Sand vs Gravel in Planted tank

[Rudy2860]

I'm trying to choose which to do

I plan on making a 10 dwarf puffer 55g tank with 4 corys and 2 plecs. It will be well planted with many hidey holes, rocks, drift/bog wood, pots, etc but i was thinking about the change over to sand.

They actual change doesnt concern me but rather how my plants will be in the new tank. I had gravel in this 55 g previously and the plants do very well with addition of liquid fertilizer and no CO2 system.

I've heard that plants may NOT get the correct amount of nutrients if there isnt flourite or some other under sand nutrients in the tank. I was planning not to do this because of cost but will i have a problem with my plants if i just stick to the liquid fertilizer and have no flourite in the sand??

Also someone suggested i get snails to avoid getting dead pockets in the sand but the only digging snail i have heard of is one that has a shell too tough for the puffers teeth and can damage them, anyone know another way to keep dead spots from occuring? shuffling the sand after vacuums? another type of snail maybe?

-thanks!

 

[babyfish]

I wouldn't go back to gravel if you paid me.
To answer some of your questions, most people put a substrate of laterite or something similar under thier sand, this is a great help to plants but not really necessary. You can fertilize using liquid fertilizer or tablets. After about 6 months the fish will have started adding thier own fertilizer to the sand as the fish waste works it's way down to the roots of the plants. The plant roots pump oxygen into the sand keeping it sweet and preventing dead spots.
Your cories will help to keep the sand turned over as they search for food and it is easy enough to stir it with a planting stick just before you do a water change( this makes most of the dirt rise to the surface of the sand), don't stir too deeply in case you damage the plant roots.
If you know someone who has a GUARANTEED chemical free garden(no weedkillers or fertilizers for at least 20 years) you can do what I did and add 1 inch of garden soil under the sand. Make sure you clean it thoroughly of any leaf and stick matter as well as manmade items,nails piant chips and the like

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Rudy2860

I'm going to move your thread to the Garden section so that your question will be answered by members who have greater knowledge of what makes a planted tank work!

 

[crimsontsavo]

SAND BABY SAND! lol.

Sand/Mire/Garden Soil mix. It's great!

 

[Jen]

I have had bad luck with real plants in the past. Have one Sword plant in a 35g gravel. I guess that really doesn't have any thing to do with my question.

I want to know how easy sand is to clean. Can you just syphon it like gravel?

 

[Adrinal]

I always feared sand. It just didn't seem like you would be able to clean it.

I have a mostest SW tank now with not sugar sized ... hmm not sure how to say sizes in sand... small but not super small It took a bit getting used to siphoning it but it isnt that bad at all... and the bad stuff stays on the top the cool thing is that you can blow the poo into the water column. My next tank will be fine sand for sure. ( disclamer... I don't do plants directly into my substraite... so figure me as a FO fella as far as this thread is concerned).
GL

 

[Rudy2860]

laying a bit of soil under my sand substrate should take care of the plant nutrients issue?
ensuring there is no chemicals or anything in the soil ( will buy some fresh stuff just to make sure)

 

[crimsontsavo]

Just don't go overboard with using soil.

I used a combination of pond slime/mire <( you can forgoe this step)
then added a layer of garden soil/peat moss. All clean with no fertilizers.
I am not sure the exact amount I used- but it didnt come to more than two-three inches of soil. The very last layer was sand to keep the soil from being washed up.
My plants do wonderfully in this mix. My tank is about five gallons.
You probably could get away with using less soil- I just like deep substrate and my tank is HEAVILLY planted.

Hope this helps!

 

[Lateral Line]

Sand and gravel are different sized particles of basically the same stuff, quartz. There is no reason using sand rather then gravel would deprive plants of nutrient. Plants rarely come from natural sources with gravel substrates, rather from silty, muddy sandy gunk.

Choose a sand that doesn't pack down too much, I use swimming pool filter sand. Silver sand and construction sand pack down and require more maintenance. To keep it open, I prod it around with a chop stick from time to time. Malaysian Trumpet Snails are sand burrowers and have quite tough shells, I don't know enough about Puffers to know if they will eat them though, ask on Oddballs.

In addition to your plants, Corys love sand.

I've not put gravel in a tank for years now.