# Sand as a substrate: MTS happiness?



## kaegunim (Jan 15, 2010)

At the expense of ever being able to grow crypts, I am going with plain old playground sand as a substrate.

Mock me if you will, but I have heard tell of great sucess using sand, and honestly I was unwise to ignore warnings that a tank would be a money-sink >_<, so I am on a tight leash with the Mrs. ^^;

The sand settles more tightly than I would have imagined when seen through glass, so I am wondering if the MTS I will happily be getting from bae tomorow will be able to plow through it.

I would rather not have to change the substrate at this point, as I cannot imagine a changing technique that is anything other than unpleasent >_<, and I would definitely rather not have to sink too much money into pricey fluorite substrate.

I do have a bunch of violently teal coloured aquarium gravel that came with the tank to fall back on as a last resort, but I hope it never becomes necessary (the disdain with which my friend said "clown puke" to me really set me straight, I guess~)

So what to do for the MTS? I really want them to be able to stir things up and prevent too many noxious outgassings!

Thanks for any help on the subject~


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## bae (May 11, 2007)

The MTS you are getting from me are presently in a sand substrate tank. They are very prolific and the assassin snails in there can't keep up with them.

Sand substrates work just fine, and I've had good results growing vallisneria in sand. In general, you want the sand to get full of live plant roots, which will transport oxygen down into it. Although there's a risk of the lower layers getting anaerobic, because mulm tends to stay on the surface rather than sink as it does in gravel, it's not as big a problem as one might think. Without rooted plants, an inch of sand should be more than enough, and my jungle vals are growing well in about an inch or so.


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

kaegunim said:


> At the expense of ever being able to grow crypts, I am going with plain old playground sand as a substrate.


You can still grow Cryptocoryne spp., even with play sand; while play sand is nutritionally deficient, you can still get by with root tabs, if your goal is to grow them.



kaegunim said:


> honestly I was unwise to ignore warnings that a tank would be a money-sink >_<, so I am on a tight leash with the Mrs. ^^;


I kept telling you it was a money sink, you just didn't listen to me 



kaegunim said:


> The sand settles more tightly than I would have imagined when seen through glass, so I am wondering if the MTS I will happily be getting from bae tomorow will be able to plow through it.


While sand compacts, the most dangerous thing that should be watched for is anaerobic pockets that could form (especially if decomposing organic matter manages to find its way into a pocket, where anaerobic bacteria will begin to decompose it).

MTS should still be able to work through the sand, keeping it well aerated, and thus preventing too much compaction from occurring.

Edit: Ninja'ed.


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## kaegunim (Jan 15, 2010)

Thanks for all the advice~

I admit I was a little concerned by the first sand-settling bloom of turbidity, but caming back this evening, it has settled down. The aquarium is starting to shape up with a few plants ^^

I am looking forward to the arrival of shrimp this saturday! (I had thrown a couple of plants in during the still-cloudy phase, and they got a little dusty, but I hear the dusting power of shrimp is great!)

Thanks again,


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## jimmyjam (Nov 6, 2007)

you might wanna cycle the tank a bit more before the shrimp..depending on the shrimps, they are fairly sensitive to ammonia and nitrates.. so make sure the tank is cycled.. I dont know if this tank is shrimp only but if it is, I would avoid the root tabs due to the copper levels on some of them... but if its just a planted tank, then do it up with some root tabs or azoo slow releasing root fet balls. You can get this stuff from lucky's aquarium


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## kaegunim (Jan 15, 2010)

Is this lucky's aquarium the LAS i have heard tell of?

I have to add it to my list of kid in a candy shop locations to check out when next in toronto. I have also been told to pay menagerie a vist~


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

Lucky's is a store that is situated within Market Village (next to Pacific Mall).

Here are some stores in Toronto:

Lucky's 
Finatics
Menagerie
Big Al's
Indoor Jungle

There are a few more that I only know the location of, but not the name.

LAS likely refers to London Aquaria Society.


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## gucci17 (Oct 11, 2007)

before you add the MTS....

You are aware that they can potentially overrun your tank right? It doesn't look very nice over time when you have white/beige coloured sand. You'll have tons of live/dead shells everywhere. 

Honestly, just stir up the sand yourself every so often. It takes a minute to do.

Once they're in, they're in my friend....no going back at that point lol

Especially since you'll have shrimp in this tank so copper is out of the option.


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

gucci17 said:


> before you add the MTS....
> 
> You are aware that they can potentially overrun your tank right? It doesn't look very nice over time when you have white/beige coloured sand. You'll have tons of live/dead shells everywhere.
> 
> ...


Too late, I know for a fact that the MTS are already in the tank.

They won't overrun the tank as long as feeding isn't excessive, I think.


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## gucci17 (Oct 11, 2007)

Darkblade48 said:


> Too late, I know for a fact that the MTS are already in the tank.
> 
> They won't overrun the tank as long as feeding isn't excessive, I think.


Yes you're right. Food supply is what seems to drive the MTS population. Still doesn't look nice when you see empty MTS shells everywhere over time.


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## kaegunim (Jan 15, 2010)

Well, it is true that MTS have already been introduced, but I am not too too concerned. I had not considered that the empty shells would build up over time, but they do not show up much against the background of the playground sand anyhow, so it shouldn't be an issue. 

In terms of the MTS becoming a plague, I was actually counting on the snail population as an overfeeding warning light as it were~

The problem now is that a plant I put in recently had some pond snail egg hitchikers. Unfortunately. Now I am on a snail popping mission - which is highly recomended as a theraputic! Better even than bubble wrap, I think~


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