I recommend using either dirt capped with gravel/substrate or aqua soil, such as ADA, Fluval Stratum, Tropica, Mr. Aqua, or Controsoil.
Substrate for Planted Tanks
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Thank you, I'm very new to this. How does care and maintenance differ with the aqua soil?
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If you want a planted tank, with a dark substrate, I HIGHLY recommend Eco-Complete. About $20 for 20lbs (which gives you about 2" depth in a 10 gallon I believe, you can search for substrate calculators), does NOT need rinsing, and you don't have to fret with layers of substrate. (Which is nice if you want to move plants, substrates always tend to mix).
Here is a 10 gallon with it!
Here is a 10 gallon with it!
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Oh wow, your tank looks really beautiful!
Yes the aqua soil, vs soil and gravel, or just gravel. Is one method easier to care for/maintain than others?
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I have never heard of that being an issue with Eco-Complete. Other aquarium soils and dirt yes, but not eco-complete.
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You can get a bag of black diamond blasting sand from Tractor Supply Company and it is $8.99 for 50lbs. It is inert, but you'd have enough sand for at least 2 tanks. You can always buy powdered fertilizers by the pound and make your own liquid fertilizers. I did this in July of 2018 and have 12 tanks from 5.5g to 75 gallon and I have not run out of powdered fertilizer yet. You can buy DIY root tabs online like eBay as I did and I got 220 tabs with free shipping for only $11.99. It was cheaper than making them myself.
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I'm looking at different options for substrate for my (currently lightly) planted tank. I like the idea of having sand for substrate because of the waste sitting on top and being easier to clean, but I read that sand is not ideal for plants because it's too compact for roots to spread. I was thinking about doing different types of substrate layered. I currently have small river rock style gravel, but I hate the level of maintenance required. Would adding sand on top of the gravel work? Or would I be better off just leaving the gravel as is and deal with the maintenance? Or is there a combination anyone has tried that they love? I'm new to this so I would love to hear all of your ideas! I would like to add more plants eventually as well.
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I never have heard of a gravel and sand combo, I have been thinking pretty recently if there is such thing of a gravel/sand combo substrate which would probably look pretty cool and interesting. I’d keep the gravel the way it is because if your plants are doing good now there really isnt any need to change it plus sand can get kicked up and cloud a tank but other people would probably beg to differ. I have no experience with sand substrate. It would take a lot of work to add Sand to your substrate. But interesting idea With sand and gravel combo.
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I’m layering volcanic soil and gravel in a (to be heavily) planted tank, and gravel and sand in a (to be medium) planted tank. I like the layering look—I say try it out with some root tabs From what I’ve been reading, maintenance shouldn’t be too bad as long as you don’t care about a little mixing where the types of substrate meet.
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I'm not concerned about the substrates mixing at all, I just want to have the sand on top. I think the look of the sand on top will be nice, plus I know that there are certain fish that NEED sand, but none of the ones I've considered need gravel, and I can't see why any fish would, but I'm no expert so there very well may be some that do. Now if only I can talk my husband into spending more money on the tank to add sand lol. Thank you for the tips!
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Maybe if you point out to him that pool filter sand is very inexpensive it won't be too difficult to talk him into it. I paid a whole $5.00 for 50 pounds of it. I made sure to rinse it really really well and have never experienced even a tiny bit of cloudy water.
I rinsed it. Lowered the water level in my tank by half. Then I removed the gravel and replaced it with sand. My fish were in the tank throughout the whole process. I have gravel covered with sand in my 10 gallon grow out tank. I didn't want to go through the process of removing the gravel so just covered it with sand. Since I don't have to deep clean the sand the sand and gravel hasn't mixed.
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Like Goldface I collect my substrate from a local river and it has mixed sizes from very fine sand to coarser gravel. In one of my tanks I put a layer of fine whitish silica sand over the top, it was inexpensive and has worked well, plants are doing well in that tank. It has mixed only slightly with the river sand, I did this to make it look more Amazonian and it looks quite natural especially with the decomposing almond leaves in the top.
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I read that "carpet" plants like dwarf hairgrass and dwarf chain swords grow better in sand. Do you know if that is true from experience? I was planning on switching my substrate from gravel to sand eventually and start growing live plants with my fish.
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I had alot of luck with this layering-
Lava rock for any high areas
1.5 inch Topsoil mixed with some terracotta clay (5-10%)
1 inch washed kids play sand
1.5 inch small pebbled gravel
The sand layer really helps stop tannin leakage from the soil and just gives a good barrier for floaters etc but the gravel is the best look and best for planting, by the time the roots are going through the sand they are pretty established. Once they hit the soil they go crazy.
I have since had the change this to double the thickness of my soil layer as I also added emersed plants but when it was just submersed plants I had about 20 species, all doing awesome.
Also with this you can do areas of sand that meld into areas of gravel. I did this to have a sandy patch for my cories
Lava rock for any high areas
1.5 inch Topsoil mixed with some terracotta clay (5-10%)
1 inch washed kids play sand
1.5 inch small pebbled gravel
The sand layer really helps stop tannin leakage from the soil and just gives a good barrier for floaters etc but the gravel is the best look and best for planting, by the time the roots are going through the sand they are pretty established. Once they hit the soil they go crazy.
