Sand As A Substrate

[chesterscot]

Can anyone tell me how deep i should have my sand for good plant growth but to minimise the risk of compaction as i keep hearing and reading conflicting views thanx scot

 

[invader]

When I had a planted tank, I kept a layer of EcoComplete and sand on top -- which resulted in about 3-4" of substrate. If you are going for a heavily planted tank, I wouldn't worry about compacting sand. I've come across the bubbles that come out, but they never harmed the fish at all. If you are really worried about it, stir up your sand a bit every time you do a water change.

 

[SuperColey1]

When I had a planted tank, I kept a layer of EcoComplete and sand on top -- which resulted in about 3-4" of substrate. If you are going for a heavily planted tank, I wouldn't worry about compacting sand. I've come across the bubbles that come out, but they never harmed the fish at all. If you are really worried about it, stir up your sand a bit every time you do a water change.

Are you using CO2? If so then you want to minimise water changes.

As per previous poster, sand is not a problem in a heavily planted tank (as you can see from my signature). You can always have whatever depth of substrate you want in any tank but in a non planted sand needs to be shallower (apparently)

In a planted tank you can shape the substrate into hills and troughs at whatever depth you want as long as there are enough plants as their roots will 'burrow' their way through the sand, therefore anaerobic pockets don't happen (or at least I have never had a problem)

Andy