Sand or plant substrate?

[Leo2o915]

What do you prefer for a planted tank ? And benefits of both ? 

[Bev C]

I am a beginner in plant keeping  ,,, I had gravel in my past aquariums and always liked the look of black sand I have  with this aquarium sand

 Seachem Fluorite  Black  Sand  For Plantds and top off with some Black Diamond Blasting Sand and i love it and for the plants as long as you use liquid fertilizer and root tabs and have a light the plants do fine .. my plants are still alive now after i got the black algae controlled and my tank balanced ,,for the plants 

only thing with the Black Diamond  sand before adding it it is best to clean it with very hot water then cold water and keep washing till it is clear before adding to tank.. 

The Flourite Seachem a sand will make your water cloudy even if you wash before adding to tank but i wash it till clear before adding to tank.. 

Edited March 5, 2022 by Bev C

[Mmiller2001]

I prefer inert substrates except Eco Complete. You can have an amazing tank with inert substrates and I currently really dig Carib Sea Super Naturals peace river. Only the most fickle plants need an Aquasoil. Also root tabs are not necessary when using an inert substrate.

I tried an Aquasoil this year and it's been very difficult for me. Early on, you really have to keep up on water changes. Maybe at some point it gets easier, but I'm not there yet. However, the plants are growing in nicely and a few plants that did okay in Eco Complete exploded in the Aquasoil.

 

Edited March 5, 2022 by Mmiller2001

[Widgets]

On 3/5/2022 at 5:10 PM, Mmiller2001 said:

I currently really dig Carib Sea Super Naturals peace river.

I use a mixture of the peace river and blue ridge with larger 1" river rocks for accent. I use this in all my tanks for the natural look. I use undergravel filters (along with HOB or sponge filters) to use the entire gravel bed for biological filtration. Because of the undergravel filters I don't use root tabs, just easy green in the water column.

[Brandon p]

Not sand. The pore spaces get filled with everything and roots can’t grow as well.  
 

Edit: that is just my opinion. In the wild look at all the plants that grow in sand river lake beds. 

Edited March 6, 2022 by Brandon p

[lefty o]

i just use plain old gravel.

[JettsPapa]

All my tanks have either Black Diamond sandblasting sand or pool filter sand, depending on if I wanted dark or light.  Plant roots grow just fine.

[Jennifer V]

On 3/5/2022 at 4:29 PM, Widgets said:

I use a mixture of the peace river and blue ridge with larger 1" river rocks for accent. I use this in all my tanks for the natural look. I use undergravel filters (along with HOB or sponge filters) to use the entire gravel bed for biological filtration. Because of the undergravel filters I don't use root tabs, just easy green in the water column.

This sounds lovely! I've been looking at blue ridge. Would you mind sharing a pic? 

[BlueLineAquaticsSC]

I have a tub filled with a mixture of substrate I use that’s always growing. Started out as black diamond sand and play sand with some pea gravel, then I added a different gravel, sand from a local river, and sand dug from my yard over time. It’s all rinsed really well and works good for me, plus it looks very natural. For heavy planted tanks I cap some organic garden soil under it.

[Odd Duck]

I have Black Diamond medium grade blasting sand in 9 tanks, pool filter sand in 4 tanks, and will be using pool filter sand for my 100 gallon angelfish tank once it’s finally past the “dry start” stage.  In each tank, I have it layered over baked, heavy clay soil with Osmocote mixed in to it, then capped with the sand.  I’ve also done this in the pots in my Jack Dempsey tank and all the potted plants I have.  I’m running bare bottom in 1 tank and foam matten filter over undergravel filters in 2 tanks.  I have no tanks with commercial plant substrate - I’m cheap and that stuff’s expensive!  I pay $10.00 for a 50 lb bag of either color of sand.  It takes me about 10-15 minutes to rinse all 50 lbs of black blasting sand, even less to rinse pool filter sand.

