Planted tank: how much flourite and how much sand?

[Sati]

I've had the fluorite and tahitian moon sand for a long time now and still haven't added it to the tank because I'm not sure how much fluorite I need to aid the plants, and how much sand I ought to add on top for looks. I don't even know if it will stay divided for long. Maybe I ought to just mix it up. It's going into a hex tank so the bottom isn't all that big. I've never had sand so I'm kind of worried about vacuuming up. I've heard people say they drain into a bucket when vacuuming so they can collect the sand that was washed up and put in back into the tank. I don't know how the heck I'm supposed to separate sand from poop though, lol. And I use a Python that drains into the sink so I don't want to have to go back to buckets Anyhow, what's a good amount to layer the fluorite and sand? I'd like to have this tank pretty heavily planted once I build the lighting system for it. Thanks

 

[Sati]

Anybody?

 

[BrianNY]

I wish I could help you Holly but I've never used anything but Eco-Complete.

 

[TankGirl]

I am going to move this over to the Planted forum for better response.

My opinion is that if you have fluorite you do not need sand at all, unless you do not like the look of the fluorite, in which case I would go with a very small gravel on top just for looks.

It sounds like sand is not going to be something that will thrill you, because your concerns are real when it comes to dealing with it and cleaning it. I have it in 2 of my tanks and it is a minor pain, though I don't mind the extra hassle.

 

[malkore]

I'll chime in: I think tahitian sand over flourite will look bad... Indeed it will mix together, more quickly than you'd expect, and like Tank said, you've gotta be more careful when doing vacuuming.

Assuming you do go ahead and do this, you'll want at least 50% of the total substrate depth to be flourite. I'd say 2 inches of flourite, 1 inch of tahitian sand.

 

[TankGirl]

You are so right, Malkore, the sand is going to fall through and mix into the fluorite in no time, and the fluorite will predominate in terms of the look of the tank.

 

[tommyroo]

Now what I did with my tank is line a layer of flourite along the back wall of my tank (about 2-3 inches) and then the rest of my tank from there foward is my regular substrate.