what is the difference between gravel and substrate?
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eah
Aquarium Advice Freak
Substrate is just a general word that describes any of the gravels or sands you might put on your aquarium bottom. In other words, gravel is a type of substrate.
bs6749
Aquarium Advice Addict
Yup, well put.
You can use anything you want as a substrate as long as it "works". Having sand as a substrate would not work if you have an undergravel filter, and it may not be the best choice if you want live plants as it tends to pack around the roots and kill the plants.
You don't even need a substrate, but having one provides more opportunities for your tank. You could go with gravel (of various sizes), larger rocks, sand, pool filter sand (that is what I use as it is larger in size than regular sand and it works well with plants), plant substrates (such as eco complete), or combinations of any of those, and others that I haven't listed. It is YOUR choice as to what you go with as it is YOUR tank.
You can use anything you want as a substrate as long as it "works". Having sand as a substrate would not work if you have an undergravel filter, and it may not be the best choice if you want live plants as it tends to pack around the roots and kill the plants.
You don't even need a substrate, but having one provides more opportunities for your tank. You could go with gravel (of various sizes), larger rocks, sand, pool filter sand (that is what I use as it is larger in size than regular sand and it works well with plants), plant substrates (such as eco complete), or combinations of any of those, and others that I haven't listed. It is YOUR choice as to what you go with as it is YOUR tank.
7Enigma
Aquarium Advice Addict
bs6749 said:
Just wanted to mention this does not apply to pool filter sand (PFS) which many of us with planted tanks use. Very inexpensive (50lb bag for under $15), gives that ocean bottom look (larger granules than play sand), and several species of fish/inverts prefer it (MTS love to dig through it, cory's filter feed it through their mouths/gills, some fish like to bury themselves in it). It's my favorite type of substrate (though I also like the black sand I believe is sold as Tahitian Moon Sand but much too expensive for me).
I would also like to point out that having substrate provides more surface area for helpful bacteria to grow and live, so its a good thing for your tank health as well.
Also, try not to "deep clean" more than half of your substrate at a time with a gravel vac or python. I call deep cleaning digging the python down to the bottom of the tank trying to clean all of the substrate. Surface cleaning is always ok however and recommended to reduce ammonia from food decay.
Hope that helps!
Also, try not to "deep clean" more than half of your substrate at a time with a gravel vac or python. I call deep cleaning digging the python down to the bottom of the tank trying to clean all of the substrate. Surface cleaning is always ok however and recommended to reduce ammonia from food decay.
Hope that helps!
bs6749
Aquarium Advice Addict
7Enigma said:
I am one of "you" that uses pfs with live plants. It seems to work pretty good, especially for holding down the plants.
rich311k
Aquarium Advice Addict
son2fu said:
Yes you can. Be sure to stir it up once in a while or get some MTS to keep it churned up for you, You den't want anaerobic pockets forming in it.
jbarr
Aquarium Advice Freak
Shoooot! Play sand and plants don't mix?? Dang it! Is there any way to negate this? Bah. I just got the sand settled in my 20long that I was planning on heavily planting... Curses.
Esra
Aquarium Advice Freak
Hey I have large pebbles at the bottom of my tank (proably average about 1 inch each).
The fish seem to love it especially the bristle noses and khuli's.
Can i use this for plants, no problem holding them down but will they grow ok?
Only thinking of very basic low light stuff.
The fish seem to love it especially the bristle noses and khuli's.
Can i use this for plants, no problem holding them down but will they grow ok?
Only thinking of very basic low light stuff.
bs6749
Aquarium Advice Addict
jbarr said:
You could make it work as long as you make sure that the roots are not compacted by the weight of the sand. Stir the sand once or twice a week.
Lonewolfblue
Aquarium Advice Addict
jbarr said:
All depends on the size of the sand. If the grains are fairly big, it won't compact as much. Also, add root tabs under the plants as well. Once the plant get's settled in and the roots take hold and spread out, you'll be fine. But if it's a real fine sand, then I wouldn't try it.
