• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up
  • Most of the remaining team are off on holiday meaning the forum does not have sufficient cover. As such the site will be placed in maintenance mode where it can be viewed but no posts/threads can be made and will remain this way until August 11th, apologies for the inconvience.

Sand or gravel over aqua soil which is better ?

N

NewFishKeeperUK

New Member
Joined
29 Nov 2023
Messages
4
Location
Edinburgh City Scotland
i have a new clean tank, i have a 24 litre bag of aqua soil and 16kg of small aquarium gravel and 8kg or slightly larger aquarium gravel , obviously i want to top the aqua soil with the gravel , what are your thoughts on this ?
 
Sand will over time sift through into the gravel, depends on how long you want to run it for, but you could put the soil into some leggings then cover with sand and should be ok… though you’ll need more sand 👍
 
leggings? So sand over the soil, why is everyone so vague on how to build a dirted planted tank?

i never said i was putting sand over gravel sorry ?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hi all,
NewFishKeeperUK said:
obviously i want to top the aqua soil with the gravel , what are your thoughts on this ?
Click to expand...
Personally I much prefer <"silica sand"> as my substrate and would never go back to gravel.
castle said:
Sand will over time sift through into the gravel, depends on how long you want to run it for, but you could put the soil into some leggings then cover with sand and should be ok… though you’ll need more sand
Click to expand...
NewFishKeeperUK said:
leggings ? so sand over the soil
Click to expand...
Nylon stockings, landscape fabric or similar mesh bag. It is just to keep a physical separation between the two layers.

If you have a denser substrate (like sand or gravel) over a less dense one (aquasoil), or a mix of large and small stones, then <"granular convection"> will mean that the smaller and / or denser substrate ends up at the bottom*.

*edited see @Andy Pierce 's <"post">

cheers Darrel
 
Last edited:
LFNfan said:
I don't use aquasoil but have a very coarse sand substrate (1.5mm ish diameter grains).
In hindsight I would have used fine sand but there you go - live and learn.
Click to expand...
I've been using 1.4-2.0 mm sand for many years. Less than two years ago I've made four tanks using 0.6-1.2 mm size. Now I'm returning to the original size. I suspect that that smaller grain size has been the reason of some problems.

As for using the soil beneath, I don't see any real benefit in it, but I can clearly see possible problems.
 
_Maq_ said:
Now I'm returning to the original size.
Click to expand...
Interesting. Partly I think that the larger size is a bit too large for my cories.


NewFishKeeperUK said:
pettex roman aquatic gravel
Click to expand...
Based on a squint at the Pettex website I would personally go with the smaller gravel.

Pettex also have resin covered substrates, which I am not sure about.

Sorry for not being definitive.
 
_Maq_ said:
I've been using 1.4-2.0 mm sand for many years. Less than two years ago I've made four tanks using 0.6-1.2 mm size. Now I'm returning to the original size. I suspect that that smaller grain size has been the reason of some problems.

As for using the soil beneath, I don't see any real benefit in it, but I can clearly see possible problems.
Click to expand...
I'm curious, what problems did you have?
 
_Maq_ said:
I suspect that that smaller grain size has been the reason of some problems.
Click to expand...
Yes. With too small of a grain size, lack of nutrient distribution would be my concern.

I use gravel (about 4-5 mm grains) which I am not happy with - mostly because of the looks and not being ideal for bottom dwellers. If I had to redo the tanks I would definitely choose more wisely and go with 1.5-2.0 mm coarse sand instead.

Cheers,
Michael
 
dw1305 said:
If you have a denser substrate (like sand or gravel) over a less dense one (aquasoil), or a mix of large and small stones, then <"granular convection"> will mean that the smaller and / or denser substrate ends up on top.
Click to expand...
Other way right? The larger particles end up on top. I don't think density plays much of a role.
 
Miniandy said:
I'm curious, what problems did you have?
Click to expand...
I know nothing for certain. That is why I am about to re-establish (some of) my Portugals with new substrate(s).
What I can see is that the sand tends to form a crust. I think that it's microbial biofilm which holds the grains together. Then there are some difficulties with plants for which I've got no explanation. My Echinodoruses grow poorly, creating very small leaves, and some even died. Also Crypts (several species) remain somewhat smaller than they should be. Some stem plants showed difficulties to create roots, and even if they did, they grew poorly. And Cyperus helferi, after a few months of fine growth, succumbed one after another to something what looked like an infectious disease. Maybe the small grain size stood at the beginning of that disaster. In any case, Cyperus grows very well in another tank of mine in coarse substrate.
I stress again, I know very little for certain, and I'm about to explore this issue more thoroughly.
 
Hi all,
_Maq_ said:
That is what I've tried, but they seem to struggle with my soft water and low pH.
Click to expand...
I ended up with water with some <"carbonate buffering (dKH) by chance">, but I actually see being able to keep some "pest" snails is a definite advantage.
dw1305 said:
@Roland keeps <"tanks at 0dKH"> and I'd say that is a <"pretty conclusive argument"> that you don't need any carbonate hardness, in fact many of our members will be <"keeping planted tanks and livestock"> at very low dKH levels.

Personally I have a nominal amount of carbonate hardness, that is just because <"I'm a rainwater user"> and our rainwater picks up some limestone dust. The advantage for me is that it allows me to keep <"some of the hardier snail species"> (and I'm a snail fan).
Click to expand...

cheers Darrel
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top