Planted Substrate Head Scratcher....

Ok.
#1. Aquarium stand is complete and in place in my house as far from a window as I can get it. (however it is next to our desktop computer...smh... potential disaster?)
#2. 29 gallon aquarium is set up on top. as close to level as I'm gonna get. (if the government was installing it, it would be spilling out...lol...)(jk... its level)
#3. Fluval G3 canister filter is up and running. I just filled the tank up with water and set up the filter to make sure it runs... and if I didnt see the water moving on the top I wouldnt even think it was on... this thing is scary quiet...
#4. the DIY led lights that I have are funtional. whether or not they provide low/medium/or high light is as of yet to be determined... for the time being, I'm operating with the assumption that I have low light, until proven otherwise.
#5. Cobalt 150 watt heater is in the tank but not turned on yet... not needed...

Ok, Main topic of question:
I am wanting to start a planted aquarium. As I stated, its a 29 gallon. The plants that I am interested in having are as follows: Anubias petite, Anubias nana, Java moss, Java fern, Bacopa, a form of cryptocoryne, a bananna plant, and water wisteria. From my research, I have found these to be very hardy and low maintenence plants. I am not currently looking to have a high tech tank. For the time being I am going with a low tech low light tropical community aquarium.

The substrate that I have purchased is Seachems black flourite sand. However, I only purchased two 15 lb. bags. I do not think that this will be enough for me to have at least a 2inch bed with aquascaped "hills". so I am now looking for at least another 10lb. bag of substrate to use. I am not interested in any kind of aqua soil atm.... to much trouble to deal with. I would however like to use a bigger grain size of substrate to help the sand from compacting too much and give a little variety to the substrate.

so all of this for just this question...
would it work to put seachem regular flourite under the black sand flourite or mix them together, or could I use any other similar gravel grain size to mix things up? and would it be more beneficial for the plants to have a larger size grain or keep it all sandy?

thank you in advance for your advice.

 

You can definitely use a larger grain below. For a nicer appearance stay consistent with the substrate color. And since you want to slope it, to save substrate you can put rocks or bags of lava rock underneath. Substrate supports will also help.

 

Thank you mak.
As far as same color I am. Going with flourite black instead of the red or brown... want to stay away from big rock fillers because I have some rock and driftwood decorations that I want seated very well into the substrate. Don't want anything falling over... lol.

And I just wanted a good solid substrate for the plants. And thought that a bigger grain size would help with aeration and promote good root growth with something to hold onto... want to stick with the sand on top bc I plan on having a lot of African dwarf frogs and corys in the tank. Needed a softer bottom, and I personally like the look of sand over gravel... but thank you for the advice. I will order another bag of flourite today. Hopefully it comes in so I can clean it this weekend.

Oh, forgot to ask. Are substrate supports those clear plastic cards inserted into the substrate? Is that what u meant by supports? And would they have these on Amazon or make them out of something like diy?

 

I have found sandy substrate is better for plant growth. Add some mts! They aeriate the subtrate and help keep parameters low! (They eat fish poo, rotting plant matter and waste food) they also look after the plants roots and in return feed your plants the nutrients they need too. I would recommend using the liquid c02 though! I tried the plant nutrient tablets and had a massive nitrite spike! Without c02 in the water the plants will die and turn yellow, even with a fully stocked tank... when heavily planted there just isn't enough c02 to go round!

 

Thank you mak.
As far as same color I am. Going with flourite black instead of the red or brown... want to stay away from big rock fillers because I have some rock and driftwood decorations that I want seated very well into the substrate. Don't want anything falling over... lol.

And I just wanted a good solid substrate for the plants. And thought that a bigger grain size would help with aeration and promote good root growth with something to hold onto... want to stick with the sand on top bc I plan on having a lot of African dwarf frogs and corys in the tank. Needed a softer bottom, and I personally like the look of sand over gravel... but thank you for the advice. I will order another bag of flourite today. Hopefully it comes in so I can clean it this weekend.

Oh, forgot to ask. Are substrate supports those clear plastic cards inserted into the substrate? Is that what u meant by supports? And would they have these on Amazon or make them out of something like diy?

