I've had good luck with clarifying liquids (Seachem Clarity, for example) to get that fine particulate out of the water when using planted tank substrates. I -really- like the "active" substrates that supposedly have some cation exchange capacity in them. I've done a dirt tank with sand cap, Fluval plant/shrimp pellets, and then the crushed volcanic stuff like Ecocomplete and Flourish. Far prefer the flourish, plus or minus some plain old aquarium sand, to do my scaping. That being said, I'm sure you'll do fine with the blasting sand.
One bit of advice: be prepped to do fertilizer tablets of some kind so that the roots can get fed directly, especially for plants such as swords and crypts. Lots of ways to do that, from the expensive Flourish ones to home-made from gelcaps and organic fertilizer pellets. It really does make a difference for the plants.
Great work so far on the builds. I'm dying to get more concrete experiences shared from people doing freshwater sumps. I'm growing tired of cleaning out canister and HOB filters, looking for a better/easier way...
One bit of advice: be prepped to do fertilizer tablets of some kind so that the roots can get fed directly, especially for plants such as swords and crypts. Lots of ways to do that, from the expensive Flourish ones to home-made from gelcaps and organic fertilizer pellets. It really does make a difference for the plants.
Great work so far on the builds. I'm dying to get more concrete experiences shared from people doing freshwater sumps. I'm growing tired of cleaning out canister and HOB filters, looking for a better/easier way...
