Substrate? Gravel?-- What?

[Fishingforfish]

Sorry if this sounds really stupid, I am quite new to this hobby and this forum.

I am a bit confused as what to use as a bottom layer when using live plants. Some say you need dirt substrate then sand/gravel on top for nutrients, and some say it'll do just fine with JUST sand/gravel. I went to petco today, and all they had was gravel, no dirt substrate or anything like that. However, I didn't buy anything until I was sure.

Question: Do you need a dirt substrate underneath sand/gravel if you use live plants? Suggestions would be appreciated, thanks!

 

[Khuligirl93]

For my first planted tank I used flora max substrate. Eco complete is also pretty much the same thing. They have nutrients for plants but are not messy like dirt can be.
But it all depends on what type of plants you plan on planting. Stem plants absorb their nutrients from the water so substrate wouldn't even matter, but if you want root feeders a good nutritious substrate would be important. I suggest researching the types of plants you want first.
If you want mostly stem plants and a few root feeders, I think you'd be fine with sand or gravel and just putting fertilizer root tabs by the root feeders.

 

[Old Scales]

There are many substrate disciplines used. All have their faithful followers. Some of the main ones used for plants are dirted, dirted with gravel cap over it, just plain aquarium gravel, just sand, and commercial plant friendly substrate like Eco-Complete ot Flora-Max. All require their own procedures and have their own faithful followers who swear it's the only way. Read alot of the old threads in here, research online and choose the way YOU want to do your planted tank knowing what time, money and effort you are willing to spend. Do it your way and enjoy the learning. These people in here are the greatest at helping newcomers get started and sharing their knowledge and opinions. (Some of us to a fault. LOL) Don't worry about trying to know all their is all at once. Learn the basics, asks questions and enjoy the hobby. I hope you find this hobby to be a life long positive enjoyment.
I personally went with all Flora-max. But it's by far not the only substrate nor the best. Just what I was willing to commit to. Good luck. OS.

 

[Mebbid]

I will chime in here even though I will freely admit I'm pretty amateurish when it comes to plants. In my tanks I use sand only with fertilizer tabs. I also have a fairly large stocking of Malaysian Trumpet Snails to dig through the sand and loosen it up for plant roots to grow. My main root feeding plants are a hammerleaf aponogeton and amazon sword. These are also my 2nd and 3rd best growing plant in my tanks. I use root tabs underneath them and can visibly tell when they need to be refreshed due to decreased growth. While I would have liked to use a fertilized base and sand cap over it I avoided going that route mainly because of cost. It's not necessary to have the base layer to have successful plants, but I am sure it makes a fair amount of difference.

 

[Fishingforfish]

OP here.

The Eco substrates are fairly expensive, but at the same time I really want to try, and add gravel on top. They dont sell Eco substrates at my local petco though, which is really unfortunate considering they sell live plants in tanks full of water and their own brand of gravel. Another concern I have is whether the plants will get messed up because of the Kuhli loaches my uncle is offering, but that's another story.

As for the plants, I am looking for easy, low light plants to start off with (because its my first time lol) so gravel may* be okay. ><

 

[Khuligirl93]

I have khuli loaches in my planted tank with Flora max and they've never uprooted any.

 

[Fishingforfish]

I have khuli loaches in my planted tank with Flora max and they've never uprooted any.

Thank you for that! Now I just need to find the right gravel so they won't get scratched. As for the topic of this thread, I may just use gravel until I get the hang of planting plants in a aquarium..

 

[Jkeating8]

If you're going for easy, low light light plants, them sand will do just fine. If needed, you can always supplement with root tabs if you get an crypts or swords. The sand would be fine for the loaches.

 

[lovemyguppies]

OP here.

The Eco substrates are fairly expensive, but at the same time I really want to try, and add gravel on top. They dont sell Eco substrates at my local petco though, which is really unfortunate considering they sell live plants in tanks full of water and their own brand of gravel. Another concern I have is whether the plants will get messed up because of the Kuhli loaches my uncle is offering, but that's another story.

