

 

[justin85]

+2 with the comment above, puting fine sand on top of grave is a bad idea, what you could do is plan where in the tank you want your plants to be and partition it off and just have your gravel there then for the part of your tank you want open space with no plant have sand, puting rocks over the line where the gravel meets the sand will help hide the transition from fine sand to gravel. That way you get the benifit of your substrate for your plants and the nice clean look of sand in your open areas. Here's a video of a tank that has a Similer scape to what I'm referring to:
http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC5_X6EjJvE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[silenthawk2x3]

Thanks! I decided to just go for sand considering the space in my tank! I was thinking it wouldn't be a huge problem with settling because the sand was just a tad smaller than the gravel I was looking at, but it's cheaper to just choose one.