Cheap stubstrate options?

[PPulcher]

I've got a 30 and a 50 that i would like to start getting set up. Aquarium store gravel costs a lot, and I would like to save a few dollars if I could. I will be growing plants, and for this I like substrates that are fine, with particles about 1-3mm. I know some people use stuff like play sand, but I would like to avoid that. Someone has suggested 'traction' sand, as it is more coarse than play sand.

What other options do I have for cheap, inert substrates?

[thegrandpoohbah]

Pool filter sand is the best of all the cheap sand options. It looks more natural (brown, not white like silica sand) and is much cleaner than play sand.

Here's what it looks like:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y121/thegrandpoohbah/Aquarium/DSCN3423.jpg

Regular aquarium gravel for size comparison:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y121/thegrandpoohbah/Aquarium/DSCN3448.jpg

[Wiedertäufer]

The pool filter sand is probably the way to go. You can get it in a wide variety of sizes from a pool supply store. It's cheap too.

[PPulcher]

Pool filter sand eh? I was discussing this with some guys at the last club meeting and they suggested that it was a) white colour and b) too fine. The stuff in the photos looks to be almost exaclty what I'm after. Does anyone know how they grade the stuff for size?

[blainep]

I've used regular play sand in one of my tanks. I looks fine (to me) the only downsides I've seen are :

- Play sand needs lots of washing before it goes into the tank, the stuff is full of dust and silt.

- Sand packs in much more dense than regular gravel, this can cause a buildup of anaerobic bacteria. You need to stir it up when doing water changes or use something like MTS snails that will burrow thru the sand.

Because sand packs tighter, nutrients that normally pass thru gravel don't seem to pass thru sand. So if you have plants, you may need to look at fertilizers like root tabs to get nutrients to plant roots.

On the upside, a sand substrate looks great with a little maintenance ! And it's cheap.

Another option is to post in local classifieds for aquarium gravel, I have a ton ( it feels like a ton when I have to move it) of used gravel. Whenever someone asks, I tell them to grab a bucket and come get some.

[DaFishMan]

"What other options do I have for cheap, inert substrates?"

Turface.
This is the reddish brown fine gravel you see in baseball diamonds.
It's not inert, but contains a bit of ferric iron which the plants can absorb and use.
(Bam ! - cheap version of flourite) Different grain sizes are available.
Can get at Canadian Tire, and places that supply parks departments.
More info on Turface online as well.

Beach Sand
I've read of someone going to the beach and getting sand with fine rounded gravel, then washed, bleached, then rinsed several times and used it to good effect.

2-3 mm rounded pea gravel (not painted)

Inert substrates - offer nothing for plants, leaving people dependant on Root Tabs (more info below) or Jobes Plant Spikes (for lush palms and ferns) dose iron (easy to overdose) sand compacts so nutrient movement is nil and root growth is poor. You'll need to keep the gravel 'stirred' to prevent compaction and pockets of toxic gas from decaying matter from releasing in high levels. Malaysian trumpet snails solve those issues as well as move nutrients throughout (get the fancy ones, they look way better) and add nutrients of their own. That would help at least.
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Extra Info

Root tabs, plant spikes etc - leaves chemical residue in the gravel, that gets stirred up and enters the water column when you plant, vac etc.. This causes algae blooms as well as sick fish. I went flourite and haven't used a root tab in 3 years, or had algae blooms / itching fish
after moving plants or vaccing.. Crypts and reddish swords did well in my low light tank.
Look into turface or a 2-3 layer diy nutritious plant substrate at least.
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Nutritious Plant Substrates
A few handfuls of broken up peat, thin layer of sand, then an inch of topsoil, capped with a couple inches of 2-3 mm river rock pea gravel would also be cheap to pull off and give a good nutrient base for your plants and a great rooting medium. That from a friend / plant mentor that unloads trays of crypts to his local fishstores every month :)

'DIY PLANT SUBSTRATES' - google search offers some more options. These are usually a layer of things such things as unscented kitty litter (with no anti-clumping agents or chemicals added) also called 'poor man's laterite', peat, topsoil, sand and other such things.

Cheers and good luck :)

[Katalyst]

I've got a 30 and a 50 that i would like to start getting set up. Aquarium store gravel costs a lot, and I would like to save a few dollars if I could. I will be growing plants, and for this I like substrates that are fine, with particles about 1-3mm. I know some people use stuff like play sand, but I would like to avoid that. Someone has suggested 'traction' sand, as it is more coarse than play sand.

What other options do I have for cheap, inert substrates?

I have a huge bag of shultz's aquatic soil that you can have. I'll bring it by when I pick up my key. :) Should be enough to do your 30 at the very least. :wink:

[PPulcher]

@DaFishMan: Thanks, I kind of forgot about the schultz stuff. I have some mixed with some plain gravel in a 15, and it works pretty good. I find that it is a little light and moves around alot, but I like the colour fine.

@Katalyst: That would be awesome!

I ended up getting some plain gravel at BAs during the boxing week thing, as it was the exact colour that I was looking for. Carib sea super naturals 'peace river' it's called. I'm going to use it in the 50 overtop some kind of *gulp* dirt :wideeyed:

[Wiedertäufer]

Have you seen this forum:

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/el-natural/

It's a forum dedicated to Natural Planted Tanks (Walstad method). Diana Walstad runs that particular subforum.

[PPulcher]

Thanks Nathan. I've been reading that for a while. It's a pretty good site.

The one thing that I can't fully figure out is that most of the photos I see posted of the natural tanks always look a little hazy and cloudy. I don't know if this is because many photos are posted when the tanks are new and not updated, or if there is significant bacteria load in the water or the water has yellowed with organics.

[Wiedertäufer]

I think it has to do with a cycle. Most of the pictures I've seen of older tanks don't look very hazy. My tank is not hazy but not completely clear either. Though it's about to get hazy again as I there's more tannins to be released from my soil and my purigen is dark/expired and needs replacing/regenerating. I imagine with a low organic soil or an dedicated aquatic soil, you won't have the same problems.

[BlueAbyss]

I have a very slight cloudiness in my water that I can see swirling in the flow from the filter when the sun shines through the tank... I believe it is free living bacteria, and it has been gradually clearing with time. But my tank is less than 2 weeks old... I think it's just maturing, though I did add some peat and garden soil to my sand. And I dose with peat moss, which clouds the water for a couple hours after, though it clears quickly.

Just a thought... every tank I had before was never clear. There was always some sort of cloudiness going on. This tank is already more clear than all of those tanks, but I'm using mostly distilled water in it... I wonder if this makes a difference over tap water?

[Melody]

It shouldn't - cloudy water isn't the norm and most people use water from the tap in freshwater aquariums. Disolved solids, gasses, bacterial blooms (common in new tanks), oils & colour from fish food, some substrates, some dechlorinators & additives, etc., will all contribute to clouding in the water. The water movement itself adds fine atomospheric 'bubbles' around filter outputs as well. If the water supply contains a lot of gasses and the water movement in the aquarium doesn't adequately remove them, the foggy look may take longer to dissipate.

[rad33]

hmm how is oolitic sand? Is it comparable/better than live sand in some ways?