Substrate thoughts and opinions

[NatureNut]

I'm going to be setting up 2 more tanks in the next week or so. I'm wondering what substrate people would recommend. It seems like many people like play sand, but I want to hear experiences and thoughts and suggestions based on what I want to do with them. Both will be planted with easy plants. I'm not yet crossing the line into CO2 and huge banks of flourescent lighting.

16g Community tank, moderately planted and housing likely some sort of school of tetras, 1 betta (male), a couple of ottos and a few shrimp.

10g tank - home for (hopefully) prolific Cherry shrimp and possibly a couple of finned tank mates... not sure yet on what we'll put in with them. I also want this one planted.

I have some gravel on hand here... bought a bucket o' black gravel for a buck at the auction, but if it would be better to go with sand or something else I'd rather find that out now than after I have it them all set up. LOL

[CalgaryFan]

I used playsand for my 52 gallon. It is super cheap but make sure you wash the crap out of it. I stood outside washing out a pale of the stuff in the middle of the winter for like an hour and it made alot of difference. You will want to wash it out sparingly as well, like don't put a whole lot of sand in the pale at once or it seems like it never gets clean, trust me :P. I used some other kind of sand as well, but I bought it from a petstore in Camrose I think it was called marine sand for freshwater tanks or something. The sand was white and the easiest ever to clean, but each bag was 7.99 and it was only a 5 lb bag, when play sand was like 5.00 or something for a 50 lb bag heh.

[Sam Chicklets]

I don't have too many tanks with gravel anymore. I find the sand makes maintenance easier, and the plants grow much nicer roots in it.

[werner]

Anything with a 1-3mm grain size works well for plants. If it's much bigger, they can't root well; if it's smaller, it compacts too easily. Sandblasting grits are great, because they're a good size and very clean (no rinsing!) And if you're inclined, you can mix it with a plant substrate like Flourite, or put some laterite as a bottom layer.

[jvision]

I had CS in a tank w. Play Sand, and the males were hard to see, and the females were washed out. I changed them over to a dark gravel, and it's WAY better.

Also, I find that sand is good for fine-rooted plants like pygmy chain sword; but, a bit too fine for larger plants. You'll probably want to go with something like Sil 8 or 9.

[corrosionjerry]

I have playsand in one of my tanks and find that it looks great but it is a royal pain to clean it ... You have to hoover your vac at the right distance from the sand or else you start vacuming up the sand... If I set up another tank with sand I am going to use a larger grit just as Jason has mentioned..

There are several other good growing media products in the LFS now that are great options they just cost an arm and a leg... I would check them out if I were you..

Good luck

[Danzig]

i use pool filter sand in 3 of my tanks, 2 of which are planted.

I find it looks way better, vaccums easy and some of the fish enjoy it more than gravel.

I have only used PFS as far as sand goes but i highly reccomend it.

Its heavy enough that it doesnt stir up easily and when vaccuming it doesnt get sucked out.

[NatureNut]

I'm liking the idea of a larger grit sand... almost like the best of both worlds. I think on jvisions advice I'll use my black gravel for the CS tank and set the 16g up with sand. Now to find a source of large grit sand in my area... might have to run to Calgary tomorrow after all.