Yes, substrate supports are anything that prevent substrate from shifting. I used old plastic container lids cut up, but maybe you can buy some. Not sure. Wood, rocks, and deep rooted technically also act as substrate supports, just like how in nature they prevent erosion.

 

I have found sandy substrate is better for plant growth. Add some mts! They aeriate the subtrate and help keep parameters low! (They eat fish poo, rotting plant matter and waste food) they also look after the plants roots and in return feed your plants the nutrients they need too. I would recommend using the liquid c02 though! I tried the plant nutrient tablets and had a massive nitrite spike! Without c02 in the water the plants will die and turn yellow, even with a fully stocked tank... when heavily planted there just isn't enough c02 to go round!

So, I just researched the mts... I'm not sure I want to invest in these little guys yet... they seem to have a knack for exactly what u said, but they also seem to have a knack for multiplying like rabbits. Since I am a beginner, I believe my best bet is to get the aquarium up and running with my plants first. Dose with liquid ferts and co2. Get my cycle going. And see where I'm at. One of the things ive noticed while researching this hobby, is that there is no one way to make something work. There are soo many variables that can impact your specific tank... I will keep with the substrate Sandy with a ratio of 2:1 flourite sand to regular flourite. Aquascape my tank so that the sand is on the top.

Yes, substrate supports are anything that prevent substrate from shifting. I used old plastic container lids cut up, but maybe you can buy some. Not sure. Wood, rocks, and deep rooted technically also act as substrate supports, just like how in nature they prevent erosion.

Mak, thanks for the suggestion.

I will see how the scaping goes. If it looks like I will need some then I will look into the diy for this. I have a very intimate knowledge of erosion. I have to perform erosion inspections for my jobsites all of the time. So your point was well received.

Thanks again for the advice.

 

Yeahhh they do bonus with sandy substrate is you can't see the babies! And they rarely move along the glass. Yeahh get all the cycle going first and monitor parameters before going for mts. I only decided on them for my 10 gallon because I have a small bn in there which produces endless amounts of poo haha

 

Thanks for the input Glen,

I'm going extremely slow with my set up... for instance, this weekend is wash substrate, install background, drain tank, put substrate into tank. Install driftwood and rocks to figure out aquascaping ideas. Then fill the tank up again.

Next weekend is draining the tank again and then hopefully planting plants that I will inevitably be buying online and refilling the tank. Then starting the cycle. And because I am working out of town, I will nkt be able tk monitor the parameters of the tank on a daily basis. Only on the weekends...

Then maybe a month from now I plan on buying 2 to 4 adf's to put into the tank. Then once those get comfortable, will be looking into another 2 to 4 adf's. Then it's onto glofish and American flagfish... and maybe an albino cory or 2 and some amano shrimp... hopefully it will end up being a busy colorful tank that provides some comfort to my friends...

A slow start for hopefully a good end... we shall see. I will post picks when I get things going. Will probably start a new thread on my tank setup.

 

I used 4 10lb bags of Eco-Complete (spare me) in my 30 gallon Aqueon tank and that was just about enough to make a nice slope from front to back. I guess if I had to do it again I'd use this black blasting sand that people always talk about.... I forget the brand but I'm not unhappy with the Eco-Complete. I have a nice big piece of hardscape in the middle of the tank which I like very much.

My current plant list as follows:

Ludwigia Broad Leaf (Ludwigia repens)
Sword Kleiner Bar (Echinodorus 'Kleiner Bar')
Cryptocoryne undulatus (Cryptocoryne undulatus)
Wisteria (Hygrophila difformis)
Anacharis (Egeria densa)
Cryptocoryne petchii
Bacopa (Bacopa caroliniana)
Marsilea hirsuta (great carpet)

All of these are low light, low CO2 and they are growing well... some of them real well the **** Egeria Densas are going crazy. I'm running two Aquaray Grobeam 600 Ultra LED lights directly on top of a clear Versatop cover. I would have been lost without Tropica and Aquatic Central Plant Finder so if you aren't familiar with those sites I'd take a look... especially Tropica.

Just a peek...

