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250 liters* substrate advice

When buying sand look at the grain sizes. Ideally you want no more or less than 1mm average grain size. It will be small enough for corys to sift and big/heavy enough for a cap.
I took a sand with 0,2 -0,6 grain. Seems nice weight.
I dont want to be so light and floats easily. I v read that cories can shift and filter sand in their gills up to 0,8mm. I hope it would be fine !
 
Hello thank you for your answer !
i believe the sand i took 0,2-0,6 it's pretty fine for them . at least this is how it seems to me . i had bad experience with pretty fine sand like powder because water was never clean .
this sand will cover just a part of the tank . the other part will go fully planted with substrate and cap it with 1-2mm quartz gravel jet black . also good for cories but they cannot filter it inside their gills. so sand area will be perfect for them and as cosmetic part .
i hope they will like my plans :)
 
I washed the sand and i put it into the tank so i can try some hardscapes. I am far away of filling up the tank. Is there any problem because of the sand being wet? Bacteria issues or anything?
 
I am thinking of baking it in the oven to avoid any bacteria build inside.
 
Fred,
The whole idea is to get bacteria to grow in the substrate. Leave it alone and just carry on.

Cheers,
Yes Ceg , i understand this..
But since i am far away of filling up i am afraid of sand getting any pathogenic bacteria because its wet. I dont know, maybe my point is totally false.
I am trying to collect some money to get a second filter to achieve the x10 circulation and better filtration and afterwards i have to be a little patient to order as many plants i can from start. And my order is estimated around 200 euros of plants so...
I started saying that i am going to spend less and my perfectionism caught me again off guard and this is going to be my most expensive setup ever..
 
While it's possible for substrates especially fine sands to go anaerobic (the sort of bacteria you generally do not want in aquaria) it seems unlikely in your scenario
- washing the sand is good as it removes fines (add a 10times water volume to 1 sand volume, stir vigorously, allow to settle for a minute or so, pour off the water (& fines); continue washing process until the water essentially clears after that 1 minute & you'll not see any significant clouding in the tank even when swirling sand up to "clean")

Once you've placed your washed sand in the tank, it will dry reasonably quickly if spread thinly - much easier to aquascape & move dry sand about than wet

Have you already added the Tropica Growth Substrate to the tank?
 
While it's possible for substrates especially fine sands to go anaerobic (the sort of bacteria you generally do not want in aquaria) it seems unlikely in your scenario
- washing the sand is good as it removes fines (add a 10times water volume to 1 sand volume, stir vigorously, allow to settle for a minute or so, pour off the water (& fines); continue washing process until the water essentially clears after that 1 minute & you'll not see any significant clouding in the tank even when swirling sand up to "clean")

Once you've placed your washed sand in the tank, it will dry reasonably quickly if spread thinly - much easier to aquascape & move dry sand about than wet

Have you already added the Tropica Growth Substrate to the tank?
No i havent put the substrate yet. I wont put any tropica substrate under the sand. Sand will be my dead area in scape. I am going to put the tropica substrate under the gravel approximately 75% of the tank.
 
If you use children's play sand it wont need washing
Your version of this play sand must be very different than what's sold locally - I finally binned it :mad:

Jump forward some years & now all children's play sand is treated with antifungals etc - untreated sand is still available but different label/market
 
Hello my friends,

My subject seems endless but many questions arise for me all the time..

I am interested in breeding crystal red shrimps in this setup. A community setup but with very small fish such as embers and pygmy so its fine for babies.
As you already know i have the tropica plant substrate. This isnt buffers the water so i cant have an appropriate kh for breeding crs.

I am thinking of mixing my tropica plant substrate with another one that buffers ph. Is that possible? Any dangers?
How if i mix it with dennerle deponit mix and then cap it with my gravel?
Or put a layer of tropicas soil powder above substrate and then cap it with gravel?
Will this work for me?

Thank you very much
 
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