A few seachem flourite questions

[Guest]

The list:
Currently have a 10 gallon tank with gravel in it. Nothing in it but water, anacharis, and hornwort. Planning on making this a heavily planted guppy tank. Currently have a regular 15 watt NO flourescent bulb in there now. Planning on doing a diy 36 watt or adding another 15 watt bulb sometime soon. (3 - 3.6 wpg). Going to get a hagen co2 kit.
My questions about seachem flourite are:
1. Do you just use this as the only substrate? (no gravel or anything else with it?)
2. Do you have to change some of it out after a while? (meaning does it lose its ability to retain the nutrients just like carbon in a filter goes bad after a while?)
3. Should you add plant tab fertilizers when using flourite or just dose the water with liquid chemicals?
4. Anything else I should know about flourite or any suggestions/hints with my current list as of now, and my future list?

I'm also going to be either removing the hornwort or anacharis (or keep both of them to a very mininal level) once I get everything going, planning on getting glossostigmata as a foreground with maybe some javamoss and some regular smaller plants.
TIA
-Stewie

 

[TankGirl]

Flourite is excellent as the only substrate, and it will not "wear out" or need to be replaced, like laterite does. It is also not as cloudy or messy as laterite, and even when you replant or move things around it does not tend to make a mess.

It probably will be a good idea to feed with root tabs, depending on what plants you have, but there are a lot of plants that will get way too tall for a 10gal so select carefully. Java moss does not require medium or higher lighting or any substrate, but you could put it in the shade of another plant.

The Hagen CO2 unit should work great in that tank.

Sounds like a marvelous project and it should be a lovely tank

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the advice tank girl. Yeah, I know I have to choose wisely when selecting plants for my 10 gallon. The hortwort I have in there now is really long. I took a strand of it out of the tank last night to put it in my 29 gallon tank and the tip of it touched the floor while the end of it came up past my waist. Its at least 3 feet long!It was starting to over run my tank, so thats why i took some of it out. But anyways, I do have a 29 gallon tank that i'd like to plant, but with the NO 20 watt bulb thats in there now just isn't going to do it. I did manage to buy a 55 watt pc fixture, just waiting for it to be shipped to me. However, even at 55 watts over a 29 gal tank, thats merely 1.89 wpg. Thanks for answering my questions about flourite. Hopefully in a few months i'll be posting pics of the tank when it's complete!