Happy Barb

• Nada Mucho
• May 15, 2017

One of my eight Black Ruby Barbs has been playing in the current of my new powerhead for two...

 

Thanks Nada!

I was looking at liveaquaria but you have to order a lot to get their shipping... and am unsure about getting plants from the lfs... I will definitely look at those websites for planting needs. I just finished collecting rocks for my tank today from the jobsite... they look really nice. the rocks are a very dark blue almost black color when wet and they all have streaks of quartz running through them like lightning... I got way more than I needed but as yet unsure which ones I will be using and how they will work with the scape and driftwood. I will definitely start a new thread with mostly pics of how I set everything up... just hope I have planned and researched enough to avoid the beginner problems and maybe a few of the experienced problems as well...

the one thing that makes me unsure of is the lights that I am using... if they work, they will be awesome! and I will tell everyone to use them.. but if they dont, then I guess I'm buying a real aquarium light fixture.
at my local home improvement store, I found a very thin strip of LEDs that attach with an adhesive and come in 2ft strips with connectors to add on more 2 to 4ft strips... I encased the connections with silicone to prevent corrosion. I have 36 individual led lights that show in the red, green and blue spectrum. you can also switch the colors to pink, orange, green, red, purple, blue and like 12 other colors... there is also a dimable option on the remote controller to turn the brightness down if I wanted to. the whole set up was maybe 40 to 60 bucks... I have attached them to the inside of the glass top that is on the aquarium now... so I'm hoping that due to the lights being soo close to the surface that this helps with the light penetration at the bottom of the aquarium...

but enough, I'm rambling on.. time to barbeque or mildew... enough planning and research. I have the equipment needed for the moment. and the only other thing to do is get home and start this thing up...
this weekends tasks are to clean the rocks ive found, drain the tank, and clean the substrate. then install the background I bought, install the substrate, rocks and driftwood and get everything looking good. then fill the tank up and let it run for another week until I can get a hold of some plants....

 

Thanks Nada!

I was looking at liveaquaria but you have to order a lot to get their shipping...

I haven't ordered anything from liveaquaria yet but I probably would if I'm in the need. Their site has what seems to be a good reputation. I would also give Welcome to Planted Aquariums Central - Live Aquarium Plants a try as I ordered with them once and the interaction was good but I cancelled as I missed their order deadline.

Most of my plants came from aquarium plants but I just had a big problem with them which I detailed here:

I got my current Bacopa from an LFS and it looks real nice, bright green and healthy and I have some broad leaf amazon chain sword on order with them as well.

My biggest mistake was putting in all my plants, adding SeaChem root tabs and then using only SeaChem Excel in the water column. My plants started good then went downhill immediately which was pretty upsetting as I planned my tank for two months, chose my plants carefully, did a full plant map of my tank and did my best to have the proper water conditions.

What I did not account for was that several of the plants didn't have any roots and the root tabs hadn't had a chance to dissolve at all. Since I hadn't added any nutrients to the water column the plants just started to fade. Once I wised up and starting adding Seachem Flourish, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium and Iron (Ludwigia Repens) they started to get better right away. I was also wiping out my Nitrogen by doing constantly water changes to keep my Nitrates under 10. I didn't really associate Nitrogen with my measurable Nitrates but once I figured it out I now keep them between 20 and 40 which did even more to improve my plant health.

Lastly I had to rebuy the Bacopa (see LFS) because it was in a dead spot in the tank so the nutrients weren't getting to them well enough, was overtaken by algae and I chose to replace it. I added a small powerhead to move water to that corner of the tank.

I also reduced my light on cycle to 9 hours and bought 10 amano shrimp and 4 nerite snails who are really helping to get things in shape algae wise. I do have to scrub some of the leaves with my fingers from time to time in order to keep them algae free and looking good.

I hope some of this helps you find success in your new tank. Cheers.

 

so, if I add the root tabs, I should put them into the substrate before the plants to let them start dissolving so that when I do get the plants, they will have the nutrients into the substrate, as well as making sure the plants have roots so that they can get to the nutrients in the substrate?

the more I learn, the more questions I have...lol

I do have seachem flourish, exel and I believe I have the iron supplement as well... will have to check again when I get home. this "project" has been in the making for a very long time...

