Advice

[mkeyz]

So as I stated in my intro I'm just switching from artificial silk plants to live plants. I accidentally bought black sand like substrate when I meant to buy gravel. Was going to return it, but then looked it up and read it's better for plants and snails then gravel is. What do y'all think. My friend who also has planted tank suggested just putting the black sandy substrate over the existing gravel, but I'm not sure if that's a good idea or not. Any advice helps.

[CJs Aquatics]

I run black sand in 11 of my 15 tanks all planted, things grow fine for me. When your looking to grow plants they all tend to do better with a few simple things no matter the substrate:

1. Decent lighting high medium or low depending on the plant, I opt for higher to cover a broader spectrum, and a stable schedule

2. Adequate nutrients (water column feeders need it dosed in the water, root feeders in the substrate or at the roots)

3. stable water parameters/ temp 

4. (co2 is an honorable mention, I don’t run it but it does benefit plants significantly)

in my opinion depending on the plant and slightly adjusting these things, even though there’s exceptions to every rule, your plants will thrive, this is just my perspective, I hope it helps 

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/26/2023 at 1:18 PM, mkeyz said:

I accidentally bought black sand like substrate when I meant to buy gravel.

Can you show a photo?  Might just be fine gravel that they are calling sand, especially considering it's black.

[mkeyz]

I have the type of plants that don't need all that they just need light and do fine in gravel too. They don't need root tabs and all that. So should I replace the gravel with the sand completely or just put the sand over the gravel.

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/26/2023 at 4:57 PM, mkeyz said:

I have the type of plants that don't need all that they just need light and do fine in gravel too. They don't need root tabs and all that. So should I replace the gravel with the sand completely or just put the sand over the gravel.

If you want to use inert (what you have) or gravel (also inert) or a different type of natural sand, then I'd recommend using just one type.  It will mix.  If you get black of different weights / sizes then you might get a cap and be successful keeping the finer stuff on top, but in my experience it has always resulted in something where the two substrates mixed. 

If you're looking for "beach sand" style of sand then that will limit in some capacity what plants do well, but the main thing is to just be aware of that and plan accordingly.  It compacts more, less circulation to the roots, they don't grow as easily.  Some plants don't mind at all and will grow like weeds still (PSO in particular).

The main point of caution here is to keep in mind how thick everything is getting with regards to adding layers.  4" in the front, 6-8" in the back is about normal in a lot of tanks I've seen, and you don't want to go too thick to prefect issues with anaerobic pockets causing issues.  Especially with a fine sand on the top, there is a risk of that causing those dead spots of rotting things.

This is a great video on how to care for sand (in either case that you use).
 

 

[mkeyz]

On 3/26/2023 at 8:40 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

If you want to use inert (what you have) or gravel (also inert) or a different type of natural sand, then I'd recommend using just one type.  It will mix.  If you get black of different weights / sizes then you might get a cap and be successful keeping the finer stuff on top, but in my experience it has always resulted in something where the two substrates mixed. 

If you're looking for "beach sand" style of sand then that will limit in some capacity what plants do well, but the main thing is to just be aware of that and plan accordingly.  It compacts more, less circulation to the roots, they don't grow as easily.  Some plants don't mind at all and will grow like weeds still (PSO in particular).

The main point of caution here is to keep in mind how thick everything is getting with regards to adding layers.  4" in the front, 6-8" in the back is about normal in a lot of tanks I've seen, and you don't want to go too thick to prefect issues with anaerobic pockets causing issues.  Especially with a fine sand on the top, there is a risk of that causing those dead spots of rotting things.

This is a great video on how to care for sand (in either case that you use).
 

 

Thank you for your help and advice 

[rockfisher]

The sand will be fine. You will have to fertilize with root tabs. Sand has been used for years. I use it in some of my tanks the roots do really well provide you use root tabs. Good luck.👍 

[mkeyz]

On 3/26/2023 at 8:40 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

If you want to use inert (what you have) or gravel (also inert) or a different type of natural sand, then I'd recommend using just one type.  It will mix.  If you get black of different weights / sizes then you might get a cap and be successful keeping the finer stuff on top, but in my experience it has always resulted in something where the two substrates mixed. 

If you're looking for "beach sand" style of sand then that will limit in some capacity what plants do well, but the main thing is to just be aware of that and plan accordingly.  It compacts more, less circulation to the roots, they don't grow as easily.  Some plants don't mind at all and will grow like weeds still (PSO in particular).

The main point of caution here is to keep in mind how thick everything is getting with regards to adding layers.  4" in the front, 6-8" in the back is about normal in a lot of tanks I've seen, and you don't want to go too thick to prefect issues with anaerobic pockets causing issues.  Especially with a fine sand on the top, there is a risk of that causing those dead spots of rotting things.

This is a great video on how to care for sand (in either case that you use).
 

 

This is the tank update how it looks now with the black sand insert stuff

[Levi_Aquatics]

Looking good!! What kind of light are you using? @mkeyz

[mkeyz]

On 3/27/2023 at 6:18 PM, Levi_Aquatics said:

Looking good!! What kind of light are you using? @mkeyz

An underwater white and blue light combo from Amazon. Do I need to get a better one?

[mkeyz]

On 3/27/2023 at 8:16 AM, rockfisher said:

The sand will be fine. You will have to fertilize with root tabs. Sand has been used for years. I use it in some of my tanks the roots do really well provide you use root tabs. Good luck.👍 

The plants I have don't require root tabs. They grow in any type of substrate and even grow under low or high light. I got them from a friend who has the same plants in her tank. She cut some from her plants and donated to me. She was gonna donate a mystery snail to me too since she has a ton of babies at the moment, but the babies are too small and my Betta would probably kill them being that small. The current ones I have(nerites) do just fine and my Betta checks them out and the just swims away. I'm also sticking with nerites because they don't breed in fresh non-brackish water vs mystery snails breed like crazy.(sorry got side tracked lolz) but yeah the plants are growing fine without root tabs. But thanks so much for the advice.

[Levi_Aquatics]

On 3/27/2023 at 8:43 PM, mkeyz said:

An underwater white and blue light combo from Amazon. Do I need to get a better one?

In an ideal world it would probably be nice to have a better light, but for low light plants it will probably do fine. Just keep an eye on the plants and if they seem to be struggling, the light may be the culprit. Hope this helps

[rockfisher]

On 3/27/2023 at 8:54 PM, mkeyz said:

The plants I have don't require root tabs. They grow in any type of substrate and even grow under low or high light. I got them from a friend who has the same plants in her tank. She cut some from her plants and donated to me. She was gonna donate a mystery snail to me too since she has a ton of babies at the moment, but the babies are too small and my Betta would probably kill them being that small. The current ones I have(nerites) do just fine and my Betta checks them out and the just swims away. I'm also sticking with nerites because they don't breed in fresh non-brackish water vs mystery snails breed like crazy.(sorry got side tracked lolz) but yeah the plants are growing fine without root tabs. But thanks so much for the advice.

Which plants do you have?

[mkeyz]

On 3/28/2023 at 5:54 AM, rockfisher said:

Which plants do you have?

 

[JettsPapa]

On 3/28/2023 at 4:54 AM, rockfisher said:

Which plants do you have?

Crypts, in particular, do well in my tanks without root tabs, in either pool filter sand or black sandblasting sand substrate.  Some stem plants also do just fine.

[rockfisher]

I love BDBS just by it’s self. You have to use root tabs but you can grow just about anything in it. Crypts and Anubis are going to well.