Gravel or Sand??

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medic747

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Jan 18, 2011
Messages
188
Location
Michigan
What does everybody prefer I have a chiclid tank with large gravel but would like to start adding some low light plants what kind of substrate would be the best? And my wife wants me start her a saltwater tank any substrate ideas on that topic would be helpfull im cluless when it comes to SW, btw just a general question how would you clean sand?
 
So wait, is this a freshwater or saltwater tank?
Aragonite sand for saltwater.
Pool filter sand for fresh.

Plants aren't too picky about their substrate as long as you give them what they need. What plants are you planning on?
 
I havent realky started looking for plants yet just know they have to be low light since all I have is a florecent bulb and the substrate question was for both salt and fresh I haven't started the SW yet but my wife has been bugging me, and as far as FW goes I was just wondering what the plants preferred!
 
Oh. Not sure if you can get away with aragonite sand in FW unless you have African cichlids. It's really an either or situation. Low light plants include:

Anubias spp. Cryptocoryne spp. Java fern, java moss and some stems like ludwigia repens, egeria densa. Some sword plants can make it in lower light as well.

Anubias, java fern, java moss should be attached to rocks or wood. For my java fern I just wrap a plant weight around the rhizome and let it rest on top of the substrate. Crypts and Sword plants should get root tabs at their bases.

Never cleaned my sand, never will... just suck up what collects on the surface and let the clean up crew do the rest.
 
The type of cichlids will help.

I prefer sand in fresh and saltwater. I use Estes' Ultra Reef either way. I like the black in my reef, and have black and white mixed in most of my freshwater tanks (solid black looks really good too). It is much cleaner and much more natural than gravel. This exact sand is VERY uniform in size, and that size is perfect (large enough to sink quickly and allow oxygen to get to the whole sandbed).
 
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