Aquarium substrate for planted tank

I am getting ready to setup a planted 75 gallon aquarium tank. I have put
about an inch layer of Flourite on the bottom of the aquarium. I want to
use play sand from Toys R. Us or a hobby store for the substrate. My
questions is how hard is this to keep clean? And will it work? I wanted a
white sandy bottom with my plants planted in the flourite substrate. I am
concerned about cleaning and clouding up the tank. using a python suction
cleaning system. Any advice or ideas from the group would be most helpful.
This may not be a good idea and I don't want to learn the hard way when
there is a better way to do this.

Thanks ahead
Dan

Actually, I think sand cleans easier than gravel does. My siphon vacuum
does not remove the sand, but suspends it collecting all the junk in
the sand. (granted I am not using a Python)

I've not had a problem with the sand clouding the water if I rinse it
first. In playsand there seems to be a fine powder with the sand that
will suspend in the water. Just rinse it before you add the sand to the
tank. Sand creates a "puff" in the water when disturbed, but settles
right down.

My aquarium info and pics at:
http://www.geocities.com/spiral_72/Spirals_page.html

I used play sand over a layer of a mix of sand and laterite for about a
year. I found it do be a real pain and have since switched to eco-complete.
I loved the way the sand looked when it was fresh, but after a couple of
months algae began to turn the sand brown and green. It's not that I had a
bad algae problem, it's just very noticeable on the stark white sand. Also
as you plant/replant, etc you will begin to pull up bits of flourite (in
your case), again ruining the look of the pristine white sand.
I also ran into compacting problems and even the very top layer clumping
together in spots that didn't get stirred much.
The eco-complete, on the other hand, even though it's the exact opposite in
color creates a similar stark effect and shows off the plants and fish much
better than the white sand. And, in the year I've been using it, it looks
the same as the day I put it in and my plants grow much better than they
ever did.

By the way I have no affiliation with the maker of eco-complete, just love
the stuff

Tim


"Dan" wrote in message
...
I am getting ready to setup a planted 75 gallon aquarium tank. I have put
about an inch layer of Flourite on the bottom of the aquarium. I want to
use play sand from Toys R. Us or a hobby store for the substrate. My
questions is how hard is this to keep clean? And will it work? I wanted a
white sandy bottom with my plants planted in the flourite substrate. I am
concerned about cleaning and clouding up the tank. using a python suction
cleaning system. Any advice or ideas from the group would be most helpful.
This may not be a good idea and I don't want to learn the hard way when
there is a better way to do this.

Thanks ahead
Dan

I would say if you are going to use 100% sand go for it. But if you want
sand because of the look then you don't want to mix it with fluorite. You
may however like Fluorite's sister Onyx also made by Sachem which looks like
black sand but is designed for plants like fluorite.

I setup my 75g planted tank with fluorite on the bottom and black sand on
the top. After having this for about 6 months I will I would have just used
100% fluorite or onyx.


"Tim McCausland" wrote in message
. com...
I used play sand over a layer of a mix of sand and laterite for about a
year. I found it do be a real pain and have since switched to eco-complete.
I loved the way the sand looked when it was fresh, but after a couple of
months algae began to turn the sand brown and green. It's not that I had a
bad algae problem, it's just very noticeable on the stark white sand. Also
as you plant/replant, etc you will begin to pull up bits of flourite (in
your case), again ruining the look of the pristine white sand.
I also ran into compacting problems and even the very top layer clumping
together in spots that didn't get stirred much.
The eco-complete, on the other hand, even though it's the exact opposite
in color creates a similar stark effect and shows off the plants and fish
much better than the white sand. And, in the year I've been using it, it
looks the same as the day I put it in and my plants grow much better than
they ever did.

By the way I have no affiliation with the maker of eco-complete, just love
the stuff

Tim


"Dan" wrote in message
...
I am getting ready to setup a planted 75 gallon aquarium tank. I have put
about an inch layer of Flourite on the bottom of the aquarium. I want to
use play sand from Toys R. Us or a hobby store for the substrate. My
questions is how hard is this to keep clean? And will it work? I wanted
a white sandy bottom with my plants planted in the flourite substrate. I
am concerned about cleaning and clouding up the tank. using a python
suction cleaning system. Any advice or ideas from the group would be most
helpful. This may not be a good idea and I don't want to learn the hard
way when there is a better way to do this.

Thanks ahead
Dan