tinman84

hi

is it possible to do a planted tank with just like 3 inch sand bed ?? im talking about playsand from home depot

_chicken_

I've never used playsand myself, but I've heard it's not the best sand to use because it tends to compact over time. Pool filter sand is said to work well. It has no nutrients, so you would need to dose the water column and perhaps use root tabs for those plants that are heavy root feeders.

tinman84

thanks for the info

DerekFF

I use playground sand. Works great just needs a lot of rinsing before use since its so dirty. But its grown it all so far. Sand is sand in the end

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tinman84

what do you mean by its grown it all so far

did the plants grow well in it ?

Jason Baliban

Try a couple pool supply stores first. See if you can find a filter sand that is a nice color.

I found some a few years ago and bought like 500lbs of it. It was super cheap and looks really nice!

I have used it in all of my layouts that have sand.

jB

tinman84

i finally ended up with river bed gravel nutritional for plants and looks nce

got around 30 lb for 10bucks

thanks for the advice everyone

AheartlessFish

becareful with pool sand.

contains silicates which causes brown diatoms/algae, atleast this is what i experienced. Plants will grow in the stuff but over time i experienced algae on the surface of the sand and on the glass where the sand sits. but none on my flourite black gravel (both were used in the same tank)

just my 2 cents :P