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Hi all, I intend to make an extencive rebuind on my tank, I'll change the sand, so I ask: I know that there are some things, like special earth to garden plants or something , that one can add to the gravel to make the plant's grow stronger. what's that all about?

I used to put a laier of gravel then special fertelizer to aquariums and them another laier of gravel. How about that "clay based" gravel? Is that any good?

Last edited by smaug at 14-Nov-2005 06:20

Hi,
If you are actually going to use sand, as in beach sand
grain size, then you may have problems down the road.

The substrate in a planted tank should be around
3-4 inches thick. The thickness,combined with the small
grain size allows for the grains to compact and the small
spaces between the grains are easily cloged with mulm.
This condition leads to areas of anaerobic bacteria that
produces black "dead" areas and the product of those areas
is Hydrogen Sulfide. Hydrogen Sulfide is a gas that smells
like rotten eggs, and is toxic to fish and plants.

Because of the small grain size, each grain is very light
in weight. They are easily stired up into the water column
through routine maintenance and even by fish flitting away
in a hurry, or large fish rooting about in it. While t
the grains are up into the water colum they can be
drawn into the filter and will ruin any moving parts
they come in contact with. Wrapping a thin sheet
of sponge around the intake holes and securing the
sponge with a rubber band will act as a "prefilter"
and keep the grains out of the filter intake.

In a planted tank, you cannot vacuum the
planted areas and in a sand substrate, this leads
to compaction around the roots, and anerobic areas.

layering substrates is something folks have done for ages.
Generally they place a layer of a "clay" as the first layer
against the glass. Usually an inch to and inch and a half
in thickness, it is laterite, or kitty litter (unscented
ONLY), or flourite, or a flourite/laterite (50/50) mix.
Others use potting soil (no additives {NO vermiculite or
foam beads}). Potting soil can produce its own problems
and is best left to "experts" or those emulating one of
Diana Walstad's tanks from her book "THE ECOLOGY of
the PLANTED AQUARIUM."

After installing the bottom layer, you then add the cap
layer, also about an inch and a half thick. Then plant
the plants in the upper layer taking care not to disturb
the lower layer. The plant roots will grow into the
lower area.

When vacuuming the tank, take care not to disturb the
lower area as that will cloud the tank badly and you will
need a Diatiom filter to clean it. Likewise whenever you
uproot a plant, you will draw particles of clay through
the cap layer and into the water also clouding it.

To keep the layers loose, especially in a sand substrate
I would also add the MTS snail, and some corry catfish
that will help minimize the packing and aeriate the
sand at least partway down.

Frank


Last edited by FRANK at 14-Nov-2005 09:00

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if you hvent bought the sand yet i would go with pool filter sand. it 1 mm size is perfect for plants and is less e to aneorobic spots. i currently have a layer of pool filter sand with root tabs with a layer of river pebbles and it works great for my plants . i have mts's in the tank to make sure the sand wont go sour. hope this helps