What substrate to use

[chowdan]

Hey guys

got a new hood with a 17w T8 in it for my 29G.

Looking for a substrate that would be better than just regular gravel? I currently have a red cap oranda goldie and a chinese algae eater.

I plan on planting some more "thicker" leaf plants and am thinking the gravel would not be a good choice for general health?

Any tips on a cheap soil would be great?

Also links to different posts about converting a regular tank to a planted one would be greaT!!!!

[Bananariot]

Your chinese algae eater is gonna start sucking slime off your red cap oranda goldie when it gets older most likely.....

[chowdan]

Originally Posted by Bananariot

Your chinese algae eater is gonna start sucking slime off your red cap oranda goldie when it gets older most likely.....

I have heard that many times, though i have never seen it. It is a concern for me but i've had it for nearly a year and its larger than the goldie and have not seen any signs of that.

Have you seen this happen though?

[pandamonium]

i can semi vouch for this in LFS tanks but not in my own tank (at least not yet). i am a huge fan of the lower tech. what i used is 1'' to 1.5'' of fine play sand and about 1.5'' of sand about 1mm grains. to have both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. then i plan to use osmocote plus fertilizer to keep my plants healthy. personally, i just find enriched substrates to be too expensive (i have a 40 gallon tank). i have seen some people with just play sand who have grown beautiful aquascapes.
http://www.theplantedtankfaq.com/substrateFAQ.html
this says you won't need anything too fancy unless you want it of course. good luck setting your tank up

[nicks7.1985]

you really might want to try the soil that you mentioned ...i have seen and heard of ppl buying a cheap top soil or digging some up in the yard dumping it in with a sand cap or gravel or w/e and haveing no problems ..not really talking about the walstad method of which i know very little about.

or you could go to home depot and buy the cheapest top soil you can find lol ..its like $1.50 for a 40 pound bag...and mineralize it by wetting and drying it out on a tarp/trash bags and rinsing it (theres a thread probly in substrate on how to do it from Aaron Talbot i think).

I can say that it has worked for me(so far) ..i just finished mineralizing it after about 10-14 days and the few plants that i have in there now are doing amazing under low light..i can see the growth each day. its a 55gal with 54watts T5 HO . you should look into soil..it might be for you ..plus its super cheap to do. for me $14 for potash and dolomite (lots left over too), $3 for two bags top soil, 50 lbs pool filter sand $6 ...this covered the 55 gal 1-2 inches before the sand.
good luck!

[nicks7.1985]

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/sh...d.php?t=152027

here it is for MTS