# DIY substrate/ layering?



## js97 (Jun 11, 2008)

Hi!.

well i just got into the hobby... 3 weeks ago! Since then, I haven't been able to peel myself away from reading/ catching up on my knowledge about fishes/plants etc. Now i think it's time to apply a little bit of that knowledge.

I currently have a 38 FW Tank with Flourite red. It works great! My plants seem to do well: a few hygros, swords, and pennywort (by far one of the faster growing specimens..

So now, I just got a 70 G tank and trying to figure out how I'm going to keep a well planted brackish water.

I want to start with a rich, 'soily' substrate that i will cover in sand. I'm trying to stay away from store bought mixes, (besides the fact that they overcharge for everything, I feel like experimenting a bit?)

Any one have experience with this stuff?

Top layer will be some sort of silica sand/aragonite (to buffer water) mixture

Main layer, I was hoping to make a pre -soaked peat moss (to leach some of the tannis and nutriets out, with a little play sand (to buffer the acid a bit) 

Bottom layer, or possibly mixed in to main layer, 1 bag of flourite sand (for iron/mineral content)

any comments or suggestions? I don't have much practical experience, mostly just from what I've read in forums and such.

thanks!

p.s. Oh, I almost forgot, I realize plants like a slightly softer water, but I guess i would eventually like to have a few Bumble gobies and maybe a figure 8 puffer or such, thats why i need the slightly higher PH.


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

I used the crappiest soil I could find in the yard, so there would be little organic matter, mixed with garvel for the bottom one inch, a dusting of peatmoss over that and another layer of gravel of an inch and a half. Has been working for 2 years.
You seem to have a few misconceptions. Silica sand and play sand will not buffer, nor should you need it. If you put a large grain substrate (flourite) beneath a fine grain one, the sand will eventually find it's way to the bottom. I wouldn't consider anything finer than Pool Filter Sand for a substrate with plants. My concern would be compacting, especially with the deeper layer needed for plants, and the fact you won't be stirring it up. Might get by that with MTS, but it takes time for them to build up.
Well planted and brackish water aren't two terms normally used in the same sentence, since most plants don't like brackish water.

Welcome to GTA Aquaria.


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

Ditto on the substrate. Most sand is inert. The aragonite/peat mix won't do well for water chemistry, IMO.

Brackish and plants don't go well together, especially with specimens of plants that are widely available to the hobby. Granted, with enough research and searching you'll be able to set up a brackish water tank with plants, it won't look anything like the tanks that you'd like it to look like.

It might be easier to start with a FW system, and get good at that, then move onto brackish. There are also puffers that are FW, so you can keep these varieties too.

Welcome to the forum.


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

You are going to have trouble growing many plants in brackish water...

If you are new to the hobby, I will strongly suggest that you do not try to fool around, change or play with the pH of your water. Work with what you have. Just trust me on this one


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## js97 (Jun 11, 2008)

^^ I guess I'm being a little ambitious? lol.

yeah a few fresh water puffers.... but it seems like their all either small, or super large (the easy ones to get anyways).

Maybe i"ll give it a test run in a small container with clippings.


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