Is it too late to add substrate/sand?

[gumball]

Hi guys, after long at everyone's beautiful tank with sand/substrate, I'm considering adding it to my tank. It might mean I can add some rooted plants too! Currently just some mini fissiden tied to a small wood. So right now my tank has a few guppies and some shrimps(diminishing by the day). I've had the tank for almost 2 months now.

What would you guys recommend as a substrate? I see a lot of people with the small black round ones. I believe that's for planted tank? I don't think my tank will be heavily planted. Maybe some java fern and some mosses on small drift wood. Substrate will probably be for decorative purposes. I saw recently in kittyCat's 26 liter tank that has some rather nice looking white sand. Does anyone know where I can get that?
A few considerations I have,
I noted my guppy food constantly sinks to the bottom of the tank right now, will food get stuck in the sand and turn brown if I use white sand? Should I get the black round substrate that a lot of people use?

[VSGenesis]

Just my opinion and members do correct me if I'm wrong.

1) Adding substrate especially those that are for plants is a big "no no" when you already have an established tank. You get ammonia spikes and you will need the tank cycled. A sudden spike of ammonia in water will take time before your BB catch up. Of course, you can do that but if you are going to do it, remove the fauna. Remove water, then add the soil. Add back the water. If you use ADA Amazonia New, the ammonia will spike between 4-8. And yes you are right, those small black rounded soil are usually for plants. ADA, ANS, Gex and a few others carries such soil
2) I might not be the best person to advice on what sort of substrate you should go for but before all this "miracle" soil, we use lapis, soil etc. KittyCat is using fine sand. A few brand carries that. Nile Sand from ADA is nice but i don't seem to be able to find it. Gex carries it too. I got mine from Seaview. Oh and the reason why she chose that sand is because of her Corydoras. Corys love to dig the bottom. Quartz or any sharp substrate will be bad for them.
3) It is a hassle to clean tank that has sand. At least for me. Gravels are easier of course. Worst to clean is a mixture of soil and sand. (See those folks that uses soil and then they use the sand to make a path, river or an open area for their scape)

Get kittycat's input on how she clean her tank.

[hardric]

If all you want is java ferns & moss, then there is no need for soil.
If you want to put sand, its no problem. Just put the sand slowly in. Put in a small scoop, lower down slowly till near the bottom and let go.
I have no problems cleaning my sand, just put a gravel cleaner slightly above and the dirt, which will be lighter than the sand, will be siphoned away.

[gumball]

Can I just plant the fern into the sand? Any recommended sand? My shrimps and fishes should be fine if they accidentally ingest the sand right? Cause the food sinks really quickly..

[hardric]

You cant plant the fern into the sand. It should be tied to a drift wood. Dont worry, the fish wont eat the sand. If they do, they will spit it out.

[felix_fx2]

Just to add on to hadric, if you play fern or rather thick rhizome plants in sand the rhizome will slowly darken and die.

[gumball]

oh right! cool! thanks guys, I'm tempted to get white sand like kittyCat's or similar!

[gumball]

hi guys, what about Dennerle Nano Shrimp Quartz? is this the one that they use in the shrimp tanks at poly art?