how many is good to cap off substrate base?

748 Views 2 Replies 2 Participants Last post by socool, Mar 20, 2014

socool

Discussion Starter · Mar 20, 2014

Try to get my first 29gls planted tank going so I got 2 bags flourish substrate from seachem at petsmart and lay it per instruction so I have good 2" of substrate flat base then I lay out a 20lbs topfin gravel and make some small hills here and there. on the hill I have 1 and 3/4" of gravel on top of the substrate and on the none hill i have about 1" of gravel. Should I have any issue for the plants if I plant in the hill? or is it to much gravel that the root wont get through? Did you guys wash the substrate before you put in your tank? Thank you.

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Hoppy

· #2 · Mar 20, 2014

The mistake you made is burying the Flourite (not flourish) substrate material under a lot of inert gravel. Flourite is intended to be used for the top layer if it is layered at all. It is designed to be planted directly in. The only substrate material that needs to be capped with something is soil, either mineralized topsoil, or one of the bagged mixes of "topsoil" that people use right out of the bag. Your plants will probably grow ok in the gravel you used, assuming the pieces are around 1-2 mm diameter, or perhaps a little bigger. The plant roots will still be able to reach the Flourite, which is able to hold nutrient ions in a way that makes them easily available to the roots, something plain gravel doesn't do.

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socool

Discussion Starter · #3 · Mar 20, 2014

Hoppy said:
The mistake you made is burying the Flourite (not flourish) substrate material under a lot of inert gravel. Flourite is intended to be used for the top layer if it is layered at all. It is designed to be planted directly in. The only substrate material that needs to be capped with something is soil, either mineralized topsoil, or one of the bagged mixes of "topsoil" that people use right out of the bag. Your plants will probably grow ok in the gravel you used, assuming the pieces are around 1-2 mm diameter, or perhaps a little bigger. The plant roots will still be able to reach the Flourite, which is able to hold nutrient ions in a way that makes them easily available to the roots, something plain gravel doesn't do.

Oh god! I completely missed understood how substrate work. I guest i have to eliminate as much as gravel out. another mistake I made was I didn't wash the substrate before I put in the tank and when I moved the gravel it release all the dirt out. what a noob

Thank for clarify this for me.

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