sand and substrate slope.

[CincyScaper]

1. Sand - What is the long term maintenance routine for sand like ADA La plata ? Do people keep refreshing it or do you just vaccum it ?

2. Substrate slope - How does one keep the slope from front to back with aquasoil when there is no hardscape ? I see that the the aquasoil is rolling forward slowly and the slope is less than when i started.

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

Depends on how deep your sand bed is. If you have a thin layer it’s easiest to siphon and replace, but I would keep what you siphon in a bucket and rinse out the sand and then keep it in a dark space. It’ll kill off whatever may have been growing on it and you can reuse it again in the future. That’s not a cheap sand option so that’s what I’d do, but if you opt for pool filter sand that’s cheap enough to toss and replace. But again, this is all dependent on how much sand you need. Vacuuming and swishing it around if it’s a few inches deep works well too, I do it myself with my pool filter sand.

 

[Dennis Wong]

Steep slopes with sand (like what you see in competition tanks) are glued down by super glue. It forms a solid mass. For some exhibition show scapes I used half a litre of glue in 3ft tank to keep everything in place.

Aquasoil/soil doesn't hold slopes without substrate supports or hardscape barriers. Planting the slope well, and delicately, allowing plants to root well will hold back the slope. However, it slides everytime you do replanting so its not great approach. Using hardscape barriers/substrate supports is the better long term solution.

 

[Koan]

Steep slopes with sand (like what you see in competition tanks) are glued down by super glue

 

[JayP]

No superglue in my sand slope. My solution is yet to be proven long term but holding up so far. I made a "sand trough/ladder" for my sandy valley. Below is a very crude rendering of what I made. I made it using corrugated plastic craft board and...umm...superglue . I made it to the width and length of the valley, dug a trench into the aquasoil, placed the trough and then filled/covered it with sand. Of course, the valley isn't a straight line so I did have to cut and shape the trough to fit. I'm not sure if it will really help prevent sand from sliding down the slope over time, but I also wanted something to isolate the sand from the aquasoil.

 

[snowballs99]

I kept a tank with purely ada Colorado sand for a few months.

Detritis really stays on top of the substrate and piles up pretty quickly.

Overall I hated how dirty it constantly looked. I mixed in some small river stones and now the detritus settles under the stones and out of sight.

 

[CincyScaper]

Thanks all. I think my question was 2 part and i can see how it was confusing.

I wanted to see how to keep substrate (Aquasoil) from rolling forward and it seems like having hardscape or some sort of barrier is the only way.

In regards to the Sand, i just wanted to see how to keep really white sand like the La Plata clean long term (not for creating slope but the ideas for glue and barriers seem great). I see many scapes online of people having pristine sand, for which i was hoping there was a simple routine but seems like it might not be very easy.

 

[Art]

I wanted to see how to keep substrate (Aquasoil) from rolling forward and it seems like having hardscape or some sort of barrier is the only way.

Another way is to use corrugated plastic and insert sheets of it into the substrate. It holds the mound.

You can see it here: Grobbins 75 Gallon Rainbowfish Tank (Updated filtration...

In regards to the Sand, i just wanted to see how to keep really white sand like the La Plata clean long term (not for creating slope but the ideas for glue and barriers seem great). I see many scapes online of people having pristine sand, for which i was hoping there was a simple routine but seems like it might not be very easy.

I wish I had a good answer for this but I don't. I've given up on the La Plata or pool sand because it will get ugly fast. Other than replacing it, very little to do.

For this reason, I will use the new ADA gravel instead in my next scape.

 

[Kwyet]

I think a lot of people just put a light dusting of new sand on top before taking picturrs/video. There’s always some that gets siphoned out anyway, so it evens out.