Best Planted Tank Substrate?

The 29 gallon tank that I upgraded my sister to is currently a mess. The lighting isn't powerful enough to grow anything well, so I am planning on upgrading that. The plants in the tank are not growing well and it is a mess of diatoms and green fuzz on the glass where the light reaches. However, in the process I am also considering replacing the substrate. Currently it is just a bunch of Nat Geo black sand with some root tabs.

In my 46 gallon high tech I use Mr Aqua aquarium soil. Plants absolutely love it but it was very expensive at $45 per 15lb bag (I used 4 bags). In my 5 gallon I have Flourite Black Sand, and in my 10 I have Flourite Black. With so many planted tank substrates out there, I was wondering what the best substrate might be.

Dirt is technically the best, but I'm not yet ready to deal with the headache of dirting that thing in the middle of our living room, especially with diggers like corys and a goldfish.

 

I use Eco-Complete 2" with a cap of Black Blasting Sand. It's working very well for me.

 

I use Eco-Complete 2" with a cap of Black Blasting Sand. It's working very well for me.

Is it necessary to cap Eco-Complete?

 

No it is not, I just think it is a little easier on my cories.

 

Seachem Flourite. Seachem - Flourite

 

I'm going to say best for plant growth is ADA soils, but what substrate you use should be considered with tank conditions and what kind of plant growth you want. Fluorite and eco-complete are pretty notorious for having more trace and CEC and very lacking in macronutrients, and the soil based ones are considered more nutritious but prone to breaking down over time.

 

I'm going to say best for plant growth is ADA soils, but what substrate you use should be considered with tank conditions and what kind of plant growth you want. Fluorite and eco-complete are pretty notorious for having more trace and CEC and very lacking in macronutrients, and the soil based ones are considered more nutritious but prone to breaking down over time.

I want to heavily plant the tank in low maintenance, undemanding plants such as anacharis, cabomba, and hydrocotyle. However, I would also like some more nutrient demanding plants such as swords and crypts.

My aqua soil substrate in my 46 gallon has broken down considerably in the 6 months it's been in there, and is becoming silt-like and loose. Still great for growing plants.

 

I only used the ADA Amazonia soil powder type. It's good for growing plants, but it leeches tons of ammonia and nitrites, so you have to be on top of water changes.It's also very pricey. Fluval has their own brand as well, which is good. My LFS uses both the ADA and FluvL for their display tanks. I don't know if it's a soil you need with those kinds of plants you have in mind, as I'm not an expert. I do have rotala wallichI in my fluval spec iiI with just the lights with no additional fertilizers or CO2 added, but it still grows like crazy, and I heard those are difficult plants that reauire high light and CO2. On that basis, I'd say that ADA is a really good soil.
Here's a photo of the results of how much ammonia (topped out at 8ppm), nitrites, and even nitrates the soil leeched.

 

I only used the ADA Amazonia soil powder type. It's good for growing plants, but it leeches tons of ammonia and nitrites, so you have to be on top of water changes.It's also very pricey. Fluval has their own brand as well, which is good. My LFS uses both the ADA and FluvL for their display tanks. I don't know if it's a soil you need with those kinds of plants you have in mind, as I'm not an expert. I do have rotala wallichI in my fluval spec iiI with just the lights with no additional fertilizers or CO2 added, but it still grows like crazy, and I heard those are difficult plants that reauire high light and CO2. On that basis, I'd say that ADA is a really good soil.

I've heard about ADA soils leaching ammonia before. Is that something it constantly does, or does it only leech ammonia for a certain period after being introduced? Will a cycled filter be able to keep up with the rate that ammonia is leeched?

