Greetings,
I'm a newbie fishkeeper who would like to set his 8 gallon bowfront tank up as a heavily planted 'aquascape'.
Right now i'm in the 'planning stage' and have come to the decision of which substrate to choose.
I have Onyx Sand, Flourite and Play Sand to choose from.
Pool Sand is by far the cheapest, and I *much* prefer it's look to the others, but I know that it won't contain anything to help my plants.
Onyx Sand I can get for 7x the price of Play Sand and I prefer it's looks to Flourite.
Flourite I can get for 9x the price of Play Sand and I think it looks awful, but have read that it's the best choice purely for growing potential.
In the end I might buy Pool Sand (because it's cheap) and one of the others and try mixing them or keeping one as a backup in case I change my mind about which to go with.
I would really appreciate any opinions from the experts here though so please feel free to help me make up my mind
EDIT: just in case it's relevant to which substrate I should pick, I'll be using 20 watts of fluro lighting and some kind of DIY or cheapie-commercial CO2 kit.
I'm a newbie fishkeeper who would like to set his 8 gallon bowfront tank up as a heavily planted 'aquascape'.
Right now i'm in the 'planning stage' and have come to the decision of which substrate to choose.
I have Onyx Sand, Flourite and Play Sand to choose from.
Pool Sand is by far the cheapest, and I *much* prefer it's look to the others, but I know that it won't contain anything to help my plants.
Onyx Sand I can get for 7x the price of Play Sand and I prefer it's looks to Flourite.
Flourite I can get for 9x the price of Play Sand and I think it looks awful, but have read that it's the best choice purely for growing potential.
In the end I might buy Pool Sand (because it's cheap) and one of the others and try mixing them or keeping one as a backup in case I change my mind about which to go with.
I would really appreciate any opinions from the experts here though so please feel free to help me make up my mind
EDIT: just in case it's relevant to which substrate I should pick, I'll be using 20 watts of fluro lighting and some kind of DIY or cheapie-commercial CO2 kit.