Split Substrate Tanks-what are your views? + My Sunken Plane Wreck aqua-scape idea

[fishyfun&fans]

hey all a quick question from your favourite fishy pilot

I'm investing in a bigger tank(Fluval Roma 125) and considering splitting it so one side is gravel one side is sand

sort of a 60/30% split main bulk being fine sand.

what do i need to watch out for here if anything?

also what products would be best to build what I've described?

and some stocking options possibly?

so far i have 8 mollies 1 dwarf gourami 3 guppy fry and a molly fry

i was thinking of a small shoaling group and a centrepiece fish along with a few bottom feeders.

like this but more sand than gravel alot more planted

with a sunk aircraft being the main feature of the tank sourrounded by carpet plants

quick drafted plan to follow

set up cost between £80-£100(pre stock)

 

[Ch4rlie]

Nice idea, usually the substrate do eventually tend to mix over time.

When I see tanks being aquascaped like this, usually have something to separate the two substrates, like rocks, slate or glass/plastic glued to bottom glass sort of like a divider, and a plant or decor over the top to hide/disguise the divider if under substrate and this helps to keep the substrate apart for longer.

I noticed you have written sand+carpet plants, carpet plants usually tend to be higher tech sort of set up otherwise they either grow very, very slowly or not grow at all.

But can be really nice and well worth a go.

 

[Naughts]

Not about split substrates but can you stretch to a bigger (longer) tank?

Poecilia sphenops – Short-finned Molly/Black Molly — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

 

[fishyfun&fans]

cheers @Ch4rlie

I'm going ahead with this plan to have a rockery line separating the gravel side from the sand as if to look like the plane hit the rockery and nose dived into the sand maybe build it up quite high on either side with it slightly lower in the middle with the tail of the plane sitting on the rockery

got a month or so to figure it all out just pricing everything up at the minute

plan to set tank up and do a fishless cycle for a month with the plants and ornaments already in and scaped

then transfer my livestock and remaining plants and ornaments before selling the old 16g

 

[fishyfun&fans]

the roma 125 just fits perfectly in the gap @Naughts

otherwise would of gone for 180

i figure with plenty of hiding spaces its should be enough space in general

 

[FishHobby99]

hey all a quick question from your favourite fishy pilot

I'm investing in a bigger tank(Fluval Roma 125) and considering splitting it so one side is gravel one side is sand

sort of a 60/30% split main bulk being fine sand.

what do i need to watch out for here if anything?

also what products would be best to build what I've described?

and some stocking options possibly?

so far i have 8 mollies 1 dwarf gourami 3 guppy fry and a molly fry

i was thinking of a small shoaling group and a centrepiece fish along with a few bottom feeders.

like this but more sand than gravel alot more planted
View attachment 145989View attachment 145990
with a sunk aircraft being the main feature of the tank sourrounded by carpet plants

quick drafted plan to followView attachment 145992

I have white sand on one half of my axie tank, a 40 G long, and black on the other half. They came to me in a smaller tank with white sand. The pale pink axies tended to blend in, so I did half with black. They move freely back and forth & there’s now a grey transition line. They seem to have no preference.

These guys grew 1.5 inches longer in the few months that I‘ve owned them. Better food & bigger habitat.

 

[fishyfun&fans]

something like this(on an obviously much smaller scale)

imagine being the fish and coming up to this all those holes to explore!

 

[FishHobby99]

That’s what happened to Amelia Earhart’s plane!

 

[fishyfun&fans]

heres one for you a projected aquarium in a plane!

Fish tank in plane

 

[FishHobby99]

Wow! What‘s that? Corporate headquarters for some aeronautics company?

 

[robmcd]

Carpeting plants do not tend to do well with sand as a substrate. I like the idea of where you're going with this though

 

[fishyfun&fans]

Wow! What‘s that? Corporate headquarters for some aeronautics company?

thats a projection system there introducing into airplanes

 

[fishyfun&fans]

Carpeting plants do not tend to do well with sand as a substrate. I like the idea of where you're going with this though

i know theyll grow slowly but im gonna try

i might just fake the carpet plants but have all the rest as real plants

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Each of my three tanks has a divide between sand and Aquasoil.
In each, I've used a long rock, or a series of rocks, to create the divide, so the Aquasoil, (for most of the planting), is deeper than the sand.
I've also tried to avoid perpendicular lines, a these look unnatural.

In my Quarantine Tank, where I used slates for the divide, I hid the slates behind lumps of wood with Java Fern attached.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

i know theyll grow slowly but im gonna try

i might just fake the carpet plants but have all the rest as real plants

Carpeting plants might take in sand...PROVIDED you don't have Kuhli Loach.
(With sand, they like to dig underneath plant roots).