Help with substrate...

[Skifflexie]

I have plants in my tank currently.... I dirted it not too long ago- it was a huge mess and pain. I'm up grading my tank to a 29g I really want the look of sand, white/tan. I understand the poop thing.... Is there any other ways of having real plants without dirt? I looked into Eco complete... All I could find was black....

 

[reefdiver]

Lots of people have planted tanks in just sand. I don't think there is any light color planting material.

 

[Legit Fish]

for planted tanks you can get either fluval plant stratum or eco complete planted tank substrate... both are very useful but ur better off with eco cuz u can buy at a LFS. you should get two 20 pound bags of eco complete to fill up ur 29 gallon it should be 3 inches deep for best use.

 

[Legit Fish]

oops srry bout that but eco complete only comes in black no other color.... u shouldnt get regular sand because it traps the nutrients,water, and oxygen from getting into the roots plus i believe from what i heard and read it contains copper which will kill inverts qiute quickly if ur planning to keep them.

 

[GodFan]

Regular sand does not contain copper. I have bred cherry shrimp with pool filter sand easy. As long as you pick plants that get there nutrients from the water column and not there roots you should be good.