All this to say that I don’t think it matters that much which substrate you pick as long as you learn how to use that specific substrate.  Plain sand or gravel will need root tabs added if you want to grow heavy root feeder plants to their best.  They will grow OK if you have enough fertilizer in the water column but they’ll grow better with fertilizer around the roots.  There are also loads of plants that grow perfectly well with no substrate at all.

Depending on the type of plants you want to grow, the look you’re going for, etc, you may, or may not, need any substrate at all.  You’re welcome to explore on any of my builds that I’ve posted.  One of my more recent ones is the 29 gallon puffer tank and a link is in my signature below.  It goes through the steps for the layers (it happens to be a pool filter sand tank).  I also have epiphyte plants in the tank and moss growing on the wood.  I’m happy to answer any questions you may have on any of my builds.

So I would advise you to pick the look you want, then learn the best way to make that substrate work for you.

[Anon]

I've tried two different active substrates. I don't notice a difference between using those and inert gravel. My water seems to do the trick out of the tap, but I dose iron/mg when my sword plant starts to yellow. I like to keep things simple and not add too many chemicals. 

[Andy's Fish Den]

Both! Do a layer of aquasoil on the bottom, then top it with the sand. You can either do the aquasoil loose, or there are mesh bags with plastic zippers that you can put the soil in and lay out on bottom then pour the sand over top. MD fish tanks does it this way in a lot of his builds and I have tried it out, and so far liking the results.

[eatyourpeas]

Play sand, no more than 3/4" in height. I only have epiphytes in the Corydoras tank so they can dig to their hearts desire. The other tanks have hardscape that can anchor rooted plants, and I wait for mulm to build up and get absorbed by the roots. Very little need for fertilizer in either case.

[Patrick_G]

I use the “MD method” from MD fish tanks. That's a layer of aquasoil under a layer of cosmetic sand. I've also tried Eco Complete and just plain aquasoil, plants grow in all of them but I prefer the layered method. 

[Widgets]

On 3/8/2022 at 2:59 AM, Jennifer V said:

This sounds lovely! I've been looking at blue ridge. Would you mind sharing a pic? 

Let me apologize up front. This gravel was bought back in the mid 80's for my first tank (55g) in my first house. I looked at the current offerings and peace river and blue ridge are the only ones that are close. Over the years life happened and at some point I got out of the hobby and gave everything away except for the gravel mix that I kept. The kids in family that I gave the 55g wanted more colorful gravel, so I kept it.

Here are some pictures I took this morning. Ignore the mess, the algae, the snails, the glare, the water spots.

Close-up of the gravel in my main tank.

The main tank in all it's glory.

My soon to be shrimp tank.

[JettsPapa]

On 3/5/2022 at 10:41 PM, JettsPapa said:

All my tanks have either Black Diamond sandblasting sand or pool filter sand, depending on if I wanted dark or light.  Plant roots grow just fine.

I forgot to mention it the other day, but I set up a tank a few months ago specifically for growing pearl weed to sell, though it also has guppies (can't have a tank without fish).  I started with about 1" of dry cow manure, then about the same amount of potting soil, and topped it off with 1-1/2" to 2" of pool filter sand.  I'd see bubbles coming up for weeks, but it seems to be working well so far, and the bubbles didn't seem to harm the fish.

[Wadikus]

I use Seachem flourite black sand which isnt actually sand but a fractured clay thats broken down even further to give the appearance of sand. All my root based plants have not have a problem rooting in it and when I pulled up my Hygro the other day to move to another tank the roots were enormous. I just speckle in some root tabs since unlike regular sand which is also inert its very porous so it has really good nutrient leech capability.

I don't know how much i'd love regular sized fluorite but I love the black sand.

[Jennifer V]

On 3/8/2022 at 1:10 PM, Widgets said:

Let me apologize up front. This gravel was bought back in the mid 80's for my first tank (55g) in my first house. I looked at the current offerings and peace river and blue ridge are the only ones that are close. Over the years life happened and at some point I got out of the hobby and gave everything away except for the gravel mix that I kept. The kids in family that I gave the 55g wanted more colorful gravel, so I kept it.

