Planting my tank.... possibility and exploring ideas

[henward]

ok, i am just thinking ill jsut plant my tank.

the pots are working well, plants thriving......but doesnt look as nice.

was thinking i would jsut plant it.

here are some questions:

1) how thick substrate should i have? plants are somewhat large

2) can i use silica sand? dose other substrate provide nutrients or shall i just use alot of clayballs? i like silica sand, the look is nice to me. i dont mind clay balls are cheap and they seemt o work. i dont want to mix my fluorite with the silica sand as i cannot separate them later.

3) i will save the fluorite for when i have another planted tank one day just in case you are wondering, i only have 1 sck and that wont even make a dent in the substrate.

[malevolentsparkle]

silica sand tends to compact which plants dont like.

[henward]

is this the case?

i heard from other sources that some plants like more compacted subst rate...similar to soil.

more so swords i like, low maintenance.

[Joe]

Silica sand is absoloutely fine for plants. Some of the best Dutch tanks are grown on fine river sand, which compacts even more! Substrate should be 7-10cm deep. There needs to be a layer of nutritious substrate first (about 5-6cm) which should consist of JBL Aquabasis Plus and laterite. Then put a layer of sand or fine gravel on top. If you don't want Aquabasis or laterite, you could go broke and spend your money on Seachem flourite and/or onyx sand if you can afford it, or if you want to go cheap you can use JBL clay balls without the nutitious substrate.

How big is your tank? if it's not too big, you can use DIY CO2, and use Nano cup Pollen Glass diffusers. If it's bigger, then use pressurised CO2 if you can afford it. You can get 50mm Pollen Glass Beetle diffusers really cheap (somewhere between $10-20) from fish-street.com. Diffusers need bleaching in a 1:20 solution every now and then, and can be scrubbed with a tooth brush (use a new one because old ones are all gunky).

For fish, have a large shoal of small species. It looks really effective. Make sure you have an odd number too, because it's better on the eye

Do some research on nature aquariums. They are really cool (way better than Dutch tanks) and will give you hours of enjoyment. There is tonnes of info about them on google.

[henward]

its a established tank, no way i will put nutritios sub i dont even nkow how i can actualy get ti tot he bottom.

fluorite and onyx doesnt work with fine substrate, as the fine substrate always goes tot he bottom and the fluorite ends up at the top.

i found that its weird, i guess its cos the finer stuff tends to wriggle downward.

i think i will try silica sand, clay balls, jsut lots of it willb e my option.

id otn wanna go broke and clay balls are cheap, and very effective i found.

as for C02, is it neccesary?

also i have two tanks, shared filtration.... does that help with c02 levels in the tank?

Literally there is about 80 fish in total in the tank tanks.

i heard that anaerobic activity can happen in silica sand and when planted i cant disturb it much..... will having plant roots around help this? should i not really worry?

i love the look of silica!

also, CAN YOU OVERDOSE ON CLAY BALLS?

say, one plant you put one as per insruction.

can i put 2 if its a big plant?

or even 3??

to really give them a boost?

[phoenix44]

On a 1400L tank + sump henward, don't bother with CO2. Really not going to be worth it. especially with your water-changer.

[henward]

yeah, i didnt think so lol

but look, really wanting to plant now (cough should have done that to begin with cough)

anyways..........

mostly sword type plants, easy to grow and look nice!

also discus and swords..... close enough:D

i like how they grow shoots too!

anyways, how deep is the concensus? 10cm? as for anaerobic thingee, any feedback p-44? you have much experience in this right?

and a lot of clay balls.....is that bad?

[phoenix44]

I think 10cm is a tad over kill. 2 inches is pretty normal, and is what I would recommend.

I don't do silica sand cause it compacts, and i don't really do gravel vacs. I prefer proper sized substrate - something you can dig a gravel vac into when you do need to vacuum the gravel.

[livingart]

10cm?

would be minimum for a "deep sand bed"

[phoenix44]

yes. 10 cm is minimum for that purpose, but with his water-change system and stable parameters I don't think its needed really.

plus 10cm high across an 8ft tank is a LOT of sand

*bags not cleaning it haha

[livingart]

The top 1-2 inches of the sand bed is the aerobic region and houses two types of bacteria, the first will convert ammonia into nitrite and the second will convert nitrite into nitrate.

[Adrienne]

I'd be interested in peoples opinions about using sand in a planted tank with discus.

[henward]

its ok, surprisingly....it wont be that bad. silica sand is clean, just a rinse and done, fine particles will come out quickly

so 10cm is 4 inches, say 3 ish as a happy medium.... any down side

im not worried bout the sand, its cheap, 7 dollasr per 25kg

im not worried about cleaning it.

any down side or is it quite good to have that much root space?>

[henward]

should i wory bout anaerobic at the bottom layers then?

or... will having much plants stop this issue of 'poison' coming fro the anaerobic layer?

any feedback there?

the roots of plants s hould suck up and provide aeration in a way right?

i am unsure.

i dont wanna change substrate as i love silica, if its too much of a problem, i may have to..... but if not, i dont mind using clay balls and just buying mroe sand

[phoenix44]

why not daltons? its so much nicer. more natural colour.

[livingart]

i have found the finer sand packs down tighter and may decrease the depth you can use that aerobic activity can take place

as to sand grain size and exact depth of sand? it is a piece of string

the bigger the grain size the greater the depth IMO

[henward]

whats daltons?

pictures? examples?