New Plants In The Aquarium

[BIG BAD BARRY]

Looks fantastic! will be a great environment for your fish.

 

[Aqua Tom]

Is that just play sand, or some kind of brand of aquarium sand?

That's the colour I originally wanted for my tank, but went with gravel-coloured sand in the end.

Ben.

Its a mixture of playsand from Argos & The Range.
The Range sand is slightly darker than Argos.

Define "play sand"??? Do you guys mean like what you would find in a sand-box that kids play in??? I'll go raid my local primary school!

Exactly correct.

Playsand is ideal. Cheap, easily availabe & clean.

Just give it a good rinse before use to sieve out all the really fine particles.

 

[Aqua Tom]

The Cabomba is sending out flowerstalks already Thats a bit quick aint it?

 

[waterdrop]

<...>

Define "play sand"??? Do you guys mean like what you would find in a sand-box that kids play in??? I'll go raid my local primary school!

Exactly correct.

Playsand is ideal. Cheap, easily availabe & clean.

Just give it a good rinse before use to sieve out all the really fine particles.

Agree. Dylan, My take is that kid's play sand often gains us all the same things we would want for an aquarium that are refinements from less processed sources. I believe more dust is already removed, it is supposed to be less sharp edged and it's supposed to have been filtered to be sure there are not dangerous objects in it or that it has any dangerous composition itself. (And, of course, it's probably cheaper since it needs to sell in larger quantities for kid's sand boxes.)

This is partly conjecture on my part just from reading threads here on TFF, so I'd certainly be interested if anybody has any industry inside information or such (we need our own custom Science channel "How it's Made" TV show here, eh? )

~~waterdrop~~

 

[moochy13]

i dont think your plants will move once rooted at all. my tank in my sig, there are 4 swords across the back. i tried to move one, and as i pulled it i started to uncover the roots. going from what i saw on that one, id say the whole back of my tank has root growth along it. they arent going anywhere without major hassle.

the other benefit of playsand is that because its for kids to play in, its definitely non-toxic so no worries about putting it in with fish. i brought another bag yesterday, i have about an 8th of my tank that has gravel, situated at the end. i put it down incase any fish fancied digging in it, but they rarely venture over it, and gravel is a pint o plant. a 15 quid bag of 'proper' aquarium sand would have been enough with a bit left over, but my 3 quid bag of argos sand will leave me with loads, easily enough to do another smallish tank if i wanted. or to put in a chameleon tank maybe...........

 

[Whitey_144]

looks good! how are you finding planting in sand? is the sand likely to move over time and the plants float?

also is that a rio 240 without the internal filter?

Close, its the 180 without the internal. Sand was a pain to plant in at first but once i got the hang of it its easy. As for plants coming out, ever had your feet buried in sand in the sea? bloody hard to pull em out aint it?

aha, so did it come like that, or did you remove it easily? i ask because i have a 240 that i will likely setup soon, it has the internal and i have an eheim external, so wondering if people often take out the internal for more space?

 

[Aqua Tom]

looks good! how are you finding planting in sand? is the sand likely to move over time and the plants float?

also is that a rio 240 without the internal filter?

Close, its the 180 without the internal. Sand was a pain to plant in at first but once i got the hang of it its easy. As for plants coming out, ever had your feet buried in sand in the sea? bloody hard to pull em out aint it?

aha, so did it come like that, or did you remove it easily? i ask because i have a 240 that i will likely setup soon, it has the internal and i have an eheim external, so wondering if people often take out the internal for more space?

I bought it like that second hand, it came with an Ehiem Ecco filter but that went wrong half way through my cycle so i replaced it with a Fluval.

 

[Aqua Tom]

bought some crypts today from P@H, Didnt realise how many you got in a pot so planted the lot. If they all grow, great, if not, its no great loss.
I think the tank is coming together nicely now.

Any suggestions for this bare sand patch? I am probably having bn plecs in there so it may limit my options?

 

[moochy13]

i had a bare patch liek that, i brought a piece of wood with moss tied to it from P@H, and buried the wood int eh sand, leaving the moss looking like its on the surface on its own.

 

[Dylan_89]

i had a bare patch liek that, i brought a piece of wood with moss tied to it from P@H, and buried the wood int eh sand, leaving the moss looking like its on the surface on its own.

better off tying it to a rock, cleaner and won't break down but it's a good look when it's done like that

 

[Aqua Tom]

Great advice, I have a few pieces of slate left over & a hairnet from my early riccia experiments. Just need to source some moss now P@H did not have any so a trip to lfs may be in order today.

 

[shasm]

Looks good.

 

[Aqua Tom]

Got some moss on wood from my lfs, bit expensive but it looks good & has saved me some effort. Wil post a picture soon.

Also i enquired about pessurised CO2 systems. Bloody expensive bits of kit so I will have to wait a few week for one of those.

In the meantime I have bought a bottle each of flourish & trace. dosed the tank with them today, lest see what happens.

 

[Aqua Tom]

May get another piece so its doesnt look quite so symetrical

 

[Aqua Tom]

+ 1 with WD on the vallis. Vallis use the crown a it energy source an needs a bit of light.

How exactly do i do this? Every time I try to tease them out of the sand a bit. 5 mins later they escape & start floating.
Maybe wait untill they send out a few runners so are not quite so floathappy?

Congrats Tom, happy for ya. The vals look like they are planted too deeply. The bottom of the crown should be just barely above the sand surface such that you actually see a tiny bit of roots starting to go down in. The stem plants (cabomba) are fine.

WD

Mods do you want to move this to the Planted Tank section?