I was thinking of getting sand for my new 2.5 nano and was wondering if that would grow everything. It doesn't need to grow as fast as it would in aqua soil and stuff, I justwant to know if normal pet store sand will work. Also would gravel work for most plants too?

sand isnt a particularly good substrate and is commonly used as deco only. unless your sand has a grain size of about 1mm or more, it will compact quite quickly and cause the roots to rot.

yes inert gravel would work, but inert gravel alone doesnt really do much for the aquarium.

assuming you want a simple tank. just use inert gravel and a couple of fertiliser tabs placed evenly at the bottom. =) that will be good enough for most plants.

Okay so I should get a samll grain gravel I assume? Would this grow HC well?

yes. small grain gravel. and just a thin layer of it would do if your growing HC, 2-3cm deep. could make it deeper if your growing stem or bulbous plants too.

add a thin layer of nutrient base at the bottom (2-3mm). will help your plant's growth in the long run =D

Could someone explain a little on the whole nutrient base thing?

i know having only one person reply to your posts is kinda dumb in a forum but i hope to offer you as much help as i can =)

nutrient base is basically there to provide nutrients to your plants through the roots. there are some plants which will grow alot better with an abundance of nutrients around their roots too.

I use sand. It's not coarse sand, it's just regular black sand in the big tank and pool filter sand in my 10 gallon tank. Sand can compact over time, but snails keep things moving around, and rescaping the tank every so often will keep things stirred up enough too. As you can see from my avatar, I've got a lot of plants growing in just plain sand. I have never used root tabs or any other substrate fertilizer. Fertilized substrates like aquasoil spend their nutrients after a few months, so what is the difference?

Plants can take in nutrients from the water column. According to Tom Barr, they actually prefer that method. I dose dry ferts in my tank via the EI method, and have very rapid and healthy growth.

Thanks guys. Hopefully I can get my tank today and have plants in it in a few weeks. ^_^