# Setting up a planted tank with sand



## colio (Dec 8, 2012)

Hey all!

I am about to upgrade my little 10 gallon to a 35 gallon. I have some plans now (Anubia, ozelot swords, wisteria, crypt, val, etc) and will be transferring it all over. I want my new tank to, in the long term, be a heavily planted tank with a very high level of total ground cover. 

I'm going to set it up with sand, as I have read that it is a very good substrate. I also like the look of it and it seems that it may be cheaper. i was planning to use some play sand from Rona (which is label as washed beach sand). I will wash the sand very carefully before I use it. 

I also have some (uncolored) gravel from my tank now. Maybe my current gravel isn't as small as it should be. I also have some lasterite (enough for a 35 gallon, according to the recommended usage). 

I'm on a budget, but I want to do the best job I can of setting up my tank for my planties. Because I have a set up tank, I don't plan to do the usual nitrogen cycle. I'll add my old filter to the new tank plus the plants, and I think that should be enough to kick start the cycle and prevent a nitrogen ammonia spike. 

If anyone has any advise for the switch I am happy to hear it. I an new to aquaria in general, and have only had living plants for a few weeks. Not to seem snarky, but Id prefer to avoid people osting supposition when they don't really know the answer. But if anyone has some knowledge or experience to share, I am grateful for any hep and advise. 

PS: My current fish stock is 7 neon tetra, 8 or 9 ghost shrimp, and a betta. My tank is actually over heated (87 F) right now for ick treatment, which has been very very detrimental t some of my plants. So i'll wait a bit to move them, so they can regrow.


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

I buy playsand from homedepot.

what works for me is filling a bucket about a third of the way with sand and doing a combination of just running water into it and letting light stuff over flow, running lower and higher flows while stirring it a bit. When all seems good, I dump out all the water I can, refill, mix it up, wait a bit and drain water again and then repeat.

Basically you are done when you have the bucket full of water and after stirring it the water is clear almost instantly. Means all the light particals are gone and only the higher density is left.

You end up losing probably 20 to 30 percent of your starting volume of sand after removing all the lighter particals

Note, I have a short hose that I attach to my laundry sink that I use for this process.

It usually takes min 5 to 10 min to clear up a bucket, but I think its usually about 15 min for me.

Spending more time rinsing the sand before putting it in the aquarium saves you doing extra water changes to try to clear it up later and saves your filters and any other moving equipment. When I rinse play sand, there is no cloudy water in my tanks at all.

Moving your filter over will make cycling almost nothing. When I set up a new tank and use used media I barely even worry about the bio load.

Waiting to move over is a good idea as you have less dosing to do on a smaller tank. I do believe 87 is too high, I think the normal is 80 to 82 for treating ick, but im not positive on this. I do know that aquarium salt helps alot with ick.


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

My personal preference for growing plants is gravel of about 1/8" grain size. Fine sand compacts too much, in my opinion. People have successfully grown plants in sand, however, although I am not one of them. Right now I have vals doing very well in plain gravel, have grown thousands of chain swords in plain gravel, and a variety of plants in gravel mixed with some soil in the bottom layer. My experience with swords is that they do better with soil in the mix whether in a pot or in the actual substrate.Whenever you have plants having different requirements, you will have varying types of growth, so don't be surprised if some plants do better than others.


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## baozi2089 (May 17, 2009)

Sounds like an an exciting project! I like your choice of plants as well, especially the ozelot. It is an awesome looking plant.

I'm concerned a little bit about the substrate tho. Sand is inert, laterite is rich predominantly in iron and aluminum I'm not sure about other micros. In the long run, I see the need to dose micros. As you know, swords and crypts are both heavy root feeders, thus require a rich substrate. Why not get some root tabs and scatter them along the laterite and cap it with sand to allow slower release. Your swords and crypts will really appreciate it. Especially ozelot with orange flame like markings.

I don't see a problem with using the old filter. It'll be just like after doing a big water change, as long as you don't introduce new stock very quickly. 

Anyways, have fun with the new build and update us soon!

Cheers


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## colio (Dec 8, 2012)

Thanks for the advice. It seems that sand is a controversial choice. Many people swear by it, and others much prefer fine gravel. Well, I grabbed some sand, so I guess I'll make use of it and hope for the best. 

It will be a few days before I can actually do the set up, but I hope it goes well. I got a 5 gallon bucket, into which I will transfer most of my fish for a short period (around a day) while I let the knew tank quick start its cycle. 

I also have the gravel I used on my 10 gallon tank. I am thinking I'll try to do some research on which plants do better in sand vs. gravel, and maybe even have different "sections" of substrate. Sort of. I saw in another post some links to videos by Amano on using sand, and I plan to watch them. 

Do you guys think I can mix laterite in the lower layer of sand and expect it to benefit the plats as it would with gravel?


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## SignGuy (Mar 3, 2012)

I use silica sand in my 46gal planted tank and it seems to work well. I use silica sand purchased from a local lumber / landscape supply company and is really didn't need much cleaning at all vs. what I've read about play sand. I think it's a bit whiter too. I do use root tabs and dose micro ferts occationally but otherwise all my plants seem to do well.

The biggest problem I find is getting the roots to grab onto somthing. Since the sand is so fine, some of my larger plants tend to work their way out of it quite easily. I laid down some eggcrate under the sand and that seems to help. You just need to find a way to keep the plants in place for a while until the roots grab hold.


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

I use play sand and it works for me.

