Re: Sand on the bottom..........

In article <feeihe$osm$1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
Reel McKoi <dorundayREMOVE@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
>"Jeffrey St. Clair, Ph.D." <info@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in 
>message news:470a92d7$0$11056$4c368faf@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> Are you referring to play type sand?
>
>No, not the play sand. It's too fine. 
>

Works ok for me:

http://images.aquaria.net/tanks/rjs/tk-1/2000/Mar26/

>I was afraid it would go anaerobic from fine mulm if I used just sand or
a 
>sand mix and didn't or couldn't vac it.

I count on it being anaerobic at the bottom of 4-5" of sand. I put a half
inch
layer of manure under there plus some washers and steel wool. Under
anaerobic
conditions the iron is reduced to a state usable by plants.

I've found roots just utterly tangled around washes like they were sucking
the iron right of if like a life-saver (UK: polo mint).

I also notife on crypt roots that the top 2-3" of root will be white
while the bottom half will look like it has rust on it. Which is pretty
much whats happening.

I dunno if you folks have ever pulled plants in nature but aquatic
substrates are frequently anaerobic.

I've kept shrimp in these tanks long term, which meand no ammonia
and no metal ions getting into the water column. Either even in the
smallest amounts would kill shrimp in short order.

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