Sand substrate

[fishyperson3010]

Hi
What is the best sand substrate that will help plants

Thanks

 

[cbobruk]

Pool filter sand, with root tabs as ferts

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Pool filter sand, with root tabs as ferts

+1
Cheap and works just as well as any specialized plant substrate IMO.

 

[FishGeek97]

I like playsand, but pool filter sand works great too!

 

[gman42]

i have play sand and it worked great, i just had to wash it alot.

 

[LyndaB]

Pool filter sand, with root tabs as ferts

+1

My tank with play sand is just a muddy mess (still, after months and months) and the plants aren't doing as well as the tanks with the finer pool filter sand with tabs.

 

[fishyperson3010]

Pool filter sand with root tabs it is then

 

[jetajockey]

An inert sand with root tabs does work, but it's not the best. A substrate with high CEC is your best bet as it has the ability to retain nutrients much better than just quartz sand. The clay in root tabs does help with this, and it's enough to grow plants, but if you notice most heavily planted setups are not basic sand with root tabs.

 

[fishyperson3010]

An inert sand with root tabs does work, but it's not the best. A substrate with high CEC is your best bet as it has the ability to retain nutrients much better than just quartz sand. The clay in root tabs does help with this, and it's enough to grow plants, but if you notice most heavily planted setups are not basic sand with root tabs.

Sorry but what does CEC mean

 

[jetajockey]

here ya go Cation-exchange capacity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Like I mentioned, sand with root tabs will work just fine, but if you are looking for the best, go with something with high cec like soil or a fired clay product like ecocomplete, fluorite, etc

 

[aqua_chem]

Best sand substrate? Fluorite Black Sand AND good root tabs