I've got pool sand in my 50g aquarium, over a vermiculite and soil
substrate, and the only that I regret is that I took white sand (well,
anyway, the only other available was crushed glass filter sand...),
which took a delicate shade of green-brown. I'm rather hoping that the
tennellus will get all over the place soon, but if you can find
something that looks more natural, like brown filter sand, that should
be perfect. It keeps the soil/vermiculite mixture in place, and plants
and fishies are doing great. I got a 50 pounds bag for about 4 CAN$, and
I used about half of it, so that is a pretty good bargain

Ron Jackson a écrit :

Hello,

I am looking for an inexpensive option for a planted aquarium
substrate and was considering using Silica Sand (the kind sold at a
pool supply store) on top of a layer of laterite. Would this make a
decent substrate? On my other tank, I used a layer of standard
aquarium gravel over a layer of laterite and had problems with the
laterite leaching into the water and causing several algae blooms.

So, I am thinking the sand may keep the laterite contained better than
the gravel would do. Is my thinking correct here... or is there an
even better solution that would also be relatively inexpensive?

This substrate would be used on a 38 gallon aquarium with 2 watts of
light per gallon and an Emperor 400 filter. The types of fish in the
tank would be rasboras, loaches, catfish, and golden barbs. The types
of plants have yet to be decided.

I look forward to any options or advice on this issue.

Thank you!

Chris