Saltwater & Reef

wingersfan14191 · 03-19-2010, 11:01 PM

I am starting a new tank and i have alot of ideas for my tank..I am doing a freshwater tank and i would like to have live plants..I was hoping to find a sandy coving for the bottom of the tank but the only thing i have found was black tahitian moon and that doesnt allow the plants to grow..I dont have to have an entirely sandy covering but i would like it to have some sand with gravel maybe? Any ideas for me?

**DragonFish71** · 03-19-2010, 11:33 PM

If you want to go with black, Seachem and Activ-Flora both make black sand substrate for planted tanks. You can also try to find a dealer near you that sells 3M black color quartz. It comes in 2 grades, T which is a good size for plants, mine love it, and S which is finer, more sand like.

Now if you don't necessarily want to go with black, pool filter sand is good, and it's cheap.

wingersfan14191 · 03-20-2010, 12:27 AM

Thank You so Much..Im new to all of this and doing alot fo research i think i like the Activa-Flora since it works well with plants..I am still having an issue with deciding though..I really like the saltwater fish but i hear its difficult to keep mantained..which would worry me cause i dont want to buy an expensive fish and have him/her not live..idk i feel like freshwater would be better but i like the saltwater fish so much..would you happen to have any advice for my issue?

**CA_BroncoFan** · 03-20-2010, 02:46 AM

Against some peoples opinion on here, i use regular play sand. The only beef with it is i takes a tad longer to clear out if you dont "wash" it enough. I just filled two 5 gallon buckets with the sand about 3/4 of the way full and filled it with water to about an inch over the sand, then i shove the nozzel deep into the sand and just let it run. It takes some swishing around but after about 2 hours of doing this periodically i never noticed real cloudy effects in my tank.

**DragonFish71** · 03-20-2010, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wingersfan14191

Thank You so Much..Im new to all of this and doing alot fo research i think i like the Activa-Flora since it works well with plants..I am still having an issue with deciding though..I really like the saltwater fish but i hear its difficult to keep mantained..which would worry me cause i dont want to buy an expensive fish and have him/her not live..idk i feel like freshwater would be better but i like the saltwater fish so much..would you happen to have any advice for my issue?

Honestly it boils down to you. But here are some things to help weigh your choices with. (And no, I'm not against salt at all, I've had what I call a basic SW set up years ago)

1) Money (do you make a good living? SW can get pricey)
2) time vs effort (SW is a constant checks and balances process. FW is a bit more forgiving)
3) availablity (Can you find SW critters easily and again, pricing)
4) Patience. Having patience is hard enough when something goes wrong with FW, but chances are with FW you don't have a $100.00 fish that just up and died.
5) Space. SW does better in larger tanks, do you have the space for a large tank, refugium, sump etc.

These are just a few things I played over in my head this past week. I almost decided to go SW with one of our new tanks but remembered what I went through with my SW back in the day.

**mfdrookie516** · 03-20-2010, 07:37 PM

a high tech planted tank, imo, is as pricy and demanding as sw. I dont have a sw tank, but from everything that i have read and seen on here, its about the same. That aside, tahitian black moon sand is fine for plants, i have it in one of my tanks and the plants root just fine in it. I have pfs in my other planted tank as well as my mbuna tank. Its all in what you want and what you want to pay for imo

wingersfan14191 · 03-21-2010, 12:38 AM

Really? cuz i did some reading about how that tahitian black moon sand and it produces anaorbic? stuff? that would kill my fish..idk if that is true though...I really did like that sand though but if it works i dont really care about that price
I see these like logs/trees in ppls tanks that look alive and have a grassy substance grow on them..Are those "trees" alive? and how do you get the grassy substance to grow on it? If anyone knows anyhting about that..

**DragonFish71** · 03-21-2010, 07:14 PM

Any sand can produce anarobic spots. All you do is sift the sand when you do water changes so those areas don't build up.

As for "trees". It's mosses that people tie to driftwood branches or stumps. As it fills in, it turns into a "tree"

coke-g · 03-21-2010, 09:50 PM

I've used Silver Sand over aquatic soil for some time now and had no problems, plants grow fine in it... the only downside is it needs regular syphoning of debris to keep it looking good... but worth it looks nicer than gravel in my opinion.

wingersfan14191 · 03-23-2010, 11:16 PM

Okay well thank you for all this information..I have another question..I was looking at a salt water tank the other day and we were talking about the Lights and how it goes through a cycle like morning sun..regular day sun..then setting sun and then dark moon or something..like that..do the fresh water plants also need that cycled lighting? Or could I just leave the Lights on all the time?..Is there a difference between salt water "coral" lighting and freshwater plant lighting?