Substrate For Plants

[BIGT]

hello again, i got alot of help from last thread but couldnt find out what substrate to use for my plants. i currentyl use the reguar stuff fish stores sell. i notice on alot of pics i sen of different plant tanks the gravel stuff was color of black and like a sand color. befor i assume what it is and waiste money what exaclty is th ebest to use for plants to survive the best? most the pictures i looked at today were all from the uk so could be different then america. i appreciate the help thanks, tj

 

[Biulu]

You basically have 2 options: put a nutrient rich substrate under an inert substrate or use only an inert substrate (sand or gravel). Both is possible, the nutrient substrate gives your plants a headstart as they will be able to suck up nutrients from the substrate, although this is only important for root feeders like cryptocorynes and echinodores. Most other plants take up nutrients as well from dosing liquid fertilizers. Plus that after at the most a year, the nutrients in the substrate will have been depleted and you will either to replace it or start dosing fertilizers.

 

[stevereade]

I just use plain old sand and mine are growing great.

 

[BIGT]

hey what kind of sand like beach sand. and when peopel mention other substrates cna u like give me a name please i am new to the plants situation. but so u know i have java ferns 1 anubias nana 1micro sword the guy i baught it from on ebay mikeswetpets said it was called rare leaf microsword and said u plant it in gravel and it spreads liek carpet but its not doing anything except dying. but my gravel is also that stone stuff.

 

[Biulu]

Are you adding fertilizers? For swords a root tablet will also help.

 

[BIGT]

i use nutrafin plantgro once a week nutrafin co2 system with the packets for them. (kind of smells like wine though so hard to believe its co2 when everything mixed up has that wine smell to it. also juts started using seachem flourish excel once a week for about a week now.

 

[stevereade]

Nutrafin Plant Gro is just Iron pretty much, the plants you have dont need CO2 so just buy some TPN+ (tropica plant nutrition +) and add that and they'll all grow fine, oh and the sword is pigmy chain sword most likely, not rare tbh Ihave about 7 or 8 in my tank but they do spread quick with the right treatment, I add TPN+ Plant Gro and use CO2, mainly for my other plants but its getting the swords spreading quickly. Oh and the sand you wanna buy not get from a beach as beach sand is full of salt.
Oh your CO2 is the same as mine, if I were you I'd throw out the sachets that come with it, get some yeast, fill it to the first level with sugar, add 1/3 teaspoon of yeast fill with luke warm water and you will get a much better bubble count but it wont last long. I have to re fill mine every 3-4 days but the extra CO2 is worth it.

 

[Ryefish]

i just use sand and my plants are doing fine You just need to find the right ferts to dose into the water. Im changing to TPN+ in a few weeks, but i've been using Seachem Flourish up until now.

As for what sand - you can get sand from LFS' (generally more expensive), or a bag from a hardware store like B&Q or Argos if your in the UK. Sand directly from a beach isn't sterile

 

[BIGT]

do you know much about th estuff called echo-complete i have read reviews about it said it was supposed to be pretty good but looks expensive an dmy tank is 36 g bow front and the bads are only 20 pnd bags so i think i would need 3 and there about $25 a piece. i will try the yeast and im trying to find that fert u said but only places i found it on so far was othe rcountries im in the us

 

[BIGT]

i found the tpn it seems expensive to use how often to u use it? one of the webistes i read that had it one of th ereviews said u still need a special gravel substrate like th eone i mentons earlier echo -complete. before i go out and buy it online since my fish store i dont think has it and waiste my money does it make a noticable difference? o yea and th eone guy said if i do add the echo-complete in reviews from websit ethat sells it sayd it makes one shocking mess. does that mean to add it u cant have any fish in it or its better to do it on water change so its not all pured into the tank? i took him 2 ways shock th ewater kill th efish or if waters full you dump it in and it makes a cloudy mess. thanks for all the help so far

 

[Biulu]

i found the tpn it seems expensive to use how often to u use it? one of the webistes i read that had it one of th ereviews said u still need a special gravel substrate like th eone i mentons earlier echo -complete. before i go out and buy it online since my fish store i dont think has it and waiste my money does it make a noticable difference? o yea and th eone guy said if i do add the echo-complete in reviews from websit ethat sells it sayd it makes one shocking mess. does that mean to add it u cant have any fish in it or its better to do it on water change so its not all pured into the tank? i took him 2 ways shock th ewater kill th efish or if waters full you dump it in and it makes a cloudy mess. thanks for all the help so far

The problem with eco-complete is that it clouds your water tremendously. Of course you will be able to keep fish, but you will have to wait until the substrate settles. Look, I put sera depot under my gravel just to provide some nutrients for the beginning, but you can also use garden compost for instance, which is much cheaper.

If you think the TPN is too expensive, you can also make your own mix from dry salts. There are several links that explain you how to do this. Here is one: http/www.theplantedtank.co.uk/dosing-methods.htm. These have different dosing methods with their amounts.

Good luck.

 

[BIGT]

is there anything i can use that i can get for substrate that i can put in with keeping my fish in the tank?

 

[BIGT]

i baught 3 bags of that echo complete stuff hope the sales person didnt rip me off they said it only clouds water for short time and may only kick amoonia spike up a little bit if i take all my gravel out an dput the new stuff in with fish still in tank if i gently put new gravel in. and from what i read on internet its alot nicer then laterite.

1 last thing that fert u were talking about called tropica plant nutrition were can i buy that from? I'm in the u.s. and cant find it anywere only places i found it was other countries like the uk area. also with th enew substrate i should have by end of week hopefully would i still need to use fertilizers if so what kind? thankyou u guys been a big help i know i ask alot but im just trying to get off on th eright step this time around.

 

[stevereade]

If you have another tank I'd move them out while you put it in and TPN+ isn't available in the states I'm afraid but there are a few additives you can but that will do the job when combined tho. (someone help me out here lol)

 

[BIGT]

dont have another tank im not sure if i should just risk it and take out old gravel in with the new and th efish are so hard to catch unless i take all the water out there to fast. i had a slight ammonia spike before were it went up half way on color chart of api for 3 days and the fish were fine. and i quess if worse comes to worse i can water change and i got th efilter that has the carbon and th eammonia rocks.