Author Topic: New aquarium, help needed with substrate. (Read 3493 times) 8 replies

Marley83 · « **on:** April 06, 2015, 07:59:19 PM »

I am not entirely new to fish keeping as have had a 60l biorb for about 6 years. I am now moving away from the biorb and have just purchased a 190 juwel trigon corner aquarium.

Coming from a biorb I have had no experience with selecting the right substrate and was hoping to get some advice so I don't make any mistakes that will be hard to fix after the tank is cycled and has fish in.

I would like to eventually have the tank quite heavily planted so will need a substrate that is suitable, after reading the plant forum I was thinking of using J Arthur Bowers compost with either gravel or sand on top.

Ideally I would like a light coloured sand on top of the compost but the man in my LFS said I would be best to use gravel not sand as the sand will work its way into the compost and look untidy.

Any advice on the above would be much appreciated.

Regards Marley

Richard W · « **Reply #1 on:** April 07, 2015, 06:52:58 AM »

I have both sand and gravel on top of soil substrate in different tanks and both work fine. I haven't had any problems though the plants seem to grow a little better with gravel. Don't put more than 2 cms of sand on the soil as a deeper layer can affect water circulation to the plant roots. I use J Arthur Bowers Lime free silver sand.

If you use compost, it must be soil-based i.e. John Innes, not the ordinary potting compost which is mainly organic material which will rot away in the tank. And it must be JI No.1 as No 2 and 3 have too much fertiliser included.

Diz1 · « **Reply #2 on:** April 07, 2015, 08:18:33 AM »

Hi there, sorry for butting I on the thread, but I'm going to be changing my substrate during the next few weeks from gravel to sand. I'm going to use tetra complete substrate for the base layer. Will this J Arthur Bowers lime free silver sand be ok on top of this? Also, and I know this isn't really important, but is the sand a true silver colour? I really wanted something more golden looking.
Thanks

Richard W · « **Reply #3 on:** April 07, 2015, 08:37:32 AM »

There's no reason why the sand shouldn't be OK in your tank.

As for colour, I would describe it as "neutral". It very much reflects the colour of your lighting. Where I have a tank with "daylight" tubes it looks paler, more towards silver. However, in another tank adjacent to the first, which has a "warmer" tube, it looks golden! I would hardly believe it was the same sand if I didn't know.

The type of lighting you have has a strong effect on the colour of everything in your tank, sand/gravel, plants, fish. It's something most people don't notice until they change the lighting,

Diz1 · « **Reply #4 on:** April 07, 2015, 08:44:47 AM »

I suppose so. I never really thought of that. My tank is a Juwel 180 Rio. It just has the lights that came with it, but I'm not really sure what they are.

Richard W · « **Reply #5 on:** April 07, 2015, 08:49:53 AM »

My Juwel Rio 125 came with relatively "cool" lighting, it has a gravel substrate which looks quite pale.

If you want a more golden sand, then something like play sand might be better.

Diz1 · « **Reply #6 on:** April 07, 2015, 08:55:35 AM »

Hmm. OK, might look into play sand instead then. Thanks

Sanjo · « **Reply #7 on:** April 07, 2015, 05:58:23 PM »

I've just put Tesco playsand in two aquariums this afternoon Diz.

It is a milky coffee colour (I that makes sense). That's in daylight. I only changed the fish over today so will not put the light on until tomorrow.

I did wash it well and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it didn't cloud the tank at all.

Marley83 · « **Reply #8 on:** April 07, 2015, 06:14:54 PM »

Thanks for the advice, I think I am going to use tropica plant growth substrate with a light grey/white sand. I like the sound of the silver sand so will take a look at that.

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New Aquarium, Help Needed With Substrate.

New Aquarium, Help Needed With Substrate.

Author Topic: New aquarium, help needed with substrate. (Read 3493 times) 8 replies

Marley83

New aquarium, help needed with substrate.

Richard W

Re: New aquarium, help needed with substrate.

Diz1

Re: New aquarium, help needed with substrate.

Richard W

Re: New aquarium, help needed with substrate.

Diz1

Re: New aquarium, help needed with substrate.

Richard W

Re: New aquarium, help needed with substrate.

Diz1

Re: New aquarium, help needed with substrate.

Sanjo

Re: New aquarium, help needed with substrate.

Marley83

Re: New aquarium, help needed with substrate.

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