beach gravel as substrate?

[stuie25]

Ive set up a new 35G hex tank this weekend. I looked at all the stores in the city and none of them had anything close to what is on the list of substrates.

I decided to go with beach gravel/sand its pretty fine, as it was easily available to me.

My question is how limited is useing this going to make me, is it to unstable of a base to use without something solidifying it. Not sure if thats the right way to phrase that but it seams to blow around the bottom quite easily.

Im useing a 150W MH light in my hood so i assume that would be on the higher end of the light scale.

Am i going to run into problems soon with my current set up?

 

[fort384]

with that light, I think you will run into nutrient deficiencies and algae problems unless you are dosing macros and micro, and are running CO2. The substrate may or may not be ok. A lot of sands not specifically for aquarium use can be high in silicates, which will lead to bad diatoms.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

In addition to that, maybe check what type of stone it is. If it has survived on a beach I doubt it, but it may be limestone based and would then raise your pH pretty high. Drop various stones into vinegar, if it fizzes you have limestone. I wouldn't worry too much about any other stones.

 

[stuie25]

I dont think its limestone no. Is taking it all out and putting a layer of soil or something down first an option? I needs something fairly low tech as fancy rock isint available here anywhere.

Right now i have a 2l pop bottle co2 setup going into a little powerhead.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

I would just keep the gravel. Use root tabs underneath and see what happens.

 

[stuie25]

is sorry for this totally newbie question, but whats a root tab, ( im assuming fertilizer) and where do i get them.

is it something i do after the tank is cycled or would i start now,

 

[Deep Seven]

Root tabs are capsules or spikes you can bury in the roots of your plants to feed them. You can find them in the plant fertilizer section of an aquarium store.

 

[stuie25]

ive looked no store around here they dont even know what a planted tank is, hence the substrate issue. I ordered some online.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

The instructions on the box are good. The only recommendation I have for tabs is to make sure you do as it says. I just dropped them into the tank beside a plant once and came home to really cloudy water. Under the substrate (or mostly under, as directed by the box) they don't do that.