Capping with sand

What would happen if I capped my eco complete with black diamond blasting sand?

The eco complete has been in the tank for a few months, long enough to have some gunk in it I’m sure. I don’t really do a good gravel vac because I have so many stem plants it’s hard to vac without uprooting the rotala coins.

Mainly just want to cap it for my corys, who I know will be very happy if I have sand. I don’t want to swap substrate because some of my plants are newer and just taking root and I don’t want to disturb them.

 

I did this with my 55, just be sure to vac into the sand every now and again or if you don't mind snails, Malaysian Trumpet Snails are great for keeping the toxic sand pockets at bay (Beware they do breed like mad) I had about 2-3 inches of ecocomplete and capped it with 2 inches of black sand and it ended up creating gas pockets that killed a lot of my stock don't make my mistake! Keep the substrate aerated

 

I use eco complete in one of my tanks. Not sure what you would gain by capping it with sand unless you just like the look. Capping it will prevent detritus from getting down into the eco complete and breaking down into nutrients that your plants can uptake.

 

I use eco complete in one of my tanks. Not sure what you would gain by capping it with sand unless you just like the look. Capping it will prevent detritus from getting down into the eco complete and breaking down into nutrients that your plants can uptake.

I said it in my original post, I want the sand on top for my corys since they’ll be happier with it. I just didn’t know if it was safe to do.

 

Eco-Complete granules are rather light and large, they will mix in with your sand over time and you'll be left with a mixture of the two. Sand is denser than Eco-Complete, and gravity will always win.

Both sand and Eco-Complete are inert, so there isn't much benefit of capping Eco-Complete, other than to change the look of it.