 

Yes, it leeches a lot daily. Need lots of WC, but I didn't always do it every day. I also did a lot of API test kit, which was a pain, especially doing the nitrate test. WC few days or so. May want to do it more often, as I was kind of lazy about it. I still think the soil leeches out ammonia to today, but not as it did, so my bacteria handles it. I used two bottles (smallest ones) of TSS+, but not at the same time. I wouldn't recommend using just your bio filter alone. At least wait a few large WCs. I didn't have a certain method. I just added a bottle when I did a very large WC and tested. I added another bottle after changing the water again and waiting a few days and noticed the nitrates were much higher than when I didn't use bacteria, but ammonia and nitrite were both crazy high still, but it didn't seem to kill the bacteria off at all, but was actually working. I remember I cycled within 2 weeks or less, believe it or not. WC was a pain, even with the Fluval Spec iii, as it took a lot of time to do, since I was using a airline hose to add the water very slowly and even then some plants got uprooted. Pretty time consuming, but that was just my method. Probably easier ways of doing it. I just jumped right in without asking any questions, so you're already ahead.

 

As the title says, what is the best planted tank substrate? I plan on changing out my substrate with something better for my plants. So far I've seen ADA Aqua Soil, Brightwell Aquatics, Seachem Flourite, EcoComplete, Mr. Aqua Soil, Fluval Stratum and lastly, dirt. Each of these have their pros and cons but I wanted to hear from people who use any of these and how their plants are doing. Which of these would I NOT have to add roots tabs with? Any advice is appreciated

 

I have used fluval stratum and with great success. The one thing is that the stratum wil lower your PH. I now am using seachems black flourite sand and I don't like it.
You also have to consider what kinds of fish you are going to keep. Fishes like Cory's can get injured by sharp rocks. Also and this is just IMHO you should use root tabs for plants that get their nutrients from their roots.
If I was going to make another planted tank I would use the fluval stratum, but that's just my preference.

 

I used ADA Aquasoil in my betta tank. Plants are growing like crazy even without fertilizers, co2 and with low light. Even my amazon sword is thriving even without root tabs.

 

I have used fluval stratum and with great success. The one thing is that the stratum wil lower your PH. I now am using seachems black flourite sand and I don't like it.
You also have to consider what kinds of fish you are going to keep. Fishes like Cory's can get injured by sharp rocks. Also and this is just IMHO you should use root tabs for plants that get their nutrients from their roots.
If I was going to make another planted tank I would use the fluval stratum, but that's just my preference.

Yea I read that stratum lowers the pH which I don't want. I have a pretty nuetral pH of 7.2-7.4.

What don't you like about seachem Flourite? That's the one I was leaning to most just because is doesn't alter the pH. Would corys do okay with flourite black? Not the sand. Seems like root tabs are inevitable in this situation huh?

Let me just make sure I get this right, the planted substrates are high in CEC which allows for the nutrients to be disbursed to the plant when needed, am I right?

I used ADA Aquasoil in my betta tank. Plants are growing like crazy even without fertilizers, co2 and with low light. Even my amazon sword is thriving even without root tabs.

I'd love to use ADA but for a 75g, that would be a lot of money for substrate.

 

The thing I don't like about the flourite is that it's very light and it's easily moved around. Also because it's light plants don't get rooted in very well.

Here is my tank one side has all the flourite. It was all moved by the fish.

 

The thing I don't like about the flourite is that it's very light and it's easily moved around. Also because it's light plants don't get rooted in very well.

Here is my tank one side has all the flourite. It was all moved by the fish.

View attachment 355294

View attachment 355295

Is that the Flourite sand?

Nice tank though!

 

Yes it is, in fact I made an article on how to clean it.

A better way to clean Seachem Flourite Black Sand w/ Pics

Thanks for the nice comment about my tank. I just added those plants in and I am waiting to see how it grows.

 

Do you think that the regular Flourite black gravel is better than the sand?

And your welcome! It's going to look ever better when they grow in

 

This is IMHO I would rather use something like stratum. Because the material that it's made of holds lot of different nutrients and can hold different nutrients you add to your tank. To me it's sorta like a sponge. Now substrate like sand or rocks cannot hold any nutrients. And I feel that it's easier for the plants roots to move through a softer substrate. But that's just my opinion. If I had the time and money I wold actually redo my 33 and use stratum. The only draw back time is that it's very expensive.

