Capping aquasoil with sand

[Dr. White]

Hey all,

I've recently bought a bag of Tropica aqua soil, but I'll be honest I don't like the appearance as it doesn't look particularly natural. I heard someone say that they had success putting aquasoil in filter bags and capping with sand. This sounds like a win-win, but are there any drawbacks? Obviously it will keep the two layers from mixing, but may be more difficult to plant into it, and would it be more difficult to uproot plants later and move them somewhere else?

 

[Tim Harrison]

If the cap of sand is thick enough, minimum 3-4 cm, it’ll be fine to plant in to. You could experience difficulty uprooting plants without causing disturbance though.

However, Tropica AS is supposed to be an all in one substrate,. The idea is that it’s convenient and easy to use and doesn’t present problems like those you mentioned above. It’s also expensive. Perhaps give some thought to using Tropica Substrate which is cheaper, and meant to be used under sand or gravel.

Alternatively, set up a dirt tank or just use sand on its own, and water column dose fertz. Sand will also accumulate organic matter over time and develop in to a decent substrate.

 

[Dr. White]

If the cap of sand is thick enough, minimum 3-4 cm, it’ll be fine to plant in to. You could experience difficulty uprooting plants without causing disturbance though.

However, Tropica AS is supposed to be an all in one substrate,. The idea is that it’s convenient and easy to use and doesn’t present problems like those you mentioned above. It’s also expensive. Perhaps give some thought to using Tropica Substrate which is cheaper, and meant to be used under sand or gravel.

Alternatively, set up a dirt tank or just use sand on its own, and water column dose fertz. Sand will also accumulate organic matter over time and develop in to a decent substrate.

Thanks Tim,
The aqua soil is already in the post to me and 9L would be a pain to send back, so I think I should probably just go with it now. Wish I had asked for advice earlier! What I may do is cap it without filter bags at the front of the tank with some natural dark sand to look more natural, so if it does start to get mixed with the AS, then it wouldn't look noticeable as it would with light coloured sand.