Sand and alternatives....

[Mugwump]

I have sand in only one tank setup. I've seen the blasting grit used and like the black.

What are the pros/cons of both?....is there a better alternative out there..

I've, also, seen some dirt bottom tanks....really nice ones too....are they worth the trouble besides being for a display tank..??  I think not....

[b125killer]

You have to be careful with blasting sand. It needs a lot of cleaning. Also it's super fine, it will get sucked up into the filters. that plays hell on the impeller. the pro if you have shell dwelling fish they can move the sand around. also cory's love sand.

Play sand is better for plants, it's still a dirty sand and needs lots of cleaning. It's more coarse then blasting sand. harder for filters to suck up.

Pool filter sand is my favorite. It's finer than play sand but not blasting sand. I haven't see it in the filters. It's not that great for plants. I use root tabs like there plant candy. It's made of crushed quarts and pre cleaned. so a rinse is all it needs.

dirt is great for plants. problem is you can't clean dirt. Just have to wait for it to settle. also need to be careful where you get dirt. Make sure it's not a contaminated source. also make sure Organic dirt doesn't have manure in it. Most people that use dirt use a sand cap on top of the dirt.

one of the big problems is fish poo doesn't settle into the dirt. If you want to call that a problem. For me I like it. it makes cleaning easy.
you don't want to clean the sand with a siphon like a python. you'll suck up all the sand. I use a 5/8" hose and skim the top of the sand.     

[GraphicGr8s]

I've got a couple of tanks with plain old big box store cheap top soil. Plants do well. They have no cap.
What I've been doing lately however since I like the look of the pea gravel from the BBS is using the net pots from hydroponics and putting the dirt ant plants in them then burying it in the gravel. I do run a deep gravel and since all my tanks set as display are fully planted I never clean that gravel.

[wsantia1]

You have to be careful with blasting sand. It needs a lot of cleaning. Also it's super fine, it will get sucked up into the filters. that plays hell on the impeller. the pro if you have shell dwelling fish they can move the sand around. also cory's love sand.

Play sand is better for plants, it's still a dirty sand and needs lots of cleaning. It's more coarse then blasting sand. harder for filters to suck up.

Pool filter sand is my favorite. It's finer than play sand but not blasting sand. I haven't see it in the filters. It's not that great for plants. I use root tabs like there plant candy. It's made of crushed quarts and pre cleaned. so a rinse is all it needs.

dirt is great for plants. problem is you can't clean dirt. Just have to wait for it to settle. also need to be careful where you get dirt. Make sure it's not a contaminated source. also make sure Organic dirt doesn't have manure in it. Most people that use dirt use a sand cap on top of the dirt.

one of the big problems is fish poo doesn't settle into the dirt. If you want to call that a problem. For me I like it. it makes cleaning easy.
you don't want to clean the sand with a siphon like a python. you'll suck up all the sand. I use a 5/8" hose and skim the top of the sand.     

I used the pool sant too. It is very clean and mine was on the whiter side. I had the Angels and BNs in the tank with the sand along with come cories and a couple of mystery snails. They all seemed to loved it. my problem was that the poop was so visible on top of that white sand so I needed to constantly clean that off. I still have a 50 pound bag in my garage.

[Ron Sower]

In all 4 of my tanks (yeah, huge collection, I know...!), I use either Turface or a specific oil dry product as substrate. They are montmorillite clay products which absorb some nutrients from the water column and hold it for the rooted plants. One of the longtime members of our club, the Greater Seattle Aquarium Society, has studied this a lot and I've been using it since I restarted in the hobby but does need a lot of bucket rinsing, but sometimes I only do one rinse and put it in the tank, and am very careful not to stir it up any more than I have to and it only takes a day to clear the water with a couple HOBs. (How's that for a run-on sentence, Grammer Cop?! ).