Newbie with planted tanks quick question

[Danny Walton]

Hi everyone,
Very soon to be starting my first ever low tech planted tank
Im just wondering do i HAVE to use compost and then cap with sand or can i get away without using compost and just have a deep bed of sand?

And advise is greatly appreciated

 

[darren636]

You can have just sand. Not too deep though - more than 3 inches can cause stagnation ' anaerobic' pockets. best though to use something under the sand to boost plants, such as soil, compost or planting substrate

 

[Danny Walton]

Hi Darren, Thanks for your reply.
What sort of compost would i be best using as im guessing i couldn't just go out and buy any old compost?
Also if i went down the compost route would 1" compost with a 2" sand cap see fit?
Thanks again mate.

 

[darren636]

any aquatic plant soil will work. Stuff from garden centres. Most will raise water hardness though. Thinking garden top soil might be a good choice. Do a forum search on compost- plenty of comments there

 

[Danny Walton]

Ok Darren,
Thanks for your help mate.

 

[OllieNZ]

I use john innes no3 recipe.

 

[quaders]

Hi mate, my turn to pass on some advise (thanks for the help on rams) I set my tank up in two halfs the front half is just a very fine gravel almost sand at about 2cm deep and the back half where all the plants are ive used tetra complete substrate about 2cm deep and topped it with pea gravel the two half's are divided using pieces of slate, it is a low tech tank with no co2 or any added ferts apart from whats under the gravel ,It does have a limited plant range some just won't grow but those that do are doing really well and I have to thin them out regularly . I would post a picture but I'm rubbish with computers and its got windows 8 so no chance! This set up is working well for me ,but as we know each to their own ,just another option hope this helps.

 

[Tim Harrison]

You can perhaps get away with just using sand if you dose with fertz - but it kinda defeats the whole point of the object for many reasons...try the link below, it may prove useful.