Another substrate question

[grumpyguy]

Hi all.

I'm in the midst of rescaping my 4x2x2 and I've hit a wall as far as substrate. I just removed the 6mm gravel and wanted to go to a smaller particle substrate. I'm a chronic overfeeder so the main reason I'm going with sand is to see how much food is sitting on the bottom. I'm thinking of going with a river biotope of sand and driftwood. I know i can load up on anubias and java ferns but I'm more concerned about being able to keep my crypts, swords and stem plants in a sand substrate. I really dont want to the hassles associated with a clay based underlayer as I am a compulsive rearranger and would have a cloudy tank every few weeks. I am considering just using small pots for the rooted plants and burying them in the sand but i'm concerned about air pockets. I would need at least 7 or 8 cms of sand. What is a safe depth for pool sand? Would the presence of kuhli loaches or a burrower solve anything or should I just ditch the stem plants all together? Thanks.

scott

[ILLUSN]

if your worried about your swords, grow them in pots, that way you can rea arrange as often as you like and their roots wont even notice. i think an 8cm sand substrate is too deep, go with 5cm or so. if you use something like a terracotta pot even if the tops are showing they'll soon grow a bit of algae and look quite nice.

kullis are excellnt scavengers for a discus tank, cause they leave the discus alone, i've got 7 in a 6x2x2 and i'm looking at getting a few more, not sure how deep the burrow into the substrate, but in my 5inches of ecocomplete they usually only borrow down about a cm or 2

[grumpyguy]

Thanks Illusn. What would be the best option to place in the pot for a substrate then?

[ILLUSN]

eco complete, or if your going to be using super soft water, use onyx sand by seachem it will help buffer your water to prevent ph crashes, also some swords (horemanni, opacus, portoalegrensis, apart) and red crypts can utilize carbonates from the substrate.

with either youll have add some kind of NPK fertilizer every 6-8 weeks to keep up high growth.