Here are some pictures I took this morning. Ignore the mess, the algae, the snails, the glare, the water spots.

Close-up of the gravel in my main tank.

The main tank in all it's glory.

My soon to be shrimp tank.

Oh I love that! Thank you! 

[Bev C]

all my past tanks had gravel ,,  no plants .. when i got the current 55 gallon always loved the look of black sand ,, so I used the Black Diamond Blasting sand ,, loved it ,,

then when i got into plants i took all the black sand out and clean it and I use 2 layers of Seachem flourite black sand  for plants on the bottom  and then i topped off with the Black Diamond that i had

Then i use root tabs along with liquid fertilizer  in my opinion  the key to using sand or gravel is root tabs 

 

 

 

[Tanked]

I use and prefer natural aquarium gravel in most of my aquariums.  It is the best option for UGFs,  never needs replacing, the snails and plant roots can easily tunnel through it, The accumulated debris settles in and is mostly gone from view... 

I have 1 big box pea gravel tank.  I wanted white gravel.  I suspect that mine is a softer type of rock because gravel vacuuming picks up small sand size particles that should not be there.  The lighter gravel provided a reflective surface to offset dimmer lighting and great contrast against the lava rocks and plants. 

I keep 1 pool sand tank. The plant roots like it, It reflects light better, the debris remains on the surface much longer, it is easy disturbed when cleaning or during water changes, and compact easily over time

[jwcarlson]

On 3/8/2022 at 2:10 PM, Widgets said:

Let me apologize up front. This gravel was bought back in the mid 80's for my first tank (55g) in my first house. I looked at the current offerings and peace river and blue ridge are the only ones that are close. Over the years life happened and at some point I got out of the hobby and gave everything away except for the gravel mix that I kept. The kids in family that I gave the 55g wanted more colorful gravel, so I kept it.

Here are some pictures I took this morning. Ignore the mess, the algae, the snails, the glare, the water spots.

Close-up of the gravel in my main tank.

The main tank in all it's glory.

My soon to be shrimp tank.

How does this stuff compare to a $4, 50-pound bag of Quikrete all purpose gravel from Home Depot?  It really looks very similar to me.

Attached is some Home Depot gravel in one of my tanks.  Small rock pile front left made of some river stones that I got in a big bag.  Something similar is probably also available at HD, but I bought these elsewhere.

[Widgets]

On 3/9/2022 at 10:56 AM, jwcarlson said:

How does this stuff compare to a $4, 50-pound bag of Quikrete all purpose gravel from Home Depot?  It really looks very similar to me.

Attached is some Home Depot gravel in one of my tanks.  Small rock pile front left made of some river stones that I got in a big bag.  Something similar is probably also available at HD, but I bought these elsewhere.

That looks about the same as the larger gravel. I mixed it with smaller gravel to get more variation. I started with it somewhat layered, with the larger gravel covering the UGF, then topped off with the smaller gravel in places. Over the years with me and the tank dwellers rescaping, and moves, and tank changes, it is now just a random mixture. Some places have more small gravel and some places have more large gravel. I also have larger river stones that I picked up at Michael's as an impulse buy when I was picking up black corrugated plastic to cover the back and for terracing.

I say that you can use whatever you want as long as you like it and it is not harmful to the tank dwellers.

[Daniel C]

Black Diamond blasting sand with Flourish Tabs and Easy Green works for me. I like that I have control over all the fertilizer.

[Brandon p]

I bet it looks amazing

[Brandon p]

There is a different between things like eco complete and gravel. I use both and have plants in both. For my 200 gal it has the $5 sakerete 50 lbs bag rock in it( rinse it good first). I do tend to plant easy plants in the gravel and more fertilizer  tabs and a little deeper substrate, .25 to .5 more depth