TAJ-Coral
Member
- Joined
- 6 Oct 2012
- Messages
- 82
Hello all! Been a long time since I've set up or maintained a planted tank now, feeling very out of the loop even after trying to read up again so looking for a bit of guidance please. I've got a large 6ft aquarium that I'm setting up and want to have some aquatic plants in to keep the display looking natural and benefit the fish, as well as growing some houseplants out the top riparium style. However, I also have had a lot of Corydoras gifted to me by someone getting out of the hobby so a top layer, or large area, of sand is a must as I have other catfish going in here too. I have hard tap water (around 13 dgh according to SE water) that I ususally split 50/50 with RO water to make the water more moderate for the fish but I could be persuaded to use re-mineralised RO if it makes enough of a difference as the tank is 600L or so and would be a big task at water change time!
This project has been very delayed by life (don't ask) and it's been sat there for over a year and a half and all my previous plans have left my head so I'm trying to piece together bits I've bought and what I want to do now. I've got these mesh filter bags and some left over Tetra Active Substrate and some Tropica Aquarium Soil. Would these work as a mix in the bags and capped with the sand, without breaking down and surfacing above the sand? This probably isn't enough left to go around so I've also been looking at the Sanicat / Kittyfriend pink cat litter as an alternative to the Tetra clay substrate but is Tropica Aquarium Soil still one of the better soils? Has something 'better' surfaced recently? My main concerns are a large-ish grain size as to not escape the netting and somewhat resistant to breaking down into a powder, at least for a while. Is a 50/50 mix in the bags a good idea? I'm thinking some nutrients in the substrate will be beneficial as the riparian plants may be faster on the uptake of water column nutrients or am I overthinking this? Basically I have gotten myself a bit overwhelmed and would love to hear what everyone else would put under sand like this! Thanks
This project has been very delayed by life (don't ask) and it's been sat there for over a year and a half and all my previous plans have left my head so I'm trying to piece together bits I've bought and what I want to do now. I've got these mesh filter bags and some left over Tetra Active Substrate and some Tropica Aquarium Soil. Would these work as a mix in the bags and capped with the sand, without breaking down and surfacing above the sand? This probably isn't enough left to go around so I've also been looking at the Sanicat / Kittyfriend pink cat litter as an alternative to the Tetra clay substrate but is Tropica Aquarium Soil still one of the better soils? Has something 'better' surfaced recently? My main concerns are a large-ish grain size as to not escape the netting and somewhat resistant to breaking down into a powder, at least for a while. Is a 50/50 mix in the bags a good idea? I'm thinking some nutrients in the substrate will be beneficial as the riparian plants may be faster on the uptake of water column nutrients or am I overthinking this? Basically I have gotten myself a bit overwhelmed and would love to hear what everyone else would put under sand like this! Thanks