I have since had the change this to double the thickness of my soil layer as I also added emersed plants but when it was just submersed plants I had about 20 species, all doing awesome.
Also with this you can do areas of sand that meld into areas of gravel. I did this to have a sandy patch for my cories
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If you want to get java ferns and anubias, you don't even need substrate at all. You can go with anything, since they are better attached to hardscape. But I would reccomend getting some fertile substrate or dirting your tank because you never know, maybe in the future you'd want to get other plants that might not do too well in any substrate. As for how much, just get substrate that's a few centimeters deep.
yeah, as stargirl and revvex said, you can really use any substrate with anubias and java fern, as they need to be attached to hardscape (rocks, wood) instead of planted in the substrate. I'd get some safe super glue (a quick google search will tell you which are safe) and glue the plants to some hardscape. You will want a liquid fertilizer though! 
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For my anubias and java ferns I am not using ferts, and they do well. But I am using co2.yeah, as stargirl and revvex said, you can really use any substrate with anubias and java fern, as they need to be attached to hardscape (rocks, wood) instead of planted in the substrate. I'd get some safe super glue (a quick google search will tell you which are safe) and glue the plants to some hardscape. You will want a liquid fertilizer though!
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As stated, java ferns and anubias do not want to be planted and I do keep both in my planted tanks. Love them for the variety and ease of moving where I want when the urge hits me. I just find a nice rock or piece of wood and super glue them on. Once they start to grow they tend to attach themselves in some very artist ways. And in the case of the java ferns, the plantlettes they produce find their own spot to attach without my help and it always seems to work, I kind of just let them do their own thing.
Should you decide later that you do want rooted plants, which I did in a tank that I converted from all plastic to all live and already had just have a gravel bottom. Here's what I did with good results.
I made sure I had enough of a gravel layer to hold down the roots and then added root tabs around the roots and when I thought of it, added flourish to the water. After that, I no longer vacuumed the gravel because any waste went to feeding the plant roots and after awhile, I no longer had to add the root tabs. When I had to dismantle said tank to replace it with a new tank, I found the plant roots spread out far beyond the plant to take care of any waste in the gravel. Not only made for a more balanced tank, but also eliminated the step of vacuuming the gravel in my weekly tank care. Matter of fact, since all my tanks have rooted plants, I don't vacuum any of them, just do weekly water changes, the plant roots feed on what I had to vacuum when it was just plastic decorations.
Another suggestion. In my first venture into a planted tank, when I was still learning, I actually planted the plants in small terra cotta pots. I used potting soil with a gravel topper to hold down the soil. This was nice in that I was able to move the plants when I wanted or even taking them out all together and hold them in a bucket of water until I decided what to do with them. Plus personally I don't mind the look of terra cotta in my tanks and love them in my gardens. I still do this when I prune an active grower until I decide what to do with it. This might be something you would want to try to see if you might want a planted plant before you put the effort into actually planting it in your tank.
Should you decide later that you do want rooted plants, which I did in a tank that I converted from all plastic to all live and already had just have a gravel bottom. Here's what I did with good results.
I made sure I had enough of a gravel layer to hold down the roots and then added root tabs around the roots and when I thought of it, added flourish to the water. After that, I no longer vacuumed the gravel because any waste went to feeding the plant roots and after awhile, I no longer had to add the root tabs. When I had to dismantle said tank to replace it with a new tank, I found the plant roots spread out far beyond the plant to take care of any waste in the gravel. Not only made for a more balanced tank, but also eliminated the step of vacuuming the gravel in my weekly tank care. Matter of fact, since all my tanks have rooted plants, I don't vacuum any of them, just do weekly water changes, the plant roots feed on what I had to vacuum when it was just plastic decorations.
Another suggestion. In my first venture into a planted tank, when I was still learning, I actually planted the plants in small terra cotta pots. I used potting soil with a gravel topper to hold down the soil. This was nice in that I was able to move the plants when I wanted or even taking them out all together and hold them in a bucket of water until I decided what to do with them. Plus personally I don't mind the look of terra cotta in my tanks and love them in my gardens. I still do this when I prune an active grower until I decide what to do with it. This might be something you would want to try to see if you might want a planted plant before you put the effort into actually planting it in your tank.
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Lots of great advice already!! For me plants are not nearly as hard as some believe. They do better in softer water. So hard water will be a problem. So know your water. I would not get involved with any of the plant substrates. Gravel work fine for plant growth. Fert will be needed. More fore your rooted plants. But Java fern and anubias will do fine with just some liquid ferts. Both of these plants have a large root with smaller roots growing from it. The larger root needs to be above the substrate. The smaller roots can grow into the substrate. That makes these plants great to just attach to hard scape. Lighting is the big thing for plants. All plants need good lighting .
Oh another great thing for planted tanks are Malaysian trumpet snails. These snails(often referred to as pest snails) will live in your substrate and eat any waste that is in it. They will also eat dead leaves and roots. Thus helping keep the plants healthy.
Oh another great thing for planted tanks are Malaysian trumpet snails. These snails(often referred to as pest snails) will live in your substrate and eat any waste that is in it. They will also eat dead leaves and roots. Thus helping keep the plants healthy.
Random Great Topic!
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