Substrate

[Firstgenhillbilly]

My dad just gave me a nice 250 gal fish tabk. He was sick of taking care of it. I have tanks in the past, so I have some basic knowledge of keeping fish. My basic concern thou is substrate, what to use? I'd like to make it a planted tank with some clown loaches. But with so many choices of substrate whats a guy to use? Sand,gravel? I want it natural looking as possible. I also need to consider the price. I don't wanna spend 300+ dollars on the bottom of my tank.

[iZinedane]

you can have sand if you want to.
if you want a planted tank
i heared Eco Complete is a good choice.
Keep us updated with your tank!
and dont forget to cycle it,
Goodluck! :22:

[wolf_eyes]

I would go with play sand then. It's 6 bucks for a 50 pound bag. The only downfall to this is you have to clean it before it ever goes in your tank, and for a 250 it would take a while. All you do is pour some into a bucket and spray it with a hose with a spray nozzle. This kicks up all the super fine particles , the"dust". You can then dump the bucket out enough so the water gets out, but not the sand, or I've seen some people just let it spill over the top as it fills up. you do this until you get clear water in the bucket and then you go onto the next batch.


I love eco complete but just for my 20 gallon long tank I had to buy 2 bags and that stuff is about 25 bucks each bag.

[robflanker]

I'm a big fan of tahitian moon sand

[Jaster]

I'm a big fan of tahitian moon sand


Same here. I have it in my Cichlid tank and love it.

[MonkeyPox]

Large tanks are more difficult to have a proper planted setup. It certainly can be done, but be aware of what investment it will require ahead of time. Lighting, CO2, and dosing requirements become a lot more of a headache. Also, getting to the bottom of the middle in a 2ft deep tank is a pain.

If your intent is to do a planted tank, I would recommend looking at one of the enriched substrates instead of sand. Eco-complete, laterite, or Flourish would work well.

[Firstgenhillbilly]

I would go with play sand then. It's 6 bucks for a 50 pound bag. The only downfall to this is you have to clean it before it ever goes in your tank, and for a 250 it would take a while. All you do is pour some into a bucket and spray it with a hose with a spray nozzle. This kicks up all the super fine particles , the"dust". You can then dump the bucket out enough so the water gets out, but not the sand, or I've seen some people just let it spill over the top as it fills up. you do this until you get clear water in the bucket and then you go onto the next batch.


I love eco complete but just for my 20 gallon long tank I had to buy 2 bags and that stuff is about 25 bucks each bag.


Will the play sand support plants? Or can I just fertilize them? I like the natural look of the sand.

[Firstgenhillbilly]

Large tanks are more difficult to have a proper planted setup. It certainly can be done, but be aware of what investment it will require ahead of time. Lighting, CO2, and dosing requirements become a lot more of a headache. Also, getting to the bottom of the middle in a 2ft deep tank is a pain.

If your intent is to do a planted tank, I would recommend looking at one of the enriched substrates instead of sand. Eco-complete, laterite, or Flourish would work well.


Can I mix these in the sand over time? Or can I mix it in the areas that I want to plant a few plants?

[bushwhacker]

depending on you choice of plants. sand works fine try to get at least 2 watts per gallon of lighting on the tank so thats going to be your major expense. you said your dad got tired of taking care of it so i assume it was running what else did you get besides the tank?

[Firstgenhillbilly]

depending on you choice of plants. sand works fine try to get at least 2 watts per gallon of lighting on the tank so thats going to be your major expense. you said your dad got tired of taking care of it so i assume it was running what else did you get besides the tank?


Everything came with the tank. All I need is a heater. But his substrate was big blue rocks. I like the more natural look.

[MonkeyPox]

You can mix sands, but the plant specific substrates are not white in nature, so the color would be off.

Bear in mind that low lighting on that tank will be several hundred dollars. Depending on the width of the tank, you may need 2 fixtures.

[Aeonflame]

Pool filter sand works and looks great. Its also very easy to wash and because of the large particles, there is more circulation at the bottom. 250 gallons seem wasted on just clown loaches though, IMO

[Firstgenhillbilly]

Pool filter sand works and looks great. Its also very easy to wash and because of the large particles, there is more circulation at the bottom. 250 gallons seem wasted on just clown loaches though, IMO



Any good ideas would be welcome.

[bushwhacker]

do you have any idea of the lighting that came with the tank,, type , wattage. what filters did you get. thats a big tank i'm sure your dad bought some fairly decent equipment for it.. if you can tell us what you have we can help you a lot more

[Firstgenhillbilly]

Four rena filstar xp3 canister filters. four 4ft long plants lights. six large Tetrac deep water air pumps. A few power heads. A Huge custom wet dry filter that he said I wouldn't really need. (He tride keeping two really huge cat fish in there.) A few air stones. and an oak cover and hood.

[bushwhacker]

bud i'd say your set up and ready to rock, make sure the tanks cycled and get that baby running and get us some pics