 

I've been thinking about doing a substrate change in my 75. Right now I have apistogramma cacatuoides, neon tetra, harlequin rasbora, guppies, amano shrimp and assassin snails. I'm going to be adding panda cory to the tank also. Plant wise I have jungle vals, crypt wendtiI red, 3 different anubis, red tiger lotus, bacopa caroliniana, Amazon sword, crinum calamistratum, pogostemon helferi, hornwort, s. Repens, and hygrophila polysperma. I will be adding cabomba, and crypt undulata.

I have DIY osmocote root tabs so it's not that they cost me much, it's just annoying noticing my plants aren't growing that well and having to put root tabs in the substrate. I want something that's a more consistent with supplying nutrients to my plants.

 

I personally would use the stratum. especially if your going to have cory's they will benefit from having a smooth substrate. I just think over all it's a better substrate and the pros out weight the cons. Of having a lower ph.

Here is a video of one of my very first plated tanks that I used stratum in. I had congos, peacock gudgeons, dwarf rainbows. When I took that tank apart the roots of all my plants were pretty well dug in. I recently redid my 33 and took out some plants that I had from when I first set it up and the roots were super easy to pull out. My fishes did well in that tank and I also had pressurized co2 which would bring down my ph down even lower but my fishes still thrived.

 

I personally would use the stratum. especially if your going to have cory's they will benefit from having a smooth substrate. I just think over all it's a better substrate and the pros out weight the cons. Of having a lower ph.

Here is a video of one of my very first plated tanks that I used stratum in. I had congos, peacock gudgeons, dwarf rainbows. When I took that tank apart the roots of all my plants were pretty well dug in. I recently redid my 33 and took out some plants that I had from when I first set it up and the roots were super easy to pull out. My fishes did well in that tank and I also had pressurized co2 which would bring down my ph down even lower but my fishes still thrived.

First, that tank looked amazing, never really realized how beautiful Congo tetras are. Do you think that all the fish I mentioned will be fine with a lower pH? Right now mine is at around 7.2-7.4. I also have amano shrimp and a nerite snail, don't know it that changes anything. I'll have to look into stratum some more to see what others have said about it. If you think it would be better, I'll definitely consider it more than Flourite.

If you don't mind me asking, what's your pH out of the tap and the pH in your tanks with stratum? Just want to get a rough idea of how much the pH can possibly be lowered.

 

My pH out of my tap is high 8.2 and when I had that tank planted with co2 and fertz it went down as low as 6.0 but my fish were fine. Now that tank is my breeding tank for my Kirbs (and now it looks nothing like the video) and they have kept putting out batches and batches of fish. I am very lucky to be able to sell them to a LFS that buys all my fishes I breed. I honesty haven't tested the water now with my Kribs in there but fishes are pretty adaptable to different waters.

 

Thank you, I'll will definitely do some more reaserch in stratum

 

Good Luck I hope I helped I just ordered 3 bags of stratum for my 33 long!

 

Thank you! Good luck with the 33 long

 

Thank you! Good luck with the 33 long

Thank you too and Good Luck with your tank too!

 

Alright so I'm not going to hold back on plants for a 15 gallon tank I have in my garage. I'm going to keep a balloon molly and 3 guppies, I don't wanna get rid of any of them as I've grown closer to 'em. The balloon molly is getting a 29 with some other fish. The guppes are 2 m 1 f, would upping the f count to 6 help? Would I be overstocking? I'm gonna get this filter for the tank:

Anyways, I wanted to try out no ferts or co2 setup, just an airstone, plant substrate, a cheap LED, and a dream. Gonna get all the plants I think would look nice, obviously going through the cleaning process with much caution. What would be the best substrate? Any specific brand? How would I go about it? Dirt/soil then a good gravel/sand? Or a single substrate?

 

I have heard good things about MiracleGro nature's care, it seems to be good.
You should probably do more females, I think six would be alright, although I could be wrong.
Dirt can be capped with a light sand, or gravel, whichever you prefer.

 

The best thing I ever used for plants was pond mud. It was messy but the plants really grew in it. Not sure what the plants were called since they came from the same pond and I never bothered identifying them.

 

I have heard good things about MiracleGro nature's care, it seems to be good.
You should probably do more females, I think six would be alright, although I could be wrong.
Dirt can be capped with a light sand, or gravel, whichever you prefer.

