Which is best for good plant growth?

i'm in the process of setting up my aquarium and i need to make a decision about gravel or sand? i do plan to have a large amount of real plants in there this time round and i need to know which is best for the plants to grow in sand or gravel bottoms?

It's a matter of personal preference really, and also what sort of fish you want to get.

Live plants will grow equally well in sand or gravel. The roots will grow well and feed on all the muck produced by the fish etc.

Sand looks great I think. I started with sand but had to change it because I had bought coral sand, so my pH just shot through the roof. If going for sand, make sure you dont make the same mistake . I took it out and replaced it with gravel.

The only potential drawback with sand is that you can get pockets of gas building up in it which can cause problems for your fish. You get round this by stirring the sand when you do the weekly water change. You clean it in a different way to gravel - just hoover poo, food etc off the surface by holding the gravel vac above the surface.

Gravel comes in all coours and sizes. You need to get a gravel that is smooth (pea gravel is best I think) so that any bottomdwellers dont hurt their barbels on it. It's easy to maintain with the weekly cleaning regime - dig the gravel vac into it and suck all the muck out of it.

That's basically the difference between the two - the choice is yours!

Thats very informative for me so thanks......however i had gravel the last time that i had my aquarium and i now really like the combinations of sand and gravel..... you mentioned that you used coral sand and that made your ph levels go sky high. Is there another different type of sand that is better for the tank?

How can i treat the sand to lower the ph levels?

i will have plenty of time to prepare my tank to a safe level before i even think about getting some fish for it.....

I also love the look of some kind of grass that grows out of sand, do you know what this is called and if its hard to grow for a novice like me!!

All sorts, its just the coral that knackers the pH. Get plain aquarium sand, and make sure you wash it really, really throoughly and you should be ok. If you get this sort of sand you wont have probs with the pH.

I am not sure about the sand/gravel mix unison. I am sure I have heard people have problems trying to do that because the sand just sinks to the bottom and they cant see it because of the gravel.

As for the grass, I have been looking at this too.

Have a look at this link -
http://www.java-plants.com/index.php?cPath=21_28

and you might find some useful info. There are other plant links in the Tropical Plants section.

Hope that helps

Brilliant link, just the thing that i'm looking for.... thanks for your help

No probs unison, glad it helped

unison wrote:

i'm in the process of setting up my aquarium and i need to make a decision about gravel or sand? i do plan to have a large amount of real plants in there this time round and i need to know which is best for the plants to grow in sand or gravel bottoms?

I had sand and made the mistake of not stirring it up and it caused big problems in the tank, so either go with gravel or make sure you stir the sand up every week

I would say sand. I swapped a while ago and my plants have really taken off. It takes a bit more maintenance but not that much really