# Play sand in a heavily planted tank???



## Richard2510 (Sep 20, 2008)

Hi,

So I've pretty much come to the decision that play sand over a layer of Tetra Complete Substrate (or something similar) is the substrate of choice for my new planted tank. However the advice seems to be play sand is fine providing you stir the substrate up every couple of weeks to release any built us gases. How much of a problem am I likely to have if I can't stir it up due to the plants? (About 90% of the aquarium floor will be covered in plants eventually)

Thanks

Richard


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## Esfa (Apr 15, 2007)

None.
Get some burying snails just to help out. (Malaysian trumpets, assassins)


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## Eternal Chaos (Oct 12, 2009)

I tried play sand in my setup and had nothing but milky water. It never seems to settle properly and covers all plants and rocks. I did not find it any good for the filters as it kept clogging it up. I run 2 x 1200lph filters and they could not clear the water. 
I don't recommend it at all.

Have you tried maybe a layer of pewter or lava sand, this is a quality sand that can be found at any LFS.

Hope you work it out.


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## Richard2510 (Sep 20, 2008)

Esfa said:


> None.
> Get some burying snails just to help out. (Malaysian trumpets, assassins)


WTF are burying snails?? and where do I get them from?? Do you have a Scientific name??

Thanks

Richard


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## Esfa (Apr 15, 2007)

Richard2510 said:


> WTF are burying snails?? and where do I get them from?? Do you have a Scientific name??
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Richard


burying snails are snails that bury under the substrate and keep it turned for you. :no1:

With the Malaysian trumpet snails _(Melanoides tuberculata_), you could probably go into your lfs and ask for some free of charge. 

With the assassins (anentome helena) you'll have to actually pay for them lol.


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## HalcyonInverts (Jul 22, 2009)

hey, use silver sand if you can get it. much much better than play sand! dosnt go so cloudy, and some play sands have anti-clumping agents added to them


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## TUBBS (Mar 16, 2009)

get some senegal sand or other aquarium one as it's nice and dark and dont detract from the eye like those light coloured ones do, plus they aren't as fine as play pits so dont tend to go bad as often


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## berkshirereptile (Oct 5, 2009)

if you use playpit sand i find the stuff the early leaning centre does is brill, i use it on my turtle tanks too with no problems. to keep the sand from going bad put under gravel heating cables in which keeps a slow flow through the sand as the hot watter moves around the tank this than also acts as a efficiant nitrate filter.


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## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

i just have gravel in my planted 65 gallon... my stuff grows like crazy as it is...


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## MJ75 (Feb 5, 2009)

I use silver sand in my planted tanks. I also add Ocean Nutrition Fertil CAPS into the substrate. Plant growth is superb.


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## cjd99 (Apr 8, 2009)

stick with the play sand and get some Malaysian trumpet snails off ebay, jobs a good'un


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## Pleco07 (Aug 15, 2007)

cjd99 said:


> stick with the play sand and get some Malaysian trumpet snails off ebay, jobs a good'un


Just what I was thinkin, I used play sand for years in one of my larger tanks before. Didnt have any problems with it and my plants all grew fine.

Could ask Dawn (Anythingwithashell) on here, I just sent her the last of my malaysian trumpets, and they breed like crazy so im sure she will send you some out.


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## MJ75 (Feb 5, 2009)

Would the OP want a tank full of snails. Some people find them unsightly. It's a personal view, but I hate to see them in planted tanks...


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## Richard2510 (Sep 20, 2008)

MJ75 said:


> Would the OP want a tank full of snails. Some people find them unsightly. It's a personal view, but I hate to see them in planted tanks...


I have to be honest, I'm not a massive fan of snails. I'm looking at the option of an under gravel heat cable. Any thoughts please.

Richard


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## Richard2510 (Sep 20, 2008)

What about Assassin snails? Will they do the job as they breed slowly (I think)?

Richard


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## cjd99 (Apr 8, 2009)

Malaysian trumpet snails are nocturnal, you wouldn't even see then in the day (well hardly) plus they're tiny...matter of choice I guess though


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## MJ75 (Feb 5, 2009)

Richard2510 said:


> What about Assassin snails? Will they do the job as they breed slowly (I think)?
> 
> Richard


I have used these. I import live plants from Singapore, Malaysia and China. As a result some stock tanks do have snails come with them. Normally I dose with Gastroplex as it seems to be fairly effective. However my main wholesaler had some of these in when they first arrived in the UK so I got a few and added them to one tank to see if they "worked".

I have seen them kill and eat other snails. However, they only seem to attack the smaller individuals. I've never seen an assasin take on an evenly sized snail. Their tank now has some sand in and they do burrow and so are hardly ever seen. I've not yet witnessed them breed etc.

I also add a couple of trout pellets every few days and these are eaten as the tank may not have enough snails in there to sustain them. This is something you need to think about if you keep them.


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## Esfa (Apr 15, 2007)

Assassins breed very slowly, I've had mine for a good 6 months and only ever seen 2 babies... one which was being eaten by an adult lol.

But yeah, they only go for snails smaller than them. I keep mine with nerites and sulewesi snails.


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## alburglar (Oct 14, 2009)

tesco value play sand works brilliantly and is very cheap. A chinese algae eating loach will provide plenty of substrate disturbance, as will a weather loach.


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