which is better : playsand or aquatic soil ?

[swanandmokashi]

Which one would be better for a planted 29 gallon tank ? Play sand or aquatic soil (Schultz)
I know play sand is quite cheap ..I am usually cheap

 

[Keeper]

..I am usually cheap

me too...but eco-complete is absolutely fantastic. It has alot of minerals that plants will benefit from.

 

[TankGirl]

Sand is not going to provide any kind of nutrient base, if that is what you are after, but it is fine for plants - I use it. I would definitely go with EcoComplete, tho, or fluorite.

 

[grimlock3000]

The Schulz soil is WAY easier to work with and does not compact down like sand. The playsand is usually a pain in the butt anyway, and can take a lot of work for good reults. After watching what some people went through when they tried play sand in their tanks, I would not reccomend it. The Schulz's soil is pretty cheap if you find it at Home Depot or Wal Mart.

Here is a friend's tank with Schulz's Aquatic soil:

And this is the same tank with some new plants, before a recent trimming:

Any questions

 

[lmw80]

I think grim says it all, lol.

I use Seachem onyx sand for the planted aquaria which has nutrients in it for plants, but is not as plain as regular sand, nor as drastic as Schultz. I have a low-medium planted tank, however, if I were to go to a heavily planted tank, I would defifnitly go with Schultz.

 

[swanandmokashi]

is your friend's tank (the pics you have posted) just have the soil as substrate or is it a two layer substrate?

 

[swanandmokashi]

also how many lbs do you guys recommend for a 29 gallon .i have heard 29 gallon = 29 lbs of substate. is it a ballpark number?

 

[grimlock3000]

The tank is 95% Schulz's soil and a bit of fine gravel. He tried to do some layering with the fine gravel but it was not going to work so he did not add any more. The fine gravel in there now does not do anything except take up space.

That tank also has DIY C02 from a Pepsi bottle (cheap!) and a Coralife PC light (not cheap).

 

[swanandmokashi]

looks great ! i envy his tank

so how many pounds of substrate?

 

[Keeper]

so how many pounds of substrate?

This all depends on how deep you want your substrate bed. I did mine at about 2.5". There is a calculator on this site that will tell you how many pounds you will need based on sand bed depth and size of tank!
HTH

 

[krap101]

oh i dont think the 2.5 works... itll say like 40 lbs when 2 is like 22

 

[Keeper]

oh i dont think the 2.5 works... itll say like 40 lbs when 2 is like 22

I did the calculations at the 2" for my tank and bought a bit extra to get the 2.5" I wanted. I know what you mean though...you can't plug in half decimals. :?

 

[YellowMP5]

i went to home depot today again to see what they have.

2 options:

coarse "premium grade' play sand in the building materials section
or
"leveling" sand in the garden section?

i liked the leveling sand since it is very smooth and soft to the touch. it was also finer than the play sand. is it safe to use this as substrate?