Substrate madness!

[Rastus]

Hey guys,

I ran across a 55g tall tank the other day for a great price, and I had to have it. I've got everything pretty well figured out except for the blasted substrate. It seems like everyone and their grandma has something horrible or great to say about EVERY IDEA.

So, here's the low-down. I need a substrate that allows me to effectively fertilize my (future) beautiful beautiful plants, wont scratch up my (future) poor little bottom feeders, and..here's the real kicker; doesn't cost the ridiculous amounts that seachem or ecocomplete does.

Everything in me wants to go up to Walmart and but the famous "oil-dri" but then I read all of the sudden that it causes these huge Ph problems, so I decided to do sand/root tabs and sand is out because it has to be stirred up or some BS, and that can't be done with the whole thing covered in plants! D: this is overwhelming.

 

[Jill]

I have pool filter sand in one tank and blasting sand in another. Both are planted. I just stir it up a little with the net every now and then AROUND the plants. The stirring really isn't a big deal.

 

[Coursair]

I use sand in all my tanks. I use Malaysian Trumpet Snails to stir it up. I use root tabs.
My tanks are small. The issue w tall tanks is of course getting light to the bottom.

You can see bad pics of my tanks on my profile page.

 

[Rastus]

So my gut was right. If I just but the bloody sand and add fertilizer there's no big issue. As far as light goes, I'm gonna build a light monster of a hood for the thing. It's 22 inches tall so I'm looking at 3, full length, daylight bulbs. Will post pics/specs when I get it done.

One more off-topic question. The lady at my LFS gave me filter media to start my cycle. Umm..knowing the little I know about microbiology, I'm assuming said media has to be wet? It's been dry for a long time.

 

[Jill]

So my gut was right. If I just but the bloody sand and add fertilizer there's no big issue. As far as light goes, I'm gonna build a light monster of a hood for the thing. It's 22 inches tall so I'm looking at 3, full length, daylight bulbs. Will post pics/specs when I get it done.

One more off-topic question. The lady at my LFS gave me filter media to start my cycle. Umm..knowing the little I know about microbiology, I'm assuming said media has to be wet? It's been dry for a long time.

If it's dry, it's no good...sorry.

 

[jetajockey]

I use oil dri in some of my tanks, have never had a pH problem. Not even sure why it'd affect the pH.

Sand is o.k., you could always put down a layer of soil under it, but it'll probably eventually mix. Sand doesn't have the same ability as something like the fired clay substrate materials (ecocomplete/oildri/turface/soilmaster select) but it still works if you are putting down root tabs.

 

[Rastus]

If it's dry, it's no good...sorry.

I thought as much. That's perfectly fine, the tank can cycle while my plants are settling in.

The only potential problem I see with oil dri, then, is damaging the fish (loaches?) But then again, it seems loaches have their own view on aquascaping that conflicts with mine, so maybe it wont be a problem. That being said, how could one avoid it? A layer of sand would fall through..

 

[jetajockey]

I don't keep loaches, but if they dig then they'd probably cloud up the oil dri more than anything. It crumbles under pressure so it's not the best thing with diggers. A soft sand choice is probably better, I like using 3m colorquartz sand (T-grade), although it has been discontinued so it's becoming hard to find. Any one that is labeled as soft-belly safe by caribsea would work fine.

 

[Ann7667]

Hi, I use pool sand especially because I have clown loaches who love a soft sandy bottom and rio tapajo red noses and a juru pari who are earth eaters and love to sift the sand through their gills looking for food. I also have a planted tank and the cichlids pull up the plants when they dig for food so I just replant them when I do a water change. I just stir the sandy bottom a little with chop sticks when I do a water change.

Once I saw one of the rio tapajos swimming around with a big long plant in his mouth. . . Just swimming around carrying that big plant in his mouth. That was so hilarious!

With the earth eaters I HAD to have sand otherwise they would not have been able to do their sifting! I want my babies to be happy. Also I like the looks of it.

Good luck with your project

Ann