# plant and sand tanks



## imachode (Jun 3, 2003)

i've really enjoyed the sand in my tank and i was just wondering if anyone has experience or suggestions for plants that would work well in a sand tank. thanks


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## Xenon (Nov 15, 2002)

In my experience it just doesnt work. The sand does not allow enough space for the roots. I had a few amazons in my sand tank and they just withered away after like a month.


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## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

For plants, gravel is better than sand, since it can get be better aerated and water can move through it more freely (supply of nutrients).
It's not impossible, but it's very tricky to keep plants healthy with a sand substrate.

The best plants for a sand-filled tank would be plants that have rooted themselves on a piece of rock or drift wood: suitable plant species are java fern, java moss and anubias species.


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## ctarry (Nov 29, 2003)

to me, sand is the best and allows the plant roots to spread more easily as its not as heavy as gravel, resulting in healthy plants.

imo all plants do very well in sand


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## imachode (Jun 3, 2003)

thanks for the replies so far, but just out of curiosity... are your opinions based on personal experience? thanks again


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## ctarry (Nov 29, 2003)

mine is personal experience and experts in planted aquaria in the uk also think sand is best


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## imachode (Jun 3, 2003)

thanks again, i think i might just give it a try. any specific species to recommend? something sturdy and doesn't require a lot of light.


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## Sanguinea (Feb 19, 2004)

I have sand tank with several species of plants and I havent managed to kill any such as Cryptocoryne retrospiralis, (anarcharis?), and Cryptocoryne belansae. I also have serveral i dont have a clue what are. My Echinodorus bleheri is growing very slowly and im not positive it is gonna live but my others are doing fine.


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## Sanguinea (Feb 19, 2004)

Oh, I think the ones I mentioned take a good deal of light.... could be wrong though havent tried.


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## MR HARLEY (Aug 12, 2003)

The sand/plant look is awesome ...very appeasing to the eye alothough i ahve only seen 2 people have sucess .......Wb and fishofury they both have beautiful tanks


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## Griggs2121 (Aug 18, 2003)

I've always heard that the finer the substrate the better it is for plants, thus making sand a good plant substrate. hmmm...


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## imachode (Jun 3, 2003)

MR HARLEY said:


> The sand/plant look is awesome ...very appeasing to the eye alothough i ahve only seen 2 people have sucess .......Wb and fishofury they both have beautiful tanks


 yeah, i imagined that it would look beautiful... but hearing those statistics off the top of your head is not very encouraging to a pre-novice plant keeper as myself. only experience i've had is one amazon sword plant a long time ago and some anacharis floating in my 20. i'm pretty sure that those don't count for much. i'll have to hit those guys up for some tank pics. thanks


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## BanditBrother (Nov 8, 2003)

hi mate i use sand in my tank!! I also opted for plants on bogwood as the javas are very hardy, need minimum light and maintenance ant the Ps dnt touch em!!! Very pleasing look!! Il post a pic 2moro!!!


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## Sanguinea (Feb 19, 2004)

The only problem is with a planted sand tank is to grow the plants you have to have enough light to make algae grow like crazy. I have nasty looking algae growing on my sand that my chinese algae eaters wont touch. I guess I need more plants.... or more algae eaters.


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## BanditBrother (Nov 8, 2003)

Sanguinea said:


> The only problem is with a planted sand tank is to grow the plants you have to have enough light to make algae grow like crazy. I have nasty looking algae growing on my sand that my chinese algae eaters wont touch. I guess I need more plants.... or more algae eaters.


 Not once hav i had a problem wiv algae on my sand!! U need to keep it movin wiv ur gravel vacs so algae doesnt have time to form!! Just keep on top of ur maintenance and every thing will be fine m8!!!


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## Sanguinea (Feb 19, 2004)

Ok, cool, that makes since. Where my powerhead moves the sand around there is no algae. I havent used the gravel vac in a while because my power head blows everything into the filter and since ive stopped messing with it algae has grown. Thnx.


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## BanditBrother (Nov 8, 2003)

Thts ok m8 anytime!! any more questions feel free 2give me a shout!!!


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## PsychoLes (Jan 8, 2004)

> In my experience it just doesnt work. The sand does not allow enough space for the roots. I had a few amazons in my sand tank and they just withered away after like a month.


What if you use potted plants???


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