aragonite and plants

[patola_l]

Anyone ever had success with plants in aragonite sand? My instincts say No, but i have never tried it....so I have no idea....I can't find any real info on it at all on the internet... I was hoping to try some dwarf hair grass, maybe some Cryptocoryne ciliata, java fern(which i might attach to driftwood), and i also thought about a banana plant for fun too.....any ideas or help?

[mudraker]

Aragonite as a substrate is generally not good for fw tanks.

There are some exceptions for rift tanks, but it is generally a bad idea for freshwater fish.

It will can increase your natural ph to very high levels and it will increase your water hardness to unaccectably high levels for most fish.

The plants you are talking about will do just fine in regular aquarium gravel or peagravel.

They will do even better with a plant substrate such as eco-complete or floramax, to name a few.

There are tons of substrate options for what you want to grow.

All the plants you mentioned are lowlight, with the exception of DHG, which generally requires a decent amount of light and could be problematic for a beginner.

Just curious, what made you consider aragonite?

I run about a half cup of it in my filter to hardened my very soft water to allow it to disolve co2.

[patola_l]

I'm going to go with 2 Figure Eight Puffers....I was told aragonite was a good choice for them.....the sand is already in the tank, what should I do? Is there something I can add to make the plants work?

[patola_l]

I understand aragonie isn't perhaps the best substrate choice for these plants, but is a do-able? If I need to mix something else in, Im willing to do that, but will the sand make keeping these plants alive impossible?

[Homer8]

you know that figure 8s are brackish water and most plants do not do well in brackish.

[fort384]

Moved to FW Planted Tanks forum.

[jetajockey]

I've used cichlid sand in lightly brackish water and have grown needle leaf java ferns successfully. i have not tried any other plants.

[Fishkeeper26]

I'm using aragonite sand with my l. Brevis for over 6 months without any problems. Actually they've bread with the sand in, so I think it's ok for tanganyikan