Taking the plant plunge!

[EllRog]

Today is the day that I stop being so lazy, break down my 165L, clean it up and start again.

The plan is too heavily plant it and keep the plants alive! I had 50KG of play sand delivered this morning in preparation for the tank as I want a change from black gravel and I also have a bottle of liquid fertiliser.

My question is, do I need to buy a substrate to lay under the sand? Is it really as essential for the plants as the manufactures say it is? Will I be wasting money on something largely unnecessary as the sand will do just fine? Am I waffling on now? Probably.

Thanks all, you never steer me wrong. Have a beautiful day of water changes and the like

 

[JuiceBox52]

No special underlayer needed just root tabs for some plants

 

[AquaBarb]

Agree, no underlay required Ive tried it and it is indeed a waste of money. Root tabs do a great job

 

[mbsqw1d]

So far, ive gone for the root tab approach with a sand substrate. Depends on which plants you choose though, and whether you've got good lighting and co2. Tropica have a good website for giving an indication what plant's requirements are (they are a business pushing the sale of products, so be careful not to take everything literally. I just think the 'easy', 'medium' and 'advanced' labelling is useful)

Inspiration for aquascapes and planted tanks - Tropica Aquarium Plants

inspirational layouts and aquascapes, ideas for planted tanks

tropica.com

 

[EllRog]

Thank you guys, I'm just going for easy plants so that I might not kill them I'm that useless with aquarium plants that I managed to kill salvinia lol. No CO2 either because I'm not that brave. I wont bother with the substrate then, excellent, more money for fish!
Just finished rinsing through the sand so that's ready. If only I had the motivation to start cleaning the tank now

I was pretty sure that the substrate was pointless, but thought I'd check with you experts first!

 

[seangee]

Just sand and root tabs in all of my tanks

 

[Byron]

Agree. In a low-tech or natural planted tank (which is what you are intending here) play sand is just about the best substrate for fish and plants. The light (intensity and spectrum matter) will determine what plant species will manage (not all will by any means) and then you add nutrients (substrate tabs and/or liquid fertilizer) to balance the light.

 

[EllRog]

Thank you @seangee and @Byron fingers crossed for a success!

 

[Retired Viking]

Looks like you will be doing a planted cycle. Make sure you have some fast growing floating plants like hornwort, moneywort, anachcharis, frog bite and water sprite they absorb the ammonia at a much higher rate than ferns and sword plants. Do not add any fish until you see some growth. It usualy takes a week or two, good luck.

 

[EllRog]

Looks like you will be doing a planted cycle. Make sure you have some fast growing floating plants like hornwort, moneywort, anachcharis, frog bite and water sprite they absorb the ammonia at a much higher rate than ferns and sword plants. Do not add any fish until you see some growth. It usualy takes a week or two, good luck.

Cheers @Retired Viking the tanks already cycled, going to transfer the media to another running tank I have while I clean it up and then reboot it. Got some salvinia left over in a different tank to throw in, then I'll test the water to make sure all is gravy

 

[Retired Viking]

Sounds good, I am even having trouble getting salvinia here, want to redo one of my tanks but between platy fry that unexpectedly showed up in it and not being able to get the plants I need my tank reboot is on hold

 

[EllRog]

Hey again guys, another quick question if that's cool?
This is the first time I've used sand in a tank, spent ages yesterday rinsing it all through until the water was clear, left it out to dry and then put it in the tank last night. After planting it out, I filled with water. Inevitably, the water managed to cloud up, despite how careful i was filling up the tank. I poured water into a container inside the tank using a 6L watering can. I TOOK A VERY LONG TIME!

It's been 12 hours now and the water is still cloudy, I've had a filter running for this amount of time too. Is it a case of I have to just leave it and it will settle or is a water change the only thing that will sort it?

I had an inkling that this could happen lol

 

[mbsqw1d]

Yeh it does take ALOT of rinsing. If you get a small powerhead (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/113078655478), a small plastic water bottle and some polywool, you can make a water scrubber. Will take a day or two to clear the water.

Otherwise, it'll clear eventually after enough water changes

 

[EllRog]

Thanks @mbsqw1d I should have known Joey would have a solution I'll give this a try, thanks again!

 

[Byron]

No harm in doing all that fussing in the video, but I wouldn't bother. There are two things going on here, one is likely sediment in the sand, the other is a bacterial bloom. The method in the video will deal with the first (maybe), but not the second as the bacteria will keep reproducing rapidly until the organics in the water are eaten, and this just has to play itself out.

When I set up a new tank, I dump in the rinsed sand (and I do not rinse it over about four or five rinses), arrange the hardscape (tank is empty of any water), then add water maybee 1/3 to 1/2 of the tank, then plant. This stirs up the sand obviously, so when finished I siphon out all the water right down to the sand, and then fill with fresh tap water running it into a large bowl, adding conditioner. It will not be crystal clear, but usually not too bad. In a couple days the bacterial bloom aspect will be through (this you cannot avoid no matter what).