I'm glad I came across this thread. I saw a tank in an LFS and talked to the guy who set it up, he put a layer of Flourite down (for plants), then about 1" of sand, and topped it off with some light gravel. It looked really cool and I wanted to do that to my new tank, but another local LFS recommended against it, saying that the smaller particles would sink, gas pockets can form, hard to clean, etc.
Sounds like she didn't read this thread.
Question 1) Is PFS a good substrate to use for a heavily planted tank?
2) Wouldn't a base layer of Flourite cause possible anaerobic pockets and allow fish waste to be trapped? Or will the PFS prevent waste from getting down there? The LFS guy that set up the tank said he did it for purposes of stabilizing the water and boosting plant growth.
3) am I going to end up with sand mixed with Flourite over time?
4) should i skip the flourite and just go with PFS?
by the way this is for a 37 that will mainly house fry, my 10g just became too small to hold all of them, which seems to be more and more each month. I've given away 400 in the last 6 months. Plus I got the 37 for $20.