Play sand with plants
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You most certainly can. Its very common for people to use playsand and supplement with root tabs. Keep in mind though that some plants pull nutrients right out of the water column, so if you stock those plants you will want to use a good aquarium liquid fertilizer for them.
I have 4 tanks running (5th is a fry tank doesn't really count), and 2 of them are nearly all sand. My plants do fine and I dose with liquid fert, and use root tabs. I've got 2 foot gorgeous amazon swords that are thriving in a playsand based tank :3
http://youtu.be/lLoSduCSn08 is an example of one of mine. 100% play- sand substrate, got Root Tabs where they need to be.
I have 4 tanks running (5th is a fry tank doesn't really count), and 2 of them are nearly all sand. My plants do fine and I dose with liquid fert, and use root tabs. I've got 2 foot gorgeous amazon swords that are thriving in a playsand based tank :3
http://youtu.be/lLoSduCSn08 is an example of one of mine. 100% play- sand substrate, got Root Tabs where they need to be.
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768 Posts
It depends upon the kind of plant. Some plants are root feeders. Crypts and Swords tend to be that way. Others are feeders from the water column. Java Fern, Anubias, Water Sprite...just to name a few.
Research the species of plants you have and see if they feed from the water or from the root (or both in the case of Water Wisteria). If you have column feeders, then yeah you really do want to invest in a bottle of liquid fert. It's totally worth it though.
Also thanks :3
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22,556 Posts
As has been mentioned, it depends upon the plant species, and numbers, as well as your aquarium. Nutrients come from fish foods (as fish waste in the substrate) and water changes (the hard minerals here, like calcium, magnesium, some others). Some people find this sufficient, but again it depends upon the plants.
If fertilization is required, the first to use is a complete liquid. Some nutrients can only be taken up via the leaves (potassium, nitrogen, carbon, oxygen, etc) so adding nutrients into the water column will cover all bases to some extent. The water circulates down through the substrate, so liquid nutrients get to the roots of substrate-rooted plants as well as the leaves where this is needed.
With heavier feeders like swords, also using substrate tabs will improve growth. I use the tabs for the larger sword plants and the Tiger Lotus and Aponogeton. But I also have very soft water, near zero GH, and this makes a difference too.
Byron.
If fertilization is required, the first to use is a complete liquid. Some nutrients can only be taken up via the leaves (potassium, nitrogen, carbon, oxygen, etc) so adding nutrients into the water column will cover all bases to some extent. The water circulates down through the substrate, so liquid nutrients get to the roots of substrate-rooted plants as well as the leaves where this is needed.
With heavier feeders like swords, also using substrate tabs will improve growth. I use the tabs for the larger sword plants and the Tiger Lotus and Aponogeton. But I also have very soft water, near zero GH, and this makes a difference too.
Byron.
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2,183 Posts
Just a bit of caution...not all 'play sand' is created (or dug up) equally. Some is very fine grained which led a local expert at Petsmart* to advise against it's use for rooted plants. Very fine grained sands tend to pack tightly in water, making root growth very difficult. I remember getting some for Abbey's sandbox once that was very white and very fine grained. Many here have had good results however with play sands from big box stores (Quikrete brand play sand comes to mind) as they are a coarser grain sand. I believe that pool filter sand also works well.
*Yes, she really is very knowledgeable, prolly because she's also a hobbyist!
*Yes, she really is very knowledgeable, prolly because she's also a hobbyist!
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