[visionist]

My biggest concern is the ability to remove plants once set up. I'm doing a big(for me) upgrade to a 55g tank in a week or two and I was thinking of doing it dirted. My greatest fear is the substrate becoming messed up and then having to redo 48" of substrate...
My other problem is that I don't see much other alternative if I want good growth. I want a heavily planted tank and the only other readily available substrates locally are fluorite, sand or gravel. Ecocomplete would cost too much to ship in and so would anything else really. I could I get any decent growth with just sand or finer gravel? I really would not like to have to tear this tank down either way.
Thanks for any help

 

[TECKSPEED]

If you are worried about moving plants go with the fluorite it is rich in iron which will help produce the reds in your plants. If you want a low tech way go for dirt you can pretty much just let it grow and that's it with the exception of water changes and such. However moving plants in dirt isn't that difficult if you do it slowly. I have dirt and I move plants around right before a water chance that way I vacuum up all of the loose dirt that is disturbed with moving plants

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[visionist]

If you are worried about moving plants go with the fluorite it is rich in iron which will help produce the reds in your plants. If you want a low tech way go for dirt you can pretty much just let it grow and that's it with the exception of water changes and such. However moving plants in dirt isn't that difficult if you do it slowly. I have dirt and I move plants around right before a water chance that way I vacuum up all of the loose dirt that is disturbed with moving plants

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I forgot to mention that I absolutely hate fluorite. Its difficult to plant in and it is incredibly messy, probably messier then dirt once the dirt has settled.I have red fluorite in my 20g long now and all the plants are covered in a red film of dust...

 

[TECKSPEED]

Do you wash the fluorite, if you do its not messy?

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[visionist]

Do you wash the fluorite, if you do its not messy?

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I washed the fluorite pretty well and then did 3x drain and refills of the tank when I set it up, the tank clears in a few hours but if I stir up the fluorite too much it creates a storm.

 

[roadmaster]

Dirt tank's are only messy if your uprooting plant's all the time.
Moving plant's frequently , does nothing to help them grow.
Just need to decide on what plant's you want, and then place those that will grow tall near the back,,and shorter ones toward's the front.
Lot's of folk's use flourite and grow plant's fine.I used it for year's before going to dirt.
sometimes I rinsed it,,other times I just used it as is ,and performed water changes for a few day's until tank cleared.

 

[TECKSPEED]

I use dirt and love it stuff just grows

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