Plants and Sand?

[abstract373]

Ive been told and have read that plants do not do well in a sand substrate i don't know if there is much truth to that. I plan on going with sand for my 75 gal setup but want to plant in it for a natural looking tank.Anyone can clear this up for me or let me know what species i can use. I have mondo grass jungle val and a moss ball that will be placing on rocks and drift wood.....will any of this work or am i going to have to pot them in some way.

 

[rkilling1]

You can grow pretty much every plant species in sand. The plants benefit from a source of nutrients at their roots, but as long as they have some way (water column) to get nutrients, they will do just fine.

BTW, mondo grass is not an aquatic plant.

EDIT: Here is one of my tanks with Pool Filter Sand. I have some of the harder plants to grow in this tank:

 

[abstract373]

thanks for that bit of info grass will get replaced on upgrade.thought petco was selling the real deal but instead got some sod ...lol

 

[aqua_chem]

Sand is a fine substrate for plants. In fact, many plants naturally grow in sand. How many plants are naturally found growing in Fluorite I wonder?

rkilling1, What's that patch of green in front of the B. Japonica and to the left of the sword? Marsilea minuta?

 

[rkilling1]

Sand is a fine substrate for plants. In fact, many plants naturally grow in sand. How many plants are naturally found growing in Fluorite I wonder?

rkilling1, What's that patch of green in front of the B. Japonica and to the left of the sword? Marsilea minuta?

Glosso.

 

[Eleven13]

thanks for that bit of info grass will get replaced on upgrade.thought petco was selling the real deal but instead got some sod ...lol

You have to be VERY careful buying plants at petco.....things are often mislabeled (or not labeled at all) and if you ask the LFS worker they usually will have no idea and will sell you non-aquatic plants like Dracaena and things.

rkilling, would you recommend PFS with root tabs over a nutrient substrate such as Flourite or Eco-complete?

 

[abstract373]

Ive found that out with the grass im going about 30 miles away to another fs to get the real stuff its a bit more money wise but its a place that you can swap fish and plants as you need... im planning on getting stuff that attaches on to rock and wood

 

[meegosh]

I've used playsand and pool filter sand. Both grew plants no different than Eco or regular gravel. After running eco in my 30g for a year I am convinced that you should save your money and put it towards plants. Especially if it is a high tech tank which you dose ferts anyway.

I had everything from swords, vals, crypts, ludwigias etc, to glosso, UG, HC, etc. in playsand and PFS with no issues.

 

[abstract373]

Don't know to much on ferts and what not new to the aqua world again had it as a kid but im going to be using caribsea tahitian moon reef sand not play sand but my concern is up rooting do to having eels and dojo loachs

 

[rkilling1]

Don't know to much on ferts and what not new to the aqua world again had it as a kid but im going to be using caribsea tahitian moon reef sand not play sand but my concern is up rooting do to having eels and dojo loachs

From my experience: You will be replanting plants everyday with the dojo in the tank. I couldn't get any good foreground plants to take hold due to the dojo ripping them up EVERYDAY.

 

[abstract373]

ya they knock down rocks &move drift wood from one side of the tank to the other.i guess they like there decor over mine

 

[rkilling1]

rkilling, would you recommend PFS with root tabs over a nutrient substrate such as Flourite or Eco-complete?

No not really. I can only comment on my experiences. (I say this to defend myself upfront. )

I had Eco for many years and wish I would have not 'wasted' my money on it. Eco turned my water hard and I lost all of my soft water plant species.

It is known that plants grow better with both root nutrients and water column nutrients, BUT it is also known that if given only one of those choices, plants grow faster with water column nutrients vs root nutrients.

The problem with root tabs, IME, is you are stuck leaving the plants where they are or chance disturbing the root tab and having all those nutrients enter the water column in a short period of time.

That being said, many people use aquasoil and grow very stellar layouts with medium light and CO2. And of course, the 'dirt' substrates are starting to take off.

 

[Eleven13]

No not really. I can only comment on my experiences. (I say this to defend myself upfront. )

I had Eco for many years and wish I would have not 'wasted' my money on it. Eco turned my water hard and I lost all of my soft water plant species.

It is known that plants grow better with both root nutrients and water column nutrients, BUT it is also known that if given only one of those choices, plants grow faster with water column nutrients vs root nutrients.

The problem with root tabs, IME, is you are stuck leaving the plants where they are or chance disturbing the root tab and having all those nutrients enter the water column in a short period of time.

That being said, many people use aquasoil and grow very stellar layouts with medium light and CO2. And of course, the 'dirt' substrates are starting to take off.

Thanks for the advice, I want to change my 10 gallon over from gravel to sand and I'm trying to gather all of the info I can before I make a move

I've heard great things about dirt, but I'm still not sure about it...I'll probably go with some sort of sand this time around and look into dirt for future tanks down the road. I will look into that "aqua soil" though, I've never heard about that before.

I also didn't know that water column>roots in general. I do have root tabs right now (API) under my amazon sword and my micro swords, but I'll probably make DIY root tabs next time around just to keep myself entertained

 

[rkilling1]

Here is a nice set of pictures that contain ADA's aqua soil:
ada aquasoil - Google Search

Pretty expensive stuff and it also needs to be cycled once installed. By cycle, some types of aqua soil leach amonina into the tank for several weeks.

 

[Gish]

I bought a planted tank substrate from aquarium plants.com. I was lured into buying it by the included 5 gal bucket. It was cheaper than ecocomplete. I've only had it in a tank for 6 days so I'll keep you posted on the progress. I hope to start a 29 gallon build thread soon. Hope to be low tech planted some day

 

[Eleven13]

Here is a nice set of pictures that contain ADA's aqua soil:
ada aquasoil - Google Search

Pretty expensive stuff and it also needs to be cycled once installed. By cycle, some types of aqua soil leach amonina into the tank for several weeks.

Thanks for the link, that stuff does look pretty nice, fortunately I don't have any fish in the tank currently, so any type of cycle wouldn't be a problem.

 

[Gish]

substrate

This is a link to the substrate I bought. i got the red river, it looks great. let's see how things grow.

AquariumPlants.com's own: Freshwater Plant Substrate

 

[abstract373]

whats a good fertilizer for me to use in my tank not to familiar with them..im letting them get there fertilizer from the fish guess its not a solid source of vitamins....any suggestions i plan on getting plants that attach them self to driftwood and rocks due to uprooting fish....