# which aquatic soil?



## shaner (26 May 2011)

hi evertone
im planning on getting a 330 litre it comes with 3 39w t5's and is going to be filtered with 2 externals!
i want half the tank bare apart from a tall piece of bogwood with java ferns and moss attached to it the
other half i would like fairly planted with maybe vallis and amazon swords and maybe some more types of moss!
what aquatic soil would be best for these types of plants? would i only need to put it in the planted half? i plan to cover the soil with black moon sand! 
i probably wont be running any co2 but will be adding flourish excel!
does all this sound ok?
many thanks
shaner


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## CeeJay (26 May 2011)

Hi shaner
Welcome to the forum. 
All sounds pretty good to me.
You can use virtually anything you like as substrate. It doesn't have to be designer label stuff. You will just need a good dosing regime.
Word of advice though. If you cap it with sand, the sand will eventually work it's way into the lower substrate and may look a bit messy. Avoiding bottom feeders will delay this process somewhat.
If you decide to run with an inert substrate, you can add a sprinkling of Osmocote underneath it, but this is not a necessity as your plants will receive all their nutrients through their leaves when there are no ferts available from the substrate.

Running a 330l tank on flourish excel alone is going to be a bit on the expensive side. Initial outlay for a gas system is greater but then, after that, it's cheaper to run   .

Have fun setting up


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## shaner (27 May 2011)

cheers mate
i did think that about the sand falling through!
would i be better off just using seachem flourite black sand?
would this help the plants or is it just coloured sand?
can the plants ive mentioned grow without co2?
thanks


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## CeeJay (28 May 2011)

Hi shaner

The Seachem fluorite black sand you mention will probably have some nutrients either soaked or baked in.
However, you can use ordinary 'black' sand if that's the effect you're after. I've seen plenty of tanks on here that use B & Q 'play' sand and the plants do fine in that   . You will just have to fertilise the water column instead, no big deal.
The plants you mention can certainly grow without CO2. One of my tanks is a low light (1 wpg), no CO2 tank and I have all of these plants in it, and they have adapted fine. This tank has been running for nearly 2 years   All I do with this tank is feed the fish and feed the plants   .
The key to running a tank with no CO2 (or any tank for that matter), is the lighting. Keep the lighting low and you will be fine.
If you increase the lighting, the plants production rate goes up, therefore if you do not supply CO2 & ferts in the right quantities, this is where most peoples problems start. Failing leaves/plants and algae are the most common.


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## shaner (28 May 2011)

thanks again mate
when you say  "keep the lighting low" do you mean the wattage of the lights or the duration theyre on for?
if i was to go with co2 what make and type would you go with considering they seem pretty undemanding? i havent seen any for 330 litres!
cheers


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## CeeJay (6 Jun 2011)

Opps   
Sorry shaner, missed this.


			
				shaner said:
			
		

> when you say "keep the lighting low" do you mean the wattage of the lights or the duration theyre on for?


Reduce the wattage if you can.



			
				shaner said:
			
		

> if i was to go with co2 what make and type would you go with considering they seem pretty undemanding? i havent seen any for 330 litres!
> cheers


A lot of us go down the fire extinguisher route as it is the cheapest option. You will hear terms like 'food grade', 'medical grade' etc. when researching CO2. My advice is don't bother with any of those. Plants don't care what grade of CO2 you use, so use the cheapest you can find. You can pick up 2 kg Fire extinguisher off ebay for anything between £3 and £15. My local LFS sells 'Aquatic CO2' at £80 for 2kg   . CO2 is CO2 is CO2. 
You may need to consider 5kg bottles on your size tank, or you'll be changing the bottle every 5 minutes.
Here's a good read to be going on with. FE CO2


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