 

so, if I add the root tabs, I should put them into the substrate before the plants to let them start dissolving so that when I do get the plants, they will have the nutrients into the substrate, as well as making sure the plants have roots so that they can get to the nutrients in the substrate?

the more I learn, the more questions I have...lol

I think Seachem root tabs dissolve pretty slowly as designed to perform as a long term (3-4 months I think) fertilizer. I put mine in after I planted as they are pretty big and I wanted to get my plants where I wanted them first. I just wouldn't consider them to be any sort of immediate provider of food for your plants. I really think that having nutes in your water column is essential to getting your plants well established. Personal opinion of course.

I replanted my tank every day for a week until I was happy with the positioning. Don't feel abnormal if you have the urge.

 

bought a fish stand. saw the "quality" of it. hated it on top of the price I paid for it. so I decided to build my own.. being in construction, I seriously over engineered the stand.... it could probably hold up a 100 gallon tank and is being used to hold up a 29 gallon...lol. with work and "life" the stand took me 4 yrs to build and finish. you can see the unstained pics in my profile I think. but now I'm finally ready to get this thing moving... provided my wife doesn't have a kiniption fit over the money I will be spending...hence the free rocks from my jobsite...lol....but all in all I'm glad I built my own stand. it is incredibly sturdy and durable and I spent a little over a hundred dollars to build it and its made out of real wood instead of the cheap mdf that the stand I bought was made out of for the same price....

 

so I decided to build my own

Ahah the handyman's warcry! I bought the cheapo Aqueon stand (bottom) that came with my Aqueon 30 gallon tank. It's made of pine I know but it looks pretty good, is quite functional and fits my tank perfectly. Best part is it cost me 65 bones and I didn't have to lift a finger.

A good friend said he could build me a canopy top so I can get my lights up off the glass top. That was 2 months ago and he still isn't done. Should have spent another 65 bones.

 

Nada,
guess this will be a test run of sorts... kinda like how yours went. I will take all the info I can and incorporate it into my setup as best I can... I guess this is where the fun of being an aquariast comes into fruition...
trial error trial error trial error trial success , and then error...lol

 

A good friend said he could build me a canopy top so I can get my lights up off the glass top. That was 2 months ago and he still isn't done. Should have spent another 65 bones.

meant to write something b4 I posted...lol.
well I know how that goes.... unless you are paying for it, free takes its own pace... so he will get to it when he gets to it I guess... if I were you, I wouldve done the same thing.. bought the top to save on the time...

 

I'm In S.C. about 40 miles from GA. on 85 but I can ship some to you if you'd like, no big deal.

I sure would love some out here in California and I'll send you whatever kind of shipping container you want. I put in some Water Wisteria initially and it went down hill (see above if you care). Now the new leaves come out bright green but the next pair down turn greenish yellow and the edges get brownish. They don't die they just hang around looking bad. I'm hoping my recent changes will improve things but I'd sure love to do a replant if you have extra.

 

so, if I add the root tabs, I should put them into the substrate before the plants to let them start dissolving so that when I do get the plants, they will have the nutrients into the substrate, as well as making sure the plants have roots so that they can get to the nutrients in the substrate?

the more I learn, the more questions I have...lol

I do have seachem flourish, exel and I believe I have the iron supplement as well... will have to check again when I get home. this "project" has been in the making for a very long time...

Either way for the root tabs, I believe will work fine.

Don't buy Water Wisteria, I have all you want, I'm near Greenville, S.C. FREE

Very off topic, but do you know of any good LFS near you? We drive through Greenville a couple times a year to visit family but google isn't yielding anything.

 

Not one here, except Petsmart and Petco, they've all gone away.

 

Thanks Mak.
I will try placing them in the tank b4 I get the plants so that they r ready to go... see what happens.

I've been going to this place in Athens, GA called aquarium outfitters... they seem to specialize in reefs but have pretty good knowledge about all and have a pretty good selection of freshwater plants and fish... Only reason I go to this place is bc it is close to where I'm working out of town. Probably doesn't help but just putting it out there...