Quote Originally Posted by mpmistr View Post
You will need to completely break down the tank to do soil -- it can be VERY messy.. why not just go sand and root tabs? I grow water sprite, vals, crypts, ect with sand and root tabs. My tank is an overgrown jungle. If you do a dirted tank you'll need a really good 2" sand cap because the frogs will kick up the sand regularly. If you get dirt into your water column it becomes really messy really fast.

I really think since you're new to keeping clawed frogs you'd be better off with just a 2-3" layer of sand and root tabs. What are you growing that requires dirt?

I was in the same boat you were two years ago. I had river rock and I wanted sand and plants. What I did was I put the frogs in a temporary location, a 5 gallon bucket works. I rinsed the sand out very good, removed the water from the tank (mostly), removed the river rock and added the sand. You can actually keep some of the river rock in there, the sand will cover it up anyways.
Huh. I had it suggested to do that method by someone on here, but I can already see my "darlings" digging through to the soil, but I will keep root tabs in mind.

I had a thread on the plants forum, asking to suggest good "starter" plants that would be great for ACFs. So far, I have found java ferns, java moss, and amazon swords to be a hardier plant.

Right now I have a fake overgrown jungle, but it looks fairly natural and my frogs just can't help themselves to go and hide in the plants. I personally think they like them more than the "caves" (hollowed out buddah head and terra cotta vase with tons of holes to come in and out).

So ultimately:

Would you suggest sand? And just to double check; the play sand at a lowes or home depot will be fine?
Because I looked at the bags of aquarium sand and the prices seemed outrageous for the amount they were giving :|