Switching to sand
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whitelightsea
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
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Anubias plants and java ferns attached to wood and stone are the way to go with sand. It makes rescaping and cleaning easier, and then you'll only have to move the plants and decor to clean the substrate. Java moss, floating plants.... Stems tended to die for me, and I had no luck with carpeting plants in the least.
Having done sand, I would recommend that you don't put more than an inch to an inch and a half of sandbox sand, well washed. I did, and ended up with anaerobic bacteria buildup from not turning the sand under an unwieldy and heavy bit of driftwood. All you need to vacuum it is a steady hand and a tube, but don't forget to turn the sand over. MST helps with this, so long as you don't overfeed, but they won't burst large pockets of aerobic bacteria.
Play sand is excellent for corycats and promotes natural foraging behavior, and they're fun as hell to watch school. But you absolutely MUST keep the sand clean. They're bottom dwellers, and they'll be swimming through their own poo if you don't, and be the first to get sick. I recommend an initial waste suction, followed by hand turning the sand, and one more suction. I wouldn't recommend overly large or heavy bits of driftwood to make a cave or shelter, because it's easy for poo to get stuck in those crevices you can't reach... Again, bad experiences.
I love a heavily planted look with sand though, and any plant with a suitable ryzome will probably be fine for actually planting in the sand. Dose with liquid ferts, and you're golden.
Have fun!
Having done sand, I would recommend that you don't put more than an inch to an inch and a half of sandbox sand, well washed. I did, and ended up with anaerobic bacteria buildup from not turning the sand under an unwieldy and heavy bit of driftwood. All you need to vacuum it is a steady hand and a tube, but don't forget to turn the sand over. MST helps with this, so long as you don't overfeed, but they won't burst large pockets of aerobic bacteria.
Play sand is excellent for corycats and promotes natural foraging behavior, and they're fun as hell to watch school. But you absolutely MUST keep the sand clean. They're bottom dwellers, and they'll be swimming through their own poo if you don't, and be the first to get sick. I recommend an initial waste suction, followed by hand turning the sand, and one more suction. I wouldn't recommend overly large or heavy bits of driftwood to make a cave or shelter, because it's easy for poo to get stuck in those crevices you can't reach... Again, bad experiences.
I love a heavily planted look with sand though, and any plant with a suitable ryzome will probably be fine for actually planting in the sand. Dose with liquid ferts, and you're golden.
Have fun!
Thanks I'll be posting pictures soonAnubias plants and java ferns attached to wood and stone are the way to go with sand. It makes rescaping and cleaning easier, and then you'll only have to move the plants and decor to clean the substrate. Java moss, floating plants.... Stems tended to die for me, and I had no luck with carpeting plants in the least.
Having done sand, I would recommend that you don't put more than an inch to an inch and a half of sandbox sand, well washed. I did, and ended up with anaerobic bacteria buildup from not turning the sand under an unwieldy and heavy bit of driftwood. All you need to vacuum it is a steady hand and a tube, but don't forget to turn the sand over. MST helps with this, so long as you don't overfeed, but they won't burst large pockets of aerobic bacteria.
Play sand is excellent for corycats and promotes natural foraging behavior, and they're fun as hell to watch school. But you absolutely MUST keep the sand clean. They're bottom dwellers, and they'll be swimming through their own poo if you don't, and be the first to get sick. I recommend an initial waste suction, followed by hand turning the sand, and one more suction. I wouldn't recommend overly large or heavy bits of driftwood to make a cave or shelter, because it's easy for poo to get stuck in those crevices you can't reach... Again, bad experiences.[emoji14]
I love a heavily planted look with sand though, and any plant with a suitable ryzome will probably be fine for actually planting in the sand. Dose with liquid ferts, and you're golden.
Have fun!
whitelightsea...? Not gonna pick apart your text, let's just say we disagree on several points.Anubias plants and java ferns attached to wood and stone are the way to go with sand. It makes rescaping and cleaning easier, and then you'll only have to move the plants and decor to clean the substrate. Java moss, floating plants.... Stems tended to die for me, and I had no luck with carpeting plants in the least.
Having done sand, I would recommend that you don't put more than an inch to an inch and a half of sandbox sand, well washed. I did, and ended up with anaerobic bacteria buildup from not turning the sand under an unwieldy and heavy bit of driftwood. All you need to vacuum it is a steady hand and a tube, but don't forget to turn the sand over. MST helps with this, so long as you don't overfeed, but they won't burst large pockets of aerobic bacteria.
