Questions on PFS, MTS, and live plants

[Bigpoppa]

Formerly I posted on here as Hovocx, but I lost my login info and cant remember my email addy that I signed up with.

Anyways, after a year of owning the tank, and going from 20 fish to 3, mainly after having a few fish up and dissappear (presumably into some of the decor) I decided to start over on my 20 gal.

I moved the 3 remaining fish, betta, glass fish, platy, to the 10 gal. in my sons room, and purchased new, less confined (ie no areas to trap dead fish) decor. I want to change to white PFS(if its availible) bc the med. brown sand I have now doesn't reflect light like i would like.

So my questions are...

1. How much PFS would I need for a 20 gal?

2. With a cros sbetween MTS and plants, how much upkeep will the substrate need?

3. Should I buy already grown plants or will those plant bulbs work fine?

4. cant think of anything else, but feel free to add in any advice


Thanks

 

[Devilishturtles]

1. About 20-30 lbs.

2. I'd lightly vac over it every so often, once a month or so.

3. I'd get already grown plants. The bulbs are trash, atleast in my experience.

4. Good luck.

What kind of lighting do you have? Just a regular flourescent tube? Make sure you stick to some low light plants. Browse http://www.plantgeek.com./plantguide_list.php?category=1&filter_by=2

 

[flip_lx]

1 bag of PFS should do you fine the pool stores in my area sell em in 25lb bags

2 just keep an eye out for darkened areas of build up and swirl over food and debris buildup during pwc. if you notice the dark spots just stick your net or hand in and life the sand up to mix it up and the gases and what not trapped will be released and you can suck it up on your next pwc. when my 29 was planted and swarming with mts (ie they stayed out all day so many) i had to do this maybe once a month in a corner of the tank

3 what type of bulbs? if you can get screw in PC then you can grow some plants easily, i always bought small and grew up the plants (did cabomba, hornwort, stargrass and java moss if you want to count that). if you can get good lighting (full spectrum 6500k+ and proper wattage per gallon) check the barter/trade area for clippings and grow em yourself. it'll take a bit longer but its enjoyable and make sure you trim

4 if you grow plants that get too big and healthy and get lazy on trimming, clip out small sections at a time otherwise you can cause a possibly deadly water change due to taking out a big chunk of the natural filtration.

 

[Bigpoppa]

the light is just a basic flourecent that came with my kit

 

[flip_lx]

depending on its wattage and if your tank can get any other light or sunlght you'll probably have to swap it out to grow some plants. someone else that has used the basic flourecent system can add more info here but i'm sure your LFS will have a full spectrum bulb for your hood

 

[Bigpoppa]

the band of PFS i got was called regal, the guy at the pool store looked at me funny and asked if i was sure if this is what i wanted, he said its coarse and may be sharp to the fish, but he might just trying to be cautious and may still not get what i was using it for.

it ended up being a light brown, and kinda reminds me of some of the beaches we go to. it does feel a bit rough, but ill take the word of some aquarists over a pool guy

the bag has a small hole in it and i got it for half off, so i figured id try it.

also, would this sand harm snails in any way?

also, how do i rinse this, i read on here that someone used a jug, and kept pouring tap water and stirring until the water ran clear, is that about it?

 

[rich311k]

You need to rinse it. Fill a bucket up with some add water swish it around until the water runs clear, pour it into the tank and repeat.

 

[Gillie]

My MTS love the sand,it poses no problem for them. It's probably a whole lot easier to move through opposed to most gravel.

 

[flip_lx]

My MTS love the sand,it poses no problem for them. It's probably a whole lot easier to move through opposed to most gravel.

for the snails to move PFS is easier for you to move the gravel comes out a lot faster. but yeah the guy at the pool store where i bought mine knew it was for a tank right away when i only asked for 1 bag.

about it being sharp you should be ok, if you decide to get a scaleless fish/bottom dweller you may want to run a minor test with them or ask your LFS about it but normally you worry about gravel cutting up the fish and not sand

 

[Bigpoppa]

what about briigi (sp?) snails? will they get cut from it?