What Substrate for a planted tank

[NinjaTetra]

I am setting up a 37 gallon tank right now. One side is going to be heavily planted, and one side will have a decoration and some dwarf hair grass or baby tears. I plan to have 6 peppered corydoras as bottom dwellers, so I want a sandy substrate. I know some people say gravel is okay, but I want a safe (while still being inexpensive) substrate. There is a sandy plant substrate that looks good except for some of the pieces are up to 8mm..... Most are between 2 and 3 mm. I have heard that I could later 1 inch of that and put sand on top, but then the sand leaks down. Is fluorite okay for corydoras? Thx

 

[dragonfisher33]

what i would do is do a dirt tank and top the dirt with eco complete sand substrate. that way you wouldn't notice the sand leaking down and your corys would be happy residents of your tank as well. what do you think?

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

You can probably use "fine grade" eco complete.

 

[Rivercats]

The Eco Complete fine grade is new and never used it but I have Eco complete as a cap in my 220g and the cory's do fine in it. When people see the barbels on cory's eroding or missing they assume it's caused by the substrate when in fact it is almost always caused from poor water quality.

 

[NinjaTetra]

Interesting, Rivercats. So Eco complete is pretty good? Searching other forums, I found most preferred sea chem fluorite or pool filter sand as a plant substrate, but I thought that sand doesn't have enough nutrients. Thanks for the help.

 

[parrottbay]

Interesting, Rivercats. So Eco complete is pretty good? Searching other forums, I found most preferred sea chem fluorite or pool filter sand as a plant substrate, but I thought that sand doesn't have enough nutrients. Thanks for the help.

Sand doesnt have nutrients but you can add some type of root tabs and dose ferts. Good luck trying to get HC and DHG to grow if that is a 37 Gal bowfront tank due to the tallness of the tank. They both LOVE good substrate and have to have CO2 and the kicker will be getting a light system that will penetrate that low for them.

 

[Rivercats]

Fluorite isn't my favorite, it's dusty even after rinsing. Sand is a matter of choice and can be used but again it's not my favorite. Eco is clean, no rinsing, and has a high CEC, cation exchange capacity, which means it absorbs nutrients from detris and water and hold them for use by the plants. All commercial substrates and dirt have high CEC. Sand and gravel are inert. You will need a lot more than than they standard stock lights that come with the tank in order to grow HC or DHG.