I did recently try a tank with soil and then sand on top. Didn't work! When you move a plant and the dirt comes up, you just can't get it back down. I have a 25 gallon long that I have to find some place to dump the soil/sand mix.

Soil under gravel does work though.

Play sand is probably the cheapest substrate you can get. I use it like many others. It is easy to clean, you just skim the top of it with your gravel cleaner. Sand also compacts over time and you can get bad gas pockets. You need to loosen up sand once a month to fix this.

I have alot of catfish and loaches so I like the idea of sand being better for those fish.

Subtrate choice is often decided by the look desired, price, benefits and availability.

I would love to have a black sand, but I cant find any affordable source.

Another option for sand is pool filter sand which ive heard good things about but never seen it in use myself.


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## Mlevi (Jan 28, 2012)

If you're going sand substrate (not capped with gravel), then get some MTS. They help tremendously to turn the soil, and they don't uproot plants. 

Couple o' my tanks have playsand substrate (although none of them contain rooted plants). I could see gas bubbles forming in the substrate, and that can be harmful to fish. I'd release the bubbles by tamping the sand right before a water change. However, since I added MTS to those tanks, I've not had that problem at all. Added advantage is they'll help turn the leftover fishfood into mulm. 

Al.


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## Spicoli (Dec 11, 2012)

I used pool filter sand on my tank, it works great, and my sagitaria are actually spreading nicely.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

colio said:


> I'm on a budget, but I want to do the best job I can of setting up my tank for my planties. Because I have a set up tank, I don't plan to do the usual nitrogen cycle. I'll add my old filter to the new tank plus the plants, and I think that should be enough to kick start the cycle and prevent a nitrogen ammonia spike.


Look into mineralized top soil if you want a cheap and effective substrate.


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## NVES (Apr 21, 2010)

My advice is to stay away from sand if you want a planted tank - harder to clean and after a couple months it goes inert and all plants die.

Reg gravel works perfectly fine for me; lots of loose places for the roots to go, and easy to clean.

Just my 2cents

Cheers,
Aaron


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

NVES said:


> My advice is to stay away from sand if you want a planted tank - harder to clean and after a couple months it goes inert and all plants die.
> 
> Reg gravel works perfectly fine for me; lots of loose places for the roots to go, and easy to clean.
> 
> ...


I'm curious, why do you think sand would "go inert" after a few months but not regular gravel? Both are inert and don't have any nutrients.

Sand is the easiest medium for plant roots to propagate, and you should never clean the substrate of a planted tank.


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## NVES (Apr 21, 2010)

Just saying that has been my experience with sand.

I agree my main tank I never clean the gravel; which is a plus cause its a 150 tall and I can't reach the bottom with the help of a ladder.

With gravel it seems that with good water flow the nutrients from fish waste gets down there and helps the plants. I've 6 tanks going all fully planted with gravel only.

Just saying....


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

NVES said:


> Just saying that has been my experience with sand.
> 
> I agree my main tank I never clean the gravel; which is a plus cause its a 150 tall and I can't reach the bottom with the help of a ladder.
> 
> ...


I agree that you can grow some plants just fine in regular gravel. I've done that myself.

I've never tried using sand just by itself. I always use a bottom layer of mineralized top soil. Right now, I have two tanks planted like that, one with tahitian moon sand, and another with cheap play sand. I actually prefer the finer texture of the play sand as my cories seem to love digging through it.

When it comes to sand, I would either use some malaysian trumpet snails, or plant rooted plants. This ensures that the bottom will not go anaerobic.


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## colio (Dec 8, 2012)

I want to avoid the snails. my wife HATES them. However, I will be using some nice rooted plants (details still uncertain). I also will have some Ottos, kuhli loaches, and shrimp (ghost, plus another, maybe red cherry or amano). These guys will be my clean up crew to help keep the substrate clean. plus I gather the loaches will dig, which may help keep gas from forming. 

I also hope to get some carpeting down, on at least one side of the tank. I may leave the right side less planted, with some nice rocks, and bigger leafy plants. I have a fairly large, quite broad anubias, which I'll use more towards the front on the right side. It shadows a lot that is beneath so I'll try to use smaller low light plants, in less abundance, on that side. I'll put some other tall, broad plants as well, and then put Val or water sprite or something tall and fast growing, and thick, in the back. I want a fully grown background look, I think. 

I also plan to use some of my gravel on the left side, which will be more heavily planted. I may make a gravel "hill" at the back, and put some plants that do better in gravel, and grow larger, there.


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## GAT (Oct 8, 2011)

Fist of all, its hard to avoid snail if you are going to keep planted tank. You can take certain measures to minimize that problem.

I have play sand but I don't like it. It is a cheap substrate but I don't like the way it looks. I would prefer white sand but the play sand from home depot looks crap to me. Since you want a planted tank why not go with what solarz suggested?


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## colio (Dec 8, 2012)

GAT said:


> Fist of all, its hard to avoid snail if you are going to keep planted tank. You can take certain measures to minimize that problem.
> 
> I have play sand but I don't like it. It is a cheap substrate but I don't like the way it looks. I would prefer white sand but the play sand from home depot looks crap to me. Since you want a planted tank why not go with what solarz suggested?


I will actually look into the mineralized top soil. I am not sure the bag of sand I bought is enough anyways. And i plan to keep my existing 10 gallon running as a lightly planted shrimp tank, so I can't pull all my gravel out for the new tank.


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## GAT (Oct 8, 2011)

Or you can get miracle grow organic potting mix and top it off with gravel. This will provide your plants with all the nutrients they need. Same with topsoil too but it takes more time prep the topsoil.


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