Noob Questions

[FishyWishie]

Im coming to my last few days of cycling and i got a selection of aqautic plants from Last Trading Post on ebay who seem from what ive read on here to be reasonably decent. I have 2 main questions

1) My tank is 240l and im using Carib Marine Sand which doesnt buffer the PH before i add fish should i drain the tank entirely take the sand out and put some kind of fertile substrate underneath for best results? and if so which would be recommended ?

2) Ive been looking into C02 but for a 240l tank it looks like id need something like 4 units are there any options either commercially or homebrew which i could use without needing tons of units all over the place ?

 

[Ryefish]

you don't need anything under the sand. there are a few people here who just use sand as a substrate for plants and do rather well.

not sure about the CO2, just looking into all that myself

 

[Rlon35]

Im coming to my last few days of cycling and i got a selection of aqautic plants from Last Trading Post on ebay who seem from what ive read on here to be reasonably decent. I have 2 main questions

1) My tank is 240l and im using Carib Marine Sand which doesnt buffer the PH before i add fish should i drain the tank entirely take the sand out and put some kind of fertile substrate underneath for best results? and if so which would be recommended ?

2) Ive been looking into C02 but for a 240l tank it looks like id need something like 4 units are there any options either commercially or homebrew which i could use without needing tons of units all over the place ?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Play sand or pool filter sand would have been much better choices, based on price and in terms of appropriatness for a planted tank. Play sand looks better, but pool filter sand gets less compacted. I have used both, with no underlying layer, with success in planted lillys, dwarf sag (as a foreground), wisteria, rotala, and ludwigia.

 

[FishyWishie]

Ah well Push comes to shove ill have to bin the plants i guess if it doesnt work out. I did a lot of research at the time re filters and heaters etc but i didnt realise the type of sand would affect plants.

Would pushing the marine sand to nearer the front and using something better at the rear of the tank (and planting there primarily) be an idea ?

 

[PDSimon]

Hi fishy,

I like you was very apprehensive about planting my tank. So what I decided to do was give the best conditions I could for low tech and for my price range. I also choose mostly underdemanding plants which could grow in pretty bad conditions. To get an idea of plants I would take a look at the tropica website with conjunction with the easy to grow plant lists on this website.

I have a blog in the journal section If you're more interested but I put in some tropica substrate below my sand. I put in tropica root tabs and dose tropica plant nutrition plus (fertiliser) and easy carbo (liquid carbon).

So far I've seen growth in all my plants except vallis spirarlis which is meant to be easy to grow but I think the can take a while to get going. my lighting is 2x t8 20W and I just have argos play sand above my tropica substrate.

some plants that are doing well are:

echinodorus bleheri (amazin swords)
cryptocoryne x willisii
hygrophila difformis

Take a look at my blog for more stuff. I spoke to a guy at an aquascaping specialist and he said the problem with sand was that he compresses the roots too much but plently of people manage so I wouldn't worry about more specialised substrates unless you're going into dosing c02. Theres a line really and I would stick to low tech if the fish are priority. If you want lush fast plant growth then go high tech, more light, better substrate but I don't think you want that?

 

[FishyWishie]

Absolutely spot on PDSimon

The Carob marine sand was originally chosen as its a beautiful white for everything else to show against though I realise this also means i'll have to do a lot more vacuming to keep it looking good. http/www.seapets.co.uk/products/aquarium-supplies/aquarium-ornaments/natural-gravels-and-sand/coral-sand-and-marine-substrates/caribsea-white-marine-sand-20lb-bag.html

Theres 3 bags in the tank so about 60lb of sand (dry) So i really dont fancy getting it back out lol.

I'm not looking for a majorly overplanted tank or anything just a decent amount to add so the tank looks more 'natural' I have tropical plant nutrition + ill go look at root tabs and easy carbo as well i think. Do you keep adding root tabs and easy carbo ongoing or just the carbon out of interest? I've found root tabs on ebay reasonably but not the carbo stuff

 

[PDSimon]

Absolutely spot on PDSimon

The Carob marine sand was originally chosen as its a beautiful white for everything else to show against though I realise this also means i'll have to do a lot more vacuming to keep it looking good. http/www.seapets.co.uk/products/aquarium-supplies/aquarium-ornaments/natural-gravels-and-sand/coral-sand-and-marine-substrates/caribsea-white-marine-sand-20lb-bag.html

Theres 3 bags in the tank so about 60lb of sand (dry) So i really dont fancy getting it back out lol.

I'm not looking for a majorly overplanted tank or anything just a decent amount to add so the tank looks more 'natural' I have tropical plant nutrition + ill go look at root tabs and easy carbo as well i think. Do you keep adding root tabs and easy carbo ongoing or just the carbon out of interest? I've found root tabs on ebay reasonably but not the carbo stuff

Its up to you what you use as a substrate. Not sure whether marine sand will higher the pH/KH?

I was told that it doesn't matter how many plants you have in a low tech tank you just need to dose accordingly. The root tabs I bought are meant to work 6months to 1 year. I got a free pack too because the outer packaging was slightly damaged. They were from the green machine.

I dose easycarbo and ferts everyday but the root tabs I might replace in a year or something

You could get away without the root tabs really. Most nutrients are taken up by the leaves not the roots.

 

[FishyWishie]

Another great reply your a star The marine sand according to seapets website and the packing doesnt buffer or alter PH in any way. My water is very soft so hardness shouldnt be an issue even if it rose a little i think It's been in the tank 2 months now so i think it will have to stay im going to check out your blog and that site you mentioned too. Thanks once again.

Ive ordered the fert and easy carbo and a pack of the tabs (they were cheap) I've got some nutrafin fert atm i can use till it all pitches up.