# I am now a true believer in inert sand as a substrate.



## kaldurak (May 2, 2010)

I've never had an easier time carpeting a plant, especially since I've always used eco complete. 2 months of growth and I'm staggered.

Aptil 10









July 1









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## mgeorges (Feb 1, 2017)

Yup, sand is great stuff! Thoroughly enjoying it myself.


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## Grobbins48 (Oct 16, 2017)

I have never use anything else, but I do love it. I move things around a lot too, so it helps that I am not worried about a dirt mess! Personal preference!


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## discuspaul (Jul 27, 2010)

Yeah, it's great !
It's too bad that more hobbyists don't come to the same conclusion & trust in PFS.


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## Jeff5614 (Dec 29, 2005)

Eco Complete is the next best thing to an inert substrate.


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## kaldurak (May 2, 2010)

Jeff5614 said:


> Eco Complete is the next best thing to an inert substrate.


I mean, it's nice, and looks nice (black) but the makeup of it pertaining to grain size makes fiddling around with carpet plants more challenging since getting something to stay rooted when the plantlet you're trying to anchor is smaller than a grain of eco..... well, sand is 100% easier to work with for tweezer guided planting of individual tiny stems of plant.


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## nanous (Mar 19, 2013)

I have only used black diamond blasting sand, but I’ve never been satisfied. It seems like the plants are growing out of the substrate. I was planning on doing dirt with a black diamond cap, maybe I should reconsider and just do a deeper layer of sand?


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## Jeff5614 (Dec 29, 2005)

I got what you were saying. My mind was wandering aloud, lol. Nice carpet!


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## kaldurak (May 2, 2010)

How deep is your sand, nanous?



Grobbins48 said:


> I have never use anything else, but I do love it. I move things around a lot too, so it helps that I am not worried about a dirt mess! Personal preference!


I neglected to mention that benefit, thank you! Moving plants around is super easy with sand, no explosion of mulm or dirt if a plant gets jiggled a little too hard during trimming.


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## discuspaul (Jul 27, 2010)

The sand doesn't need to be deep - the less deep, the safer it is (from anaerobic gas pockets) - really - no more than 2" near tank frontage - to 2.5"/3.0" for larger rooted plants in rear tank areas.


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## mgeorges (Feb 1, 2017)

discuspaul said:


> The sand doesn't need to be deep - the less deep, the safer it is (from anaerobic gas pockets) - really - no more than 2" near tank frontage - to 2.5"/3.0" for larger rooted plants in rear tank areas.


I keep a healthy population of Malaysian Trumpet Snails in my sand tanks to keep the substrate well turned. I frequently see air bubbles getting kicked up out of the substrate.


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## Grobbins48 (Oct 16, 2017)

If you check out my journal you will see I run BDBS beyond 7 inches deep. One tank I keep lava rock under the sand, and a second tank I just set up is just sand that deep (with supports to keep it from rolling down).

To each their own, but personally not to worried about that depth of sand. 

Also, for planting I find having minimum 2-3 inches helps. Any less and it can be difficult to keep things planted.


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## nickquinteros (Mar 24, 2017)

are you dosing this tank?

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## kaldurak (May 2, 2010)

nickquinteros said:


> are you dosing this tank?
> 
> Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk



EI Dosing with GLA dry ferts.


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## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

I can't quote, I can't quote.........php error. Help...............

Yeah the PFS is great stuff, like you sad that and EI dosng/co2 will pretty much grow anything, even the "heavy root feeders". A myth debunked


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## Wobblebonk (Feb 13, 2018)

houseofcards said:


> I can't quote, I can't quote.........php error. Help...............


[ quote=Name]stuffandthings[ /quote]
i don't remember how to link it to a post, but also [ img]url[ /img] (both quote or img without the leading spaces)


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## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

@Wobblebonk

Thanks, do you mean do it manually?


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## Wobblebonk (Feb 13, 2018)

It's the only way afaik until they fix this broken stuff... which I hope they do soon.


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## kaldurak (May 2, 2010)

I installed tapatalk so i could avoid the site errors that TPT is experiencing. I can post regular posts, but not pics and some other things. I hate tapatalk, but still want to interact here.


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## Baron Von Wulfen (Jul 2, 2018)

kaldurak said:


> I've never had an easier time carpeting a plant, especially since I've always used eco complete. 2 months of growth and I'm staggered.
> 
> Aptil 10
> 
> ...




Hi. I am new to forum and planning my first planted tank.
I have become a bit confused with all the advanced soils, substrate additives etc I have been reading about and thinking that sand would be a lot less hassle.
I very much the colour of the sand you used as well.
What brand/make is it?
Cheers



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## kaldurak (May 2, 2010)

Baron Von Wulfen said:


> Hi. I am new to forum and planning my first planted tank.
> I have become a bit confused with all the advanced soils, substrate additives etc I have been reading about and thinking that sand would be a lot less hassle.
> I very much the colour of the sand you used as well.
> What brand/make is it?
> ...


Happy 4th! My sand is just pool filter sand from Ace Hardware. It has of course darkened over time as bacteria has colonized the upper layers and mulm working it's way between the upper grains.

The brand is HTH, 50LB bag for like 10 of 15$ composition according to the bag is 'amorphous silica with varying percentages of crystalline silica' 

A quick wave of the vacuum clears up detritus easily, but now I'm getting back to the point where I like my tanks - only visible substrate from the sides of the tank.

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## Baron Von Wulfen (Jul 2, 2018)

Many thanks


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