Planted substrate with sand

[FroFro]

So my 29 gallon tank doesn’t have much longer until it’s cycled and I can move my platinum angel babies into their new home. I’ve never raised angels this young and I’ve always wanted platinums, so I’m wanting to really challenge myself. I saw a few aquascaping photos online and it seems you can layer plant substrate and then sand overtop, this allows for great plants and a more natural substrate look, but I have a few questions if anyone can answer.

1) do I need to be concerned about pockets forming beneath the plant substrate layer or just the sand layer that id sift through like normal?

2) Does the plant substrate need replaced as often as root tabs or does it last a long enough time and if so roughly how often does it need replaced?

3) do they come with toxic components or pesticides that I could be exposing to my fish?

4) does the size of the substrate granules matter?

 

[Wills]

You wont get pockets forming in the plant substrate like Aquarium Soil but you need to keep on top of the sand. Planted substrates will eventually run out of nutrients but you can add root tabs to them in the same way you would any inert substrate.

When you first add planted substrates to a tank you will get an ammonia spike so you just need to watch that. Some water changes may be required to keep algae at bay (if you dont have any fish in, otherwise essential for the fish).

You usually get two sizes of substrate, regular and powder, both essentially the same thing just different sizes. The powder has a reputation for being better at growing carpeting plants - the roots can network the smaller grains easier.

One thing to think about though is that eventually the soil and sand will likely mix up and you get a bit of a mush. Are there any plants you have in mind as you may not need the soil. A lot of planted tanks are achievable with sand and root tabs, not IAPLC level tanks but successful long term tanks for fish to thrive in.

Wills

 

[ThatFishGirl6231]

I agree with everything Wills said and he is right, the sand and soil will eventually mix up, so if you don’t like the look of that you can change it out.

 

[Mick85]

Yep, what Wills said! Determine what plants to want to use first as some plants need aquasoil and some can grow fine with just sand and root tabs. Also if you go down the aquasoil base with sand capping route just make sure you put a nice thick layer of sand. If the sand layer is too thin then aquasoil will come through when you disturb the sand to put plants in or when bottom dwelling fish sift through the sand.