cheap, easy to find soil for aquatic plants..

Tilapia Buttikoferi

Gambusia
MFK Member
Feb 10, 2008
219
1
18
Provo, UT
Does anybody know of a soil that looks natural and works good for aquatic plants? I looking for cheap and easy to find like a hardware store or garden center or something. I only have a crappy pet store and petsmart by me.
 

robmcd

Goliath Tigerfish
MFK Member
Jan 19, 2007
3,567
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Laguna Beach
Schultz aquatic plant soil at lowes or home depot. About 6$ for 10 lbs.
 

Tilapia Buttikoferi

Gambusia
MFK Member
Feb 10, 2008
219
1
18
Provo, UT
Thank you rob mc!

I am also wanting to use a natural looking type of sand to cover the bottom, along with a little gravel and some dead, boiled leaves. I heard silica sand works nice. What type of sand would you recommend?
 

robmcd

Goliath Tigerfish
MFK Member
Jan 19, 2007
3,567
1,072
179
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Laguna Beach
I just mixed the plant soil with some finer aquarium gravel and it looks natural and works great. I have no experience with sand of any type....
 

yikesjason

Gambusia
MFK Member
Aug 29, 2008
107
0
16
Portland, OR
Try pool filter sand. Pretty cheap and looks nice. Turface or soil master select from a landscaping supply store works great.
 

chonhzilla

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 26, 2007
1,970
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0
Fresno CA
Shultz aquatic soil has a clay look to it. If it were mixed with some fine sand it wouldn't look that bad.

Here's my old tank I broke down about a year ago with schultz aquatic soil.



This is an upclose shot of my goby but its a good closeup of the substrate.

 

Pomatomus

Piranha
MFK Member
Jul 7, 2009
1,691
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81
Sarasota, FL
Personally, when it comes to sand, I like regular play sand from home depot. It's very fine and on the lighter side (probably bleached). All it takes is a rinse or two and once it settles it looks very nice.

$4 for a 50lb. bag too.
 

yayfish24

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jul 23, 2008
1,082
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36
37
Lancaster PA
Hate to steal this thread but doesnt play sand mess with your impellers in your filters? I had play sand in my tank last year and it seemed like my impellers had to be replaced every few months. The sand looked great and id like to do it again but I hate buying impellers. Was that just me or does anyone else have that problem?
 

Thalan

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Sep 30, 2008
1,098
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68
jacksonville
yayfish24;3627667; said:
Hate to steal this thread but doesnt play sand mess with your impellers in your filters? I had play sand in my tank last year and it seemed like my impellers had to be replaced every few months. The sand looked great and id like to do it again but I hate buying impellers. Was that just me or does anyone else have that problem?
I've heard thats a common problem with lighter grade sands. I have 3M colorquartz S grade it settles very quickly and doesnt seem to get picked up by my filters.
 
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