Live Plants In Sand?

[Raechal]

I have had sand in all of my tanks for quite awhile now and have always had live plants. The new tank I have now has a sand substrate and I bought about 5 live plants and planted them about a week and a half ago. They are doing really well and are not showing any signs of dying. I just have a regular light that came with the hood. I have UV lights as well that were used for coral growth for a saltwater tank I believe. Would these aid in my plant growth or should I just stick to the regular light?

The plants I have are two amazon swords, cabomba, Anacharis, and then two bunches of a plant I am not sure of. It looks like a clump and all the parts of the plant are kind of swirled together.

But anyways, I went to petsmart the other day with a friend of mine who just bought a 10 gallon and wanted me to help set it up with her and she asked the guy about live plants and he said you can't have live plants in sand.

Is this true at all? He also said you need a special UV light if you are going to have any plants or they will just die.

 

[AdAndrews.]

well he is a lier, plants imo do better in sand, plus a uv light gets rid of bacteria/parisites i think, im not sure if it adds to plant growth, the things that helps plants to stay alive is c02, more light, plant fertilisers

 

[muzzy]

I would say its rubbish as well!! i have a tank with sand for substrate and the plants i bought a couple of weeks ago are growing like nobodies business.

 

[Raechal]

That is what I thought too. My plants are doing fine in sand. I have live plants in my 125 gallon and in my betta tank and they both have sand.

 

[aaronnorth]

mine certainley do ok

 

[smegforbrains]

he said you can't have live plants in sand.

Is this true at all? He also said you need a special UV light if you are going to have any plants or they will just die.

1. The guy don't know jack.

2. He obviously needs to improve on his sales targets - naughty!

 

[Raechal]

I wasn't there when he was telling my friend this stuff or I would have said something for sure. I was getting coffee and on the way to petsmart to help my friend look at decor for her aquarium. When I got there she said she couldn't get live plants because she wanted sand and couldn't grow live plants in sand and that they would die. She told me the salesman told her that and that she needed to buy a really strong UV light to even keep plants.

I told her I think she would be fine with some hardy types of plants and her regular lighting. Mine are doing just fine and have grown since I've got them.

 

[Super Dude]

Maybe the normal fishy dude got hit by a truck and a guy from the bird section subbed in.

 

[Raechal]

Maybe the normal fishy dude got hit by a truck and a guy from the bird section subbed in.

I am pretty sure he is one of the main fish people working there. I have seen him in the fish department a lot.

 

[SuperColey1]

The 'retail assistant is reeling off rubbish that he has read somewhere that shouldn't be read and then making up some conclusions of his own based on pictures he sees linked to bad myths!!!

Sand and gravel are both good. Sand probably a little better because it is more like a natural sediment in particle size and is more likely to have anaerobic areas which are good in planted tanks (not lightly planted like your, decent planting)

It is also easier IMO to plant in and keep the plants down than in small gravel.

Are you sure they are UV lights? Do they say UV on them? Have you looked directly at them lit? And if so do your eyes still work? If you have looked at them and your eyes still work then they are not UV lights

Flourescent lights come in many colours and what I guess the 'retail asistant' has read is that plants need 4500Kish (pink lights) for growth. He has then looked at one lit up, noticed the pink and put 2 + 2 together and come out with 5.321455666787852145!!!

UV lights will kill the plants, They will kill your eyes, They will kill almost all living organisms that are exposed to them for long enough (which doesn't need to be that long)

UV sterilisers have a shield around the UV tube so that no light is emitted out of the shield and therefore has no ill effects on anything other than the water that passes through this shield and is exposed to the tube. Therefore algae spores and parasites that are free flowing (not that are already attached to plants or fish) are killed off as they pass through.

To clear it up.

Sand is fine in a planted tank, although I would put more plants in.

UV light is bad for planted tanks. The 4500K for plants is an old theory. This is a colour humans can see. Buy anything from 4000 - 10000K and it will be fine for the plants. choose a colour rendition that you like. 1 x 4500 (pink) and 1 x 6500K (daylight) looks nice IMO but each person likes different 'hues'.

UV sterilisers are good things but in a planted tank can cause problems breaking down weak chelators and thus rendering many of the traces we dose useless!!!

You should show this 'knowledgable guy' products from ADA. ADA only do planted stuff and yes they sell sand!!!. lol

You can also show him many succesful planted tanks that have sand in them and most definately do not use UV light of any kind

AC