Sand Vs. Gravel

[santos]

I have just had to tear my tank down due to the new tank leaking. I have had a 35 gallon for years and 4 months ago I decided to upgrade to a 45 gallon tank. The tank is moderately to heavily planted, gravel substrate, it has co2 and 110 watts of 6700K lighting.
For the new set up I have been toying with the idea of switching to a sand substrate but have been hearing that plant do not grow as well with sand as they do with gravel.
Can anyone offer me some suggestions?

 

[AndyTaylor]

SOme plants do well in sand, some won't grow at all in it. Glosso for example will not grow in sand....well it won't grow in my sand anyway!
The main problem with sand, and playsand in paticular is that it contains no nutrients whatsoever.
Personally, I would stick to small round gravel over (or mixed with) Laterite/EcoComplete or similar substrate.
Unless you want to keep fish that like sand, corys etc......sand is a PITA to keep clean too....

 

[Jen]

Tell that to my plants! The seem to love my sand. I also have laterite on the bottom, so they are thriving. I have pool filter sand, and from what I have read about that kind of sand, is all the grains are a uniform size, so it doesn't compact like other kinds. When the sand compacts, there isn't room for 'air pockets', and the roots can't expand as easily.

 

[George Farmer]

Plants will grow well in sand or gravel. Delicate rooted plants have a harder time with small grain sand but if there's enough light and nutrients in the water column then nutrient-rich substrates aren't actually necessary - but they sure help.

IME a grain size of 1-3mm works well. If you want to grow delicate roots then sand may present difficulties, for most plants though it will do fine as Jen has experienced.

 

[santos]

Thanks for the replies. It really has given me something to think about.
Santos