Long time out of the hobby, what's the new hotness on planted tank substrate

[chkltcow]

Hi everyone! Long time no see!! It's been quite a while since I was into the fish hobby. Recently after taking a trip to the Chattanooga aquarium and talking to my dad (rdd1952 on here) about his 75g aquarium, we decided to get his cleaned up and stocked again, and I'm going to set up his old 29gal for myself. He has Flourite and Caribsea Tahitian Moon in his 75gal, and I used to run the same setup in my planted tank. It appears that the black Tahitian Moon sand is no longer available, so I'm not sure what to do for substrate so I'll ask... what's the current hot trend?

Stocking ideas: I want to do a livebearer tank with either Guppies or Endlers. I'd also like to have a cleaner crew with Cories or Kuhlies, so a soft substrate would be nice. For plants... probably some crypts, some stem plants like hornwort and cabomba, and anubias that wouldn't have to be buried.

And finally.... I think my water is low pH, around 6.2 or so, and softer than a fluffy cloud. So a substrate that is going to lower pH is probably not a superb idea. Crushed coral might be smart to bring it up a bit and buffer the hardness.

thanks!

 

[Wills]

Wow joined in 2004! You must be one of the oldest members here

Its such a hard hobby to leave for too long isnt it!

 

[chkltcow]

Wow joined in 2004! You must be one of the oldest members here

Its such a hard hobby to leave for too long isnt it!

HAH! I wonder how many of the old folks from those days are still around. I remember this place was always full of great people!

And yeah.. it's hard to leave. I've wanted to really get back into it for a while, and I had a small 10g a few years ago.... but the trip to see a big aquarium and talks about helping dad get his cleaned up and stocked again really gave me the motivation to do it myself too.

 

[Essjay]

I recognise your dad's name too - he used to be a moderator.