[IUnknown]

Anyone have any experience using this substrate. Opinions on gravel vs. sand substrates. I am trying the accomplish,
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=757
and I think sand might be better.

 

[Daemonfly]

I like it. It's a pure BLACK sand. I've tried one other brand of black sand & it ended up being fake & most of it just floated.

I've used it by itself, in layers with flourite, and mixed in with both Onyx Sand & Eco-Complete.

 

[aquaverde]

Beautiful stuff, but too fine to use alone IMO. OTOH, it disappears under anything else coarser when used in mixture in short order.

 

[cloran]

Can somebody advise me on what the mix would be for 29 gallon, flourite tahitian sand for 3" depth?

 

[aquaverde]

Using the substrate calculator at the Planted Tank, you would need 2-1/2 bags of Flourite for 3" by itself, or 3 bags of Moon sand by itself. To mix 50-50 takes half those amounts to achieve 3".

Doesn't work out too well, does it? You could always go for a little different ratio or a little more depth or just have some left over. Maybe one bag of Flourite with 2 bags of Moon sand?

 

[Gomer]

it isn't quite 1/2 to get 50/50

Lets assume you use 100% flourite. Due to the small size of the sand, if you could add the sand to a 3" bed of flourite and fill in the small gaps with a decentamount of sand without increasing the 3" thickness.

 

[Corigan]

Beautiful stuff, but too fine to use alone IMO. OTOH, it disappears under anything else coarser when used in mixture in short order.

I agree 100%, using a flourite/TMS mix in one of my tanks and love it. Easy as heck to plant. My cory's and other bottom feeders seem to really enjoy it too. Can be a little bit messy at first IMHO. I can tend to kick up some of it into the water column pretty easily since it is so fine.

Matt

 

[aquaverde]

it isn't quite 1/2 to get 50/50

Lets assume you use 100% flourite. Due to the small size of the sand, if you could add the sand to a 3" bed of flourite and fill in the small gaps with a decentamount of sand without increasing the 3" thickness.

True, come to think of it. Without actually doing it, it would be hard to tell how much effect that would have. Considering the size of Flourite, there would have to be significant filling. If the sand goes on top, you could actually lose depth due to settling after some time (!)