Coral sand in an aquascape??

[•Cai•]

Hi all. Im just wondering if anyone has tried using this in an aquascape with a community setup. Like the look but i understand it would harden my water. I use 100% Ro water currently and have ada amazonia powder soil too. I also inject co2. Im just wondering if it would cause too many problems just for looks purposes. Cheers

 

[alto]

I used some (Carib Sea) reef sand ages ago, it was fine, tap water is very soft so it was a nice addition, pH remained ~ 7.2ish

I set up a similar tank recently with a new batch of (Carib Sea) reef sand, pH 8.5
I removed a good amount of sand for just a think layer, pH 8.5
I tried 2 other batches of sand (both types I'd used successfully before), pH 8.5
I removed all the sand ... I've got some La Plata to try, but I love the texture & appearance of those reef sands

I've no idea why it was so different this time around (same tap water)

 

[Tim Harrison]

I used coral sand over peat, low-energy...and got great results in very hard water. Especially, Crypts, Ecinodorus, and Aponogeton - grew some amazing lace plants.