Calypso's Tank Upgrade/6 Gallon Update

[Arzela]

Well, thanks to some various sales at petsmart (yay for petperks cards and online printable coupons, lol) I managed to get a 2.5 mini bow for about 50% off. So, Calypso now more room then the terrible 1 gallon diamond shaped tank. Currently, I've got her old silk plants/Greek ruins and gravel in the tank. Excuse the terrible cellphone picture. >_< The light from my computer monitor really messed with my phone's camera.



I already switched out the light that came with the tank for a 7w equivalent fluorescent 6500k bulb, and added a stem of pennywort from my 6 gallon. I also seeded the filter with some floss from my 6 gallon, and tomorrow I'm planning on taking the carbon out of the cartridge. I'm definitely going to take out the gravel that I've got in the tank currently; I like the color orange, but not as my aquarium gravel. :P I was thinking of doing black sand, but I have NO idea how difficult it is to clean, keep from compacting too much, etc. I was think that if I use black sand, it only needs to be about an inch deep, but I'm still fairly unsure. I like the way sand looks in a tank. I definitely am going to have live plants in this tank, but I'm still undecided as to what I want in there other than the pennywort. I was thinking of doing mostly mosses, with maybe some java fern attached to a piece of driftwood or a rock. However, my aunt offered me her left over bag of flourite, so I could use that instead and have more root feeders without having to worry about supplementing the substrate.

Anyway, I suppose I'm asking what are anyone's experiences with sand (Tahitian moon sand in particular, I was tempted to buy a 5lb bag when I got the tank) and flourite. How often would I have to poke at the sand to keep it safe? Could I get a 1-2 ghost shrimp after the tank is well-established to help sift the sand around or would that be too much of a bio load for the tank? I realize this is also up to Calypso, as she may just think I tossed in some tasty shrimp for her to munch on.

In other news, I've pretty much finished planting my 6 gallon for now. I'm quite pleased with it, and I'm so happy that I found the piece of driftwood in there when I did. Looks so much better than the rocks I originally had in there.

[spongebob]

my black sand is easy to clean because it has a larger grain size. when i siphon i just have to make sure i dont hold it in 1 spot for too long