4 replies to this topic

[(Anthony)]

hey guys, turning my malawi display to a tropical community and was hoping to having a few plants in it.
ive been doing some research and read that the plants dont do very well in sand for there substrate, is this true and is there ways around it??
i wont be write into it like some of the other posts, will just put in some plants and make it look good and use a liquid fert for them, will probablly add in a CO2 kit as well if needed.

also what are the do's and dont's to keep my plants healthy. i have some java fern and vallis in atm and they are thriving,
tank is 4 x 18 x 2, have a 3 ft light with a power glo light, will be getting a twin globe light.

stock list will just be your average tropicals
neons, cardinals, threadin rainbows, rams, brochis and other tetras which i like,
want everything to do well but dont wont to spend heaps of money to get it right.

cheers guys any help is much appreciated.

Anthony,

[scarab]

Indeed plants do not do well in plain sand but there are ways around it.

Firstly, are you planning to use sand as in pool filter or play sand, or river gravel? pool filter / play sand have the problem of being so small it compacts easily thereby preventing oxygenated water from reaching these compacted areas, forming anaerobic zones. Some people get around this by using undergravel heaters or adding malaysian trumpet snails.

Plants wont do well in such setups as these gravels lack nutrients. One way around this is by doing diy substrates. google it. Generally it involves adding a first layer of laterate, followed by peat, followed by blood and bone, then marble chips then cover with gravel. or something along those lines, cant remember off hand. alternatively you can supplement by using root tabs among the plant roots and doing ferts as well. Personally I cant afford bags and bags of those special substrate so I use gravel mixed a 2 bags of those special substrate. I just supplement the rest with root tabs and ferts (dosed every other day) and the shrimp poop adds a little more (do a search to have a look).

If you want to have a mantainence minimal tank, try to do a less high tech tank. You will have lesser algae worries as well. You can use plants like swords, java fern, anubias, narrow leaf fern and such. These plants do not need as much light to grow and you wont need to maintain it as often as. You can also make do with lesser fert dosing. But for swords, they are heavy root feeders so you will need to put some root tabs for it.

[(Anthony)]

cheers for the reply scarab, the sand is playground sand, might put in some krystal black sand, more course than the plain sand think its a 2mm grain,
will be looking at adding plants such as anubias, java sp. swords but also will be adding in plants to get a theme going,

will look at changing the substrate within the week and see what i can chuck it.

do you think i can get away with the co2 kit?? if not will look at adding one in as well

muchly appreciate it

Anthony,

[scarab]

eh...may I suggest that you reconsider mixing playsand and krystal black sand? this is because it will look weird with a mixture of white and black. and do note that after some time as you plant and remove and if there are other fishes like loaches, the smaller sand will end up at the bottom while the bigger krystal black will be on top.

If you are using two t8 tubes, it is sufficient to keep the low light plants alive and some other low light stems like hygrophila polysperma, vallis, ludwigia alive. the stems will do better with co2 but if you stick to the other plants like anubias, swords, ferns and bolbitis, keep in mind that the amount of co2 needed is related to the amount of light there is. So if you stick to the low light plants you can make do without co2. the fishes will produce co2. you can also supplement with flourish excel available from vebas. Its alot cheaper then a co2 setup.

[(Anthony)]

cheers mate, nah wasnt goin to mixd the 2 substrates togeter, will just be using the krystal black sand, looks great,
appreciate your help, will stay with the plants that dont rely on co2 as much and see how i go, when i get more confident will look at putting in others,

thanks for your help mate

Anthony,