loachy dance
Aquarium Advice Activist
Pool sand is sort f a tannish white typically. My fish love mine and its not too dense, so plants grow thru it with ease. My sword has extensive veins thru it.
Dirted tank advice.
- Thread starter Taiken5968
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Mebbid
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I would advise against white sand. It was awful for a planted tank, just too light and showed too much crud.
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Taiken5968
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For the advice guys. I think I'll go with the pool filter sand. I also am ordering the clay from amazon. I also have some substrate for plants, I got it when setting up a planted 10 gallon, and I'm wondering if I should mix some in with the dirt. It looks like little rocks
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Puckhog429
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Pfs is white
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Puckhog429
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And regular sand isnt that great because its too fine and doesnt allow for gas exchange as well as pfs.
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Taiken5968
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I had heard that the fine sand isn't the best. This is the substrate I bought before. You think it's worth mixing in with the dirt?
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Mebbid
Aquarium Advice Addict
Some pfs is white but definitely not all. The pfs I get from menards is a light brown and is quite nice.
It wouldn't hurt to mix in with soil.
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Taiken5968
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I'll try to find a lighter color in the filter sand. I am sure the 50lb bag will be way more than enough sand, but how much soil and what type should I get. I know I want an inch or two, but I'm not sure how much it will take after it is wet. I hear the organic miracle grow works well.
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schoeplein
Aquarium Advice Addict
Miracle Grow Organic Soil. Remove as much of the wood chips from it before laying it in your tank. That'll help keep it from mucking up your tank when you go to plant things. It likes to come loose an float around.
I have CaribSea's black Tahitian sand on top of my soil. $15-16/20lb. Looks really nice. Super black with a bit of a sparkle to it. I'm only a fan of white sand in salt tanks. The black really makes my plants and fish "pop".
One 10lb bag of soil, and two 20lb bags of sand should be more than enough to give about 3" of substrate.
I have CaribSea's black Tahitian sand on top of my soil. $15-16/20lb. Looks really nice. Super black with a bit of a sparkle to it. I'm only a fan of white sand in salt tanks. The black really makes my plants and fish "pop".
One 10lb bag of soil, and two 20lb bags of sand should be more than enough to give about 3" of substrate.
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Taiken5968
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What is the best way to remove the wood chips?
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Taiken5968
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And how fine is the CaribSea's black Tahitian sand?
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Taiken5968
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I googled pictures of the black sand. It looks really great, but I think the pool filter sand looks great as well. Tough choice, but I think i will go with the pool filter sand since it's less expensive.
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Puckhog429
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Good choice. I just used this screen that was in my backyard and "filtered" it out. All you need to do is try and get the bigger pieces out
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Taiken5968
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And I would guess that the sand will hold the rest down.
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Puckhog429
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Yes except when you pull plants up but the mess isnt that bad after. A water change helps.
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Taiken5968
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Good to know. I'll try to remove as much as I can before putting it in. Any tips for planting that will help keep from mixing the dirt and sand.
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schoeplein
Aquarium Advice Addict
Nope. The dirt muds up and tends to stay under the sand in my tank. I've been pretty aggressive with my planting and replanting, and all I have on top of my sand is wood chips! (cuz I neglected to sift them out!)
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Puckhog429
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Just take it slow when pulling them out. I just pulled out a crypt that had a huge root system and it made a little mess. When pulling out a plant I think that shaking it while pulling it out helps.
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Taiken5968
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So I got my soil. 
And I got my sand.
Only thing I need now is the clay. It hasn't come in yet.
The sand was almost a 5 gallon bucket full. I don't know I I'll need that much. And the soil was way more than enough, but I would have actually paid more money for less if I bought several smaller bags.
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And I got my sand.
Only thing I need now is the clay. It hasn't come in yet.
The sand was almost a 5 gallon bucket full. I don't know I I'll need that much. And the soil was way more than enough, but I would have actually paid more money for less if I bought several smaller bags.
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