0morrokh

I think it would be cool to have a tank with sand, I really like how it looks. However, I don't really know about it. Do plants grow well in sand? How many Malasian Trumpet Snails should you get? When doing water changes will the siphon suck up the sand? If so how do you stir it up?--is this necessary if you have MTS's?
Thanks.

atmmachine816

No sand is not the ideal substrate for growing plants and is not good to grow plants in, though you can with some of the low light plants, I believe you just hover the siphon over the sand and it sucks the debry up as it doesn't sink into the sand. Yes I think it's still a good idea to stir up the sand every week or so but not sure, only thing I'm completely sure on is no it's not good for plants best to ask butterfly, she has sand.

Butterfly

1) Most plants do not grow as well in sand as other substrates because the debris(poo and stuff) do not get down in the sand like it does gravel.
2) when siphoning the sand just hover over the sand and the siphon will pick up the stuff laying on top. Sometimes I pick up a little sand but not enough to matter.
3) If you have Malaysian Trumpet Snails (MTS) you do not need to manually stir the sand. They do a wonderful job of stiring it up for you. Usually when I'm seeding a tank with MTS I put about six in and they take it from there.
I love my sand tanks they are much easier than the gravel substrates because I can see when I have all the junk out and I'm never sure about the gravel ones . Just yell if you need more information.
Carol

chickadee

I would never have a sand tank with a betta in it as I used EcoComplete which is a finer ground substrate in my tanks until Sara ATE it and got so plugged up that it killed her.* She was so white I could see the black stuff through her hide.* Bettas are so greedy when it comes to food that if there are wafers or anything on the floor that they think is food they will eat it...including small substrate evidently.* If you put other types of fish in there and no betta it may be okay, but I wanted you to not repeat my mistake.* I no longer use anything but Kordon's gravel as it is epoxy coated and makes a good substrate and also supports a good bactrerial bed for the tank.

Rose

0morrokh

Thanks for the info Carol. I htink I might like to try a sand substrate sometime.
I will keep in mind not to use it for Bettas, that's goot to know. How horrible!