2m 6f in a 15 with a lot of plants and a good filter is fine right?
Would the MiracleGro work with no other type of substrate?

 

I used organic potting soil with a very fine black gravel, it's a bit courser than sand. I've had my planted tank since 2010 with no problems or fertilizer. In fact I just had to look up what ferts means. I don't use co2 and my water parameters have always been perfect.

 

I used organic potting soil with a very fine black gravel, it's a bit courser than sand. I've had my planted tank since 2010 with no problems or fertilizer. In fact I just had to look up what ferts means. I don't use co2 and my water parameters have always been perfect.

any certain brand of organic potting soil? What do you mean by very fine gravel?(attach a link or picture of the gravel you used if it isn't too much to ask for)

 

With no ferts, you'll need a nutrient rich soil, as mentioned potting soil is quite good. I believe miraclegro organic potting soil is what most people use.
What you describe is somewhat similar to the Walstad method, which you may want to research. You cap it with sand or fine gravel to prevent soil leeching/messiness.

Otherwise, the most nutrient rich aquarium-specific soils are probably ADA Aquasoil, Controsoil, and Tropica soil.

 

any certain brand of organic potting soil? What do you mean by very fine gravel?(attach a link or picture of the gravel you used if it isn't too much to ask for)

It's been so long ago I don't remember what brand of soil but it seems that I may have put peat in it. The cap was given to me from the guy I bought the aquarium from. I'll try and attach a pic but I have so many plants it may not show much. also put some kind of bio stuff in the soil. Not much 1/4 tsp or so. I'll try and look for the instructions I used but it may be Wednesday before I can because I'm working 12 hour shifts.

See if this helps.

Here's my tank. It looks better in person. So easy to keep. I have Malaysian trumpet snails, Cory cats, bristlenose Pecos and ghost shrimp that keep the place clean. My biggest job is to keep the plants pruned.

 

Here's my tank. It looks better in person. So easy to keep. I have Malaysian trumpet snails, Cory cats, bristlenose Pecos and ghost shrimp that keep the place clean. My biggest job is to keep the plants pruned.

Beautiful tank! I'll do my best to spare you the trouble of looking through to find out what exact things you did and look for the mix or 'recipe' for the substrate myself.

 

Thank you!

 

Most people use miracle grow potting mix. But I don’t think it would matter what kind you get. You can buy regular top soil, sift out the big chucks then remineralize. Or any soil with a good nutrient percentage.

But yeah, Mak listed some quality aquarium soil, since you don’t wanna hold back, check those out.

 

With no ferts, you'll need a nutrient rich soil, as mentioned potting soil is quite good. I believe miraclegro organic potting soil is what most people use.
What you describe is somewhat similar to the Walstad method, which you may want to research. You cap it with sand or fine gravel to prevent soil leeching/messiness.

Otherwise, the most nutrient rich aquarium-specific soils are probably ADA Aquasoil, Controsoil, and Tropica soil.

Most people use miracle grow potting mix. But I don’t think it would matter what kind you get. You can buy regular top soil, sift out the big chucks then remineralize. Or any soil with a good nutrient percentage.

But yeah, Mak listed some quality aquarium soil, since you don’t wanna hold back, check those out.

Looking up that miraclegro stuff and I guess my brain didn't want to work! I was like "what the heck is miraclegro? How have I not heard of it if it's so good?" until I say pictures. That stuff's always around!! Well, except for now. Lucky me, huh?

Well, It's very cheap for substrate. How much should I get? 15 pounds? more? less?

I've been watching that series on youtube by Foo The Flowerhorn about the Walstad method, really relaxing and useful.

 

Looking up that miraclegro stuff and I guess my brain didn't want to work! I was like "what the heck is miraclegro? How have I not heard of it if it's so good?" until I say pictures. That stuff's always around!! Well, except for now. Lucky me, huh?

Well, It's very cheap for substrate. How much should I get? 15 pounds? more? less?

I've been watching that series on youtube by Foo The Flowerhorn about the Walstad method, really relaxing and useful.

I bought the 50Qt bag for $10 and ended up using almost half of the bag after sifting. I did 36Lx15Wx1H”