Play sand is excellent for corycats and promotes natural foraging behavior, and they're fun as hell to watch school. But you absolutely MUST keep the sand clean. They're bottom dwellers, and they'll be swimming through their own poo if you don't, and be the first to get sick. I recommend an initial waste suction, followed by hand turning the sand, and one more suction. I wouldn't recommend overly large or heavy bits of driftwood to make a cave or shelter, because it's easy for poo to get stuck in those crevices you can't reach... Again, bad experiences.[emoji14]
I love a heavily planted look with sand though, and any plant with a suitable ryzome will probably be fine for actually planting in the sand. Dose with liquid ferts, and you're golden.
Have fun!
Many on here use sand for planted tanks. Play sand is not recommended because of the anaerobic conditions, but pool filter sand or black diamond blasting media is they're more coarse and with root tabs are excellent for plants.
Stems will grow with root tabs( I use osmocote+ and gel caps to make my own, but can buy online).
Fertilizer will help but I only recently started diy pps-pro from NilocG.
Do not plant rhizomes in sand, would be better to just let the little ones float than plant, glue or tying is best. Float short term.
whitelightsea
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
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No worries on disagreement. I chose play sand because I wanted something for my cories that was natural and easy to sift through, and I read that some cories seemed to have trouble with pool sand; I simply could not find black diamond sand and also read a few things about "oily coating" over it, which I can neither confirm or deny.
I tried and failed to make my own root tabs... ended up with ammonia spikes. Also tried normal root tabs, and they always dissolved and were turned over during weekly cleanings, making them a moot point.
These are just my own experiences and maybe a more advanced aquascaper can make sand work better.... I just ended up switching to dirt last year and I love it. Next time, I may cap with sand instead of flourite. :3
Cool you took my post as intended...
Agree on just my opinions/ own experiences didn't mean you were wrong but some of your observations seemed a bit off normal to me but everyones tank is different. No substitute for research and asking questions here, lots of good Info here.
whitelightsea
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Fresh2o
Aquarium Advice Addict
Same here. Ever pull out a Crypt or patch of staur repens? The root system is extensive. I'm using EcoComplete and after a major rescape my tank looks like chocolate milk.
Makes me feel better fresh, you've been here forever. My journey in planted tanks is fairly new, although I've followed you and the AA gang for about a year and a half. Tell everyone I can to listen to you guys/gals, AA is a great resource.
whitelightsea
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It's definitely more labor intensive on set up, especially if you mineralize the soil first. I actually skipped that step and kept up with tri-weekly WCs whenever the water looked discolored but I managed to get the entire project done in four hours, my fish in, and eradicated a MTS explosion. But my plants love it, and they've had tons of new growth since I've replanted. Add pellets of true mexican red clay for your red plants before you cap, and you've got yourself a party.
Now all I do is shove more ferts into the soil every so often and dose liquid ferts every other day or so.
I will admit I actually started with eco-complete before I ever touched sand, but I never fell in love with the look.... sand was prettier, but then I had the problems listed. Out of all my fish adventures, I'll almost always recommend dirt, though I'm considering a sand cap next time.
whitelightsea
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Honestly, your Ph looks just like mine, holding at a steady 7.5. I keep German blue rams at that Ph, and have had no problems. They've even spawned a few times, and had wigglers before my snail ate them.
So long as you acclimate slowly over the course of an hour or two, you should have few problems, too. But keep your eyes on temp, ammonia, nitrates and nitrites. Dollars to doughnuts those values will take a dump much quicker and affect your livestock sooner. But in the end, that's nothing more frequent water changes and having emergency replacement equipment on hand won't fix.
If you truly want to adjust your Ph, Indian almond leaf will lower it, I think... I've also heard of coral or Peet moss, but I'm not very familiar with either of those options. My beta loves the IAL, though. :3
Ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrates <40
Ph of 7.5 is fine, can vary quite a bit as long as its consistent/steady.
Ph is easiest to leave wherever it is from your source water, however you can cut your tap water with ro water to achieve a lower ph.
If you do this you have to balance out the kh & gh by remineralizing the water, but it can be a learning process.
Ph of 7.5 is fine, can vary quite a bit as long as its consistent/steady.
Ph is easiest to leave wherever it is from your source water, however you can cut your tap water with ro water to achieve a lower ph.
If you do this you have to balance out the kh & gh by remineralizing the water, but it can be a learning process.
whitelightsea
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
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What about the bags of water softener that you can add to your filter? I saw them yesterday at Petco, and I assume it's made from peat moss, but I didn't look. I mostly acclimate fish to my 7.5 water, but I thought I'd mention this since it seemed new... I certainly don't know much about pH adjustment.
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