Various substrate questions, plant questions

[Punkrulz]

Had an eventful trip at the LFS today. Saw their assortment of substrate options. I've already got a thread based on play sand which I think I may be going on. I've always wanted a black substrate... however when looking at the prices, a bag of the fluorite black sand is $25... no thanks.

My question is what is the differences between these substrates? I believe Eco-Complete is used primarily for growing plants... how are the other substrates that I listed with the plants?

I really don't think I'm ever going to wind up spending nearly $30 for a bag of substrate. I just don't have that kind of money yet. I really do think I will probably go with the play sand method once I get my questions answered in the other thread. How well do plants grow in that? I heard that the plants have an easier time expanding their roots... but have also heard other concerns.

If I do get sand, are there plants that will grow better than others with it? I'm looking for something that I will have a relatively easy time without much work in growing plants. Another part of the fruitful trip to the LFS was seeing all of their plants on display (and that's where they had their ghost shrimp and such). I've never noted it before.

Could you guys list to me what kinds of plants would be visually appealing and grow well in sand? When I can I will head back to the LFS and take a look at how the plants are growing in the tank. They had maybe 15 tanks of various plants... not sure if that's a lot or a little, so hopefully whatever you guys list will have a decent chance of growing there.

Thanks!

[blue_ram]

Originally Posted by Punkrulz

Had an eventful trip at the LFS today. Saw their assortment of substrate options. I've already got a thread based on play sand which I think I may be going on. I've always wanted a black substrate... however when looking at the prices, a bag of the fluorite black sand is $25... no thanks.

My question is what is the differences between these substrates? I believe Eco-Complete is used primarily for growing plants... how are the other substrates that I listed with the plants?

I really don't think I'm ever going to wind up spending nearly $30 for a bag of substrate. I just don't have that kind of money yet. I really do think I will probably go with the play sand method once I get my questions answered in the other thread. How well do plants grow in that? I heard that the plants have an easier time expanding their roots... but have also heard other concerns.

If I do get sand, are there plants that will grow better than others with it? I'm looking for something that I will have a relatively easy time without much work in growing plants. Another part of the fruitful trip to the LFS was seeing all of their plants on display (and that's where they had their ghost shrimp and such). I've never noted it before.

Could you guys list to me what kinds of plants would be visually appealing and grow well in sand? When I can I will head back to the LFS and take a look at how the plants are growing in the tank. They had maybe 15 tanks of various plants... not sure if that's a lot or a little, so hopefully whatever you guys list will have a decent chance of growing there.

Thanks!

I have a mix of ecocomplete planted tank, small black gravel and tahitian moon sand. The tahitian moon sand mixed with the small black gravel makes planting cuttings a simple matter of sticking the stem in the sand. I added the ecocomplete because I lost an oto presumably because he got a whiff of a root tab that the cories had dug up.

What is growing well for me are argetine swords, red temple, dwarf chain sword and ludwigia. I used root tabs until I mixed in the ecocomplete.

[Punkrulz]

Do you always have to use root tabs when planting in sand?

When mixing in the eco-complete (did you just have THS + Small black gravel at that point?), did you have to completely drain or did you actually do it with fish in tank?

If I was planting something in the sand... how would I be able to get it to stay while it gets it's roots?

[tom91970]

I have had many different typed of plants in pool filter sand. They all grow very well and I never have problems getting them to stay in the sand; if I do have a problem a few pieces of gravel help hold it down while the roots grow.

I caught a sale a few months ago for Eco at $12 per bag. That really helped when I set my 55g tank up. Then again, you can get the sand for about $4 per bag.

[blue_ram]

Originally Posted by Punkrulz

Do you always have to use root tabs when planting in sand?

When mixing in the eco-complete (did you just have THS + Small black gravel at that point?), did you have to completely drain or did you actually do it with fish in tank?

If I was planting something in the sand... how would I be able to get it to stay while it gets it's roots?

When mixing in the eco-complete (did you just have THS + Small black gravel at that point?), did you have to completely drain or did you actually do it with fish in tank?

If I was planting something in the sand... how would I be able to get it to stay while it gets it's roots?[/quote]

I started out with a bag of the tahitian moon sand in a 20, I didn't know about the eco complte. I started adding in root tabs after I put in the sand. I mixed a little bit of the gravel around each plant to help hold them down and I thought the gravel aroudn each plant looked nice, kinda like landscaping. Anyway, When I moved from the 20 to the 40, I still couldn't find the ecocomplete and the 20lb bag was not enough to give me a good cover in the 40 (2ft tank vs 3 ft tank). I mixed in the gravel and most of it sits below the sand. I finally found a bag of the ecocomplete and used half of it int he 20 along with regular black gravel and started mixing in with the sand and gravel in the 40.

The 40 has about a 50% mix of sand and 25% each of the ecocomplete and gravel. The cost of the tabs woudl exceed the cost of the eco complete over a year so it is worth the investment.

If I had to start from scratch, I would mix a 2 x 20lb bag of the sand with 20lb of the eco complete and leave out the gravel, nix the root tabs and spread it out between the 20 and the 40. That would give about 2.5 inches of substrate. The heavier pebbles in the eco complete sink and you get a somewhat silky smooth top layer with a sedimentary look from the side.

The tahitian moon sand is a chore to clean, Set aside several hours to get it clean. You will also need to wait a few days once in the tank for it to settle and for the filter to remove all the dust. You shouldn't put the sand in with fish and water in t the tank