Kribensis- Planted Tank Substrate

Hello. I'm currently planning for a new tank (probably a 40 breeder) that I'm hopeful is going to be an aquascape.

Now, the fish I'm planning on having are kribensis; I'm actually looking to breed a pair.

Currently in my 20 the substrate is some regular carib sea sunset gold sand (silica sand) and some other substrate that's I'm pretty sure is fluorite.
Plants are okay, I also have some diy root tabs from osmocote plus in there.

I was wondering what would be the better substrate for a hopefully heavily planted, probably low-tech (no Co2 but 247 hlc lighting and nilocg thrive ferts if needed) tank that would be suitable for kribensis to also do their thing?

Any thoughts? ADA aquasoil, Dirted, etc?

 

Its really whatever you prefer. Ada will be very expensive to fill a 40 breeder, its also kinda overkill if not running co2 for full benefit of it, same for any "planted tank substrate". Eco-complete is inert but has a good cec value. What you have will be fine if you wish to keep it, just continue to use root tabs.
Dirt isn't horrible if you don't move plants. I have Safetsorb in my 40 breeder. Its a clay based product like oil dry with a high cec value,, enough that it takes my 8.4ph down to 6.4-6.8ph along with the kh. I was planning to do another tank with about a 1/4-1/2" layer of dirt and 2-3" of safetsorb.
If going low tech id probably just keep what you have, use root tabs, dose ferts as needed.

 

If i go the dirted route, would it be fine if I had a 2 layer cap? For example, a larger pebble like fluorite or regular pea gravel on top of the dirt, then on TOP of the gravel would be a layer of sand for the kribs, aesthetics and extra safety?
Gosh, Im looking at Miracle Gro and Im so confused.
There are:
MG Performance Organics All Purpose Soil
MG Performance Organics All Purpose Mix
MG Organic Choice Soil Mix
MG Organic Soil (can't find this)
MG Organic Mix
Like, what?

 

Id go gravel or sand not both. The sand will work its way down under the gravel over time pending flow and kribs. It may last a week or 6 months but the sand will fall through. You want to use an organic soil, nothing added, no pesticides or fertilizer. It can be organic potting soil or organic topsoil. It doesn't have to be miracle gro brand. I went to lowes so I could look at the bags in person when I did my last dirted tank.

 

I was planning on doing at least a tiny, about less than half inch of gravel to help hold down the dirt even more because of the kribs' digging, and then about 1-1.5 inch of sand, so that if the sand goes down,, it still won't be fully under the gravel. Or I could do a deeper sand bed with no gravel?

 

I was planning on doing at least a tiny, about less than half inch of gravel to help hold down the dirt even more because of the kribs' digging, and then about 1-1.5 inch of sand, so that if the sand goes down,, it still won't be fully under the gravel. Or I could do a deeper sand bed with no gravel?

You can do deeper sand bed with no gravel.

 

I can move this if I need to, but I have a similar setup in mind.
I have a low tech 55g tank that will have some apistos, angels, some type of catfish, and a tetra school.
The substrate is sand, but I was thinking of putting caribsea in terracotta pots and then putting plants in that (so I dont have to pull out all the sand). Do I need a cap on that, or, since it will be a few inches above the other parts of the tank, can I just leave it bare planted tank soil?

 

If you use actual potting soil or aquasoil you will need to cap it.
Eco complete does not need a cap.

 

The sunset gold is a fine substrate for plants and kribs so i would stick with it. The problem with a nutrient rich substrate is if the tank is setup for a long time (over a year but less than 5 year) eventually the substrate will not be providing much nutrients to the plants. I just stick root tabs into the substrate. I'm not the best plant grower - i mean the plants i do have overrun my tank but i mostly avoid the harder to grow plants. This is what my 40B looks like (low tech with moonlight caribsea substrate - the white version of sunset gold):


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This is my low tech 29 with the same substrate:


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So yes there are plants that will do better with a rich substrate but you can do ok with a decent light and inert substrate if you wish to go that route....

 

Beautiful tanks! And great advice! I'll keep that in mind.