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Thread: To have / or not to have sand as base?

  1. #1
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    To have / or not to have sand as base?

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    is it better to set up a tank with or without sand as base? I learnt from a friend that the fish's waste will be broken down when sunken beneath the sand after sometime.

    Any suggestions on the kind of plant combination to make the habitat nice and comfy for the fish?

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    Re: To have / or not to have sand as base?

    If only you are setting up a planted tank, plants with roots in the substrate. The waste of the fishes will sink to the base and take up by the plants as nutrients. If you are purely using sand as the substrate, I don't think the plants can survive. The plants need CO2, fertilizer as nutrient. What I suggest to you is there is those soil in the market that has fertilizer with it.

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    Re: To have / or not to have sand as base?

    If you use to use sand as a base, then you will need to use liquid fertillizers. Simple as that. The plants need to get nutrients and fish poop simply isnt going to do it if you have a heavily planted tank. So long and short of it, if u have a nturient rich substrate, then no need liquid fertillizers. If use sand then liquid fertillizers have to be added. There are however, advantages to using liquid fertilizers, such as abiliyt to contol the amount of nuterients in the water.

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    Re: To have / or not to have sand as base?

    Sand has its pro's and con's.

    Ive had it and still have it in tanks, stay under one and one half inch thick or you will have anaerobic problems. Poops doesnt settle in quickly either, it pockets and sticks to still spots in the tank, also you have to stir it unless you have burrowers and inverts to do that job, but it has to be cleaned by hand still.

    Here are my three sand tanks.
    This one was perfect, never had any issues


    this one got the sand removed.

    and now looks like this


    And last but not least my 40g rio negro biotope.


    Sand isnt bad if you know how to manage it, I didnt use any ferts in the first tank and well all those plants are in the 3rd pic now( got rid of the tank).

    If you have melting plants or plants that melt, do not use EXCEL it will melt them off completely.

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    Re: To have / or not to have sand as base?

    wow your tank looks great!

    could you help me with regards to guppy tank set up, under this thread?

    http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ad.php?t=60306

    Thank you!

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    Re: To have / or not to have sand as base?

    Thanks, I responded to your other thread.

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    Re: To have / or not to have sand as base?

    Hello,

    I use silica sand without any problems. My secret? See Diana Walstad's book "Ecology of the Planted Aquarium. In the mean time, visit http://members.cox.net/newcomb1/biofilter.html.

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    Re: To have / or not to have sand as base?

    What type of sand do you use?
    can we use beach sand? Just wondering has anybody tried that?

    Quote Originally Posted by IlOutfitter View Post
    Sand has its pro's and con's.

    Ive had it and still have it in tanks, stay under one and one half inch thick or you will have anaerobic problems. Poops doesnt settle in quickly either, it pockets and sticks to still spots in the tank, also you have to stir it unless you have burrowers and inverts to do that job, but it has to be cleaned by hand still.

    Here are my three sand tanks.
    This one was perfect, never had any issues


    this one got the sand removed.

    and now looks like this


    And last but not least my 40g rio negro biotope.


    Sand isnt bad if you know how to manage it, I didnt use any ferts in the first tank and well all those plants are in the 3rd pic now( got rid of the tank).

    If you have melting plants or plants that melt, do not use EXCEL it will melt them off completely.

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    Re: To have / or not to have sand as base?

    Quote Originally Posted by cooljazz View Post
    What type of sand do you use?
    can we use beach sand? Just wondering has anybody tried that?
    I have used beach sand before (but only once) and it worked fine. I got some of the best Hygrophila growth I have ever had (the plant extracted the CO2 from the carbonate I guess).

    Cleaning the sand is easy: take a 2L soda bottle, attach a hose to the neck of the bottle after cutting off the bottom and punch a whole in the side of the bottle near the neck. You can then siphon the sand. The pressure in the hose-bottle will suck up the sand but the because of the lower pressure higher up the bottle (due to the whole) the sand will fall back and the dirt will be carried up. You will need to experiment on just how big the make the whole. 1 cm diameter has worked well fore me in the past but I had a heavy pool filter sand substrate.

    tt

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    Re: To have / or not to have sand as base?

    what did you use for the first tank? the sand looks extremely fine.

    Is it safe to use those sand from the beach after cleaning?

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    Re: To have / or not to have sand as base?

    The bowfront had caribsea marine sand in it( marine as in color/size not salt water sand)
    the 52 and the 40T both have play sand, 52 doesnt anymore but it did.


    Ive never used beach sand so I cant say yes or no.

    Its some of the finest sand on the market, www.caribsea.com

    its the marine sand they offer, the black version is tahitian moon sand and black sand looks AWESOME with ANY fish.

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    Re: To have / or not to have sand as base?

    can't find the tahitian moon sand in the website given...

    where can I get this type of sand locally?

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    Re: To have / or not to have sand as base?

    I mix the beach sand with vinegar to check whether it contains a lot of calcium. And it creates a lot of bubbles. Is it safe to use it? Is there any precaution to take before using it?

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    Re: To have / or not to have sand as base?

    Will this be a good substrate for my guppy tank?

    http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...834#post485834

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