My plants are doing well in gravel

[gale]

just thought I'd mention it because there seems to be a lot of talk about how they don't do well in gravel. Admittedly I have easy-to-grow plants but my anubias nana is growing fast, imo, even though it's supposedly a slow growing plant. A few weeks ago I pruned my hygrophilia polysperma and it's overdue for another pruning. The tops are almost out of the water and they would be if they stood up straighter. My cryptocoryne wendtii had a rough start because they don't like being moved, but it's growing and about twice the size it was when I got it a couple of weeks ago. My aponogeton bulbs are just insanely out of control. I'm planning to add some java fern soon but that will be on driftwood so maybe substrate doesn't count with that.

 

[Mr Miagi]

Awesome Gale, i wish all my plants grew like that too!

I am of the opinion too that gravel is not the best substrate, but different people have different experiences with their aquarium substrates. I changed too sand a while ago now and i have found my plants stay rooted longer and grow faster!

Maybe their are some gravel types which release more nutrients than others etc. ?

 

[gale]

No idea. I had gravel in my big tank before I ever came to this forum and didn't know sand was an option. I thought long and hard about sand in my 10g and almost bought some and the lfs said I would regret it and how hard it would be to switch back, etc. and two others concurred so I caved and put gravel in. The plants in my 10g grow a little more slowly than the 20 but I think it's due to little or no nitrates in that tank. Nevertheless they are growing pretty well.

 

[tear-scar]

What are you guys talking about? Fine sand is not a good substrate choice at all!

A planting media should have a certain size so that water can flow to the roots of the plants-- fine sand can suffocate and crush roots. I would say gravel would definitely be superior! Really big grains enhibit horizontal growth, but most gravels sold as planting media are not too big.

The best option is to use a media that both gives nourishment, and has a decent size. Florite is well known, and eco-complete is the newest popular choice.

If you are going sand, it should be for esthetic reasons, and you should use sand with a reasonable sized grain like coral sand. There are many options for a light-colored substrate that also provides nutrients-- look around!

 

[kenneth_kpe]

what do you think about plain old soil i have a friend who used soil and he tells me its great if you get by the cloudiness (which he eventually did i think after 2 months since the plants covered the whole ground )

 

[Silly me]

Gravel.. I had great growth in my java fern in a bare bottom tank..

in a gravel bottom tank I had great growth with lots of plants, but growing harder more demanding plant you'll not have much luck with just gravel..

Some plant like sword needs lots of nutrients from the gravel, but if there is none the sword plant does have a ability use nutrients from the water, not all root feeders has this ability.. if you select your plant right sure you can have a planted tank..

What I like about a nutrients rich substrate ( not sand or gravel ) it that there is almost always nutrients available to the plant and only a little bit if fertilizer is needed to have a healthy planted tank.

 

[gale]

What I like about a nutrients rich substrate ( not sand or gravel ) it that there is almost always nutrients available to the plant and only a little bit if fertilizer is needed to have a healthy planted tank.

On that note, I was wondering. Could I get some flourite or something and add it to my tank now that it's set up? Or laterite? I'm not planning to get any of the harder to grow plants but just in case...

 

[tear-scar]

you could add florite now-- that'd be fine. Be patiend with cloudy water, it goes away.

I've also heard good things about soil, though you have to be careful where you get it from. Once it settles though, it does make an ideal planting media though. A friend of mine has had great success with a layer of soil under a layer of pea gravel.

 

[konrad05