As for the plants, I am looking for easy, low light plants to start off with (because its my first time lol) so gravel may* be okay. ><

I bought floramax for $10 per bag at petsmart if that helps you out at all

 

[Rivercats]

The only thing I don't suggest as a planted newbie is a dirted tank. They are great but they are not the way to start when getting into planted tanks for the first time. If you go with gravel try finding a very small grained on if possible.

 

[Fishingforfish]

I bought floramax for $10 per bag at petsmart if that helps you out at all

I've only got a petco here ;____; There's LITERALLY only 2 or 3 petsmarts in Honolulu. The rest are Petco! Lol

 

[Fishingforfish]

The only thing I don't suggest as a planted newbie is a dirted tank. They are great but they are not the way to start when getting into planted tanks for the first time. If you go with gravel try finding a very small grained on if possible.

Gotcha! It it would also suit the loaches well I already saw a bag of gravel that seemed OK, but ill just have to look again.

 

[DeathclawRowe1]

SAND! Gravel is terrible

 

[vespasianus]

I have always said for the amateur that wants a planted tank, go anacharis, elodea and java fern. These have absolutely no care what substrate you have, seriously you can have a bare bottom tank and they'll thrive, they reproduce like crazy and are the best low maintenance plants in the hobby. Anything else aside from this, from the ones that need root tabs, to the ones that need those time and money consuming, expensive CO2 systems, I leave to the experts. To summarize, if your worrying about the substrate because of the plants, don't worry, put the substrate you want and those 3 plants I told you and you can put marbles for substrate if you want lol.

 

[Fishingforfish]

I have always said for the amateur that wants a planted tank, go anacharis, elodea and java fern. These have absolutely no care what substrate you have, seriously you can have a bare bottom tank and they'll thrive, they reproduce like crazy and are the best low maintenance plants in the hobby. Anything else aside from this, from the ones that need root tabs, to the ones that need those time and money consuming, expensive CO2 systems, I leave to the experts. To summarize, if your worrying about the substrate because of the plants, don't worry, put the substrate you want and those 3 plants I told you and you can put marbles for substrate if you want lol.

Thank you! It's for a 10g so there's not much of a variety I can put in as opposed to a 40g+. Not sure what plants they carry at Petco though, hopefully they have at least one of the plants you recommend.

The reason why I am not using sand is because people say it's better for more experienced people to use, etc etc. I just don't want to screw things up, lol

 

[DeathclawRowe1]

Thank you! It's for a 10g so there's not much of a variety I can put in as opposed to a 40g+. Not sure what plants they carry at Petco though, hopefully they have at least one of the plants you recommend.

The reason why I am not using sand is because people say it's better for more experienced people to use, etc etc. I just don't want to screw things up, lol

All those plants in the pic are from petco

 

[Maxw47]

I use sand with red clay underneath and flourish root tabs. My plants love it. I also have a dirted tank capped with Eco complete, but that's a lot of work for somebody just getting started. I would definitely recommend sand with root tabs. Try red clay if you have the interest and the lights, but I wouldn't stress it. I used to use a fluorite gravel, but I wasn't a big fan. Bottom dwellers (cories) don't really like it and I like the look of sand better.

 

[Fishingforfish]

All those plants in the pic are from petco

Ooooh, looks nice! Do you know how much they're selling them for? Thanks!

 

[DeathclawRowe1]

Ooooh, looks nice! Do you know how much they're selling them for? Thanks!

I got bottled plants
1 argentine sword bottle came with 4-5 sprouts.
1 bottle of anubias came with 3 sprouts
I bought the individual java fern
I bought the planted plant infront of the drift wood
I bought the driftwood from petco too
And I think that's all the plants in there

 

[Fishingforfish]

I got bottled plants
1 argentine sword bottle came with 4-5 sprouts.
1 bottle of anubias came with 3 sprouts
I bought the individual java fern
I bought the planted plant infront of the drift wood
I bought the driftwood from petco too
And I think that's all the plants in there

Wow, I'm surprised you were able to find them at petco. Many people say that they sell non aquatic plants and rarely any true aquatic ones. Do you still remember how much you paid them for? Thanks