In a few weeks I plan on buying some Flora Max or Flourite and adding it to my Aquarium. I have plants in the my ten gallon now, but I am going to take some of the gravel out and add one of those two substrates and add a lot more plants. My questions is, can I add the substrate with the fish in or will it kill them when it clouds the water? I can net them all and do it, but I want to know what would be less stressful, and have a better chance of not losing fish. I have eight neon tetras, two julii cory catfish, one hillstream loach, and one mini mexican lobster. Any help will be appreciated.
After watching that video, I just might use sand. That's a lot of great ideas guys, and I have a pretty good idea of what I'm going to do now. I don't want too crazy of a slope, but want to give the tank a little dimension. I think I may be able to work with sand. Maybe a few rocks in the back, and cover them with sand will help with the slope. I appreciate all the help guys.
FWIW I used sand and it worked just fine for live bearers but I also noticed neon tetras did not fare well.
But with peat moss in the sand they lived for years.
decades later (literally :lol I finally measured hardness and found the tanks with just sand became very "hard". 20 degrees carbonate hardness (KH), and 35 degrees for GH.
but with peat moss in the substrate the hardness did not increase for the 3 years Imeasured.
So now I recommend using the peat moss as the bottom layer in the substrate.
If I put the sand on top of the gravel I have in there, would it be better? I would think it would keep all the bacteria in, and make it easier on the fish. I don't have a lot of gravel as it is, so it wouldn't be overkill on substrate. Beaslbob, I thought sand was inert?
It is supposed to be. Some sand though is silica free tropical play sand and is actually calcium carbonate and does reace with water increasing hardness.
I just read that peat moss can cause really bad ammonia problems too. I'm not saying you are wrong, but just asking because I just read a different opinion. Thanks for the feedback.
I guess it depends on the peat moss you use. Some have added ferts for potted plants and therefore probably have ammonia. I use canadian sphagum peat moss at $13 for the large plastic bale.
(notice at the bottom of the page a line 'fertilizer enriched---NO'.
According to a site in canada peat moss will actually retain ammonia then release it later. Don't know how that works in aquariums but it sure shounds like a good thing in a cycling tank.
The layering is to trap the peat under the sand so the tank is almost totally clear right from the start. Of course you also have to plant the plants before filling the tank for that to work also.
It make for a nice red substrate in addition to being good for the tank.
I have not seen ammonia spikes with this system. but then I do let the plants work on the tank a week before adding fish.
Sometime I will get an initial nitrate spike which goes down to unmeasureable levels in 3 weeks or so.
After a few weeks and wtih high bioloads PH in all my tanks with or with peat moss are above 8 with the api high range test kit.
Of course none of this is cast in stone. Or even sand for that matter. I'm sure everyone has their particular favorite methods. That is just what works for me
Play sand sounds like the way to go. It's cheap too. I'll put in some MTS to help out too. Maybe I'll let them take off a bit, and if need be I'll get some Assassins. Thanks for the help. I'll post pics when I get it all changed over.
I would add some peat mass also. to prevent hardness increases over time.
FWIW I do nothing for snails.
What happens is I do get a snail bloom but a year later the tank is down to only a few. I guess the population is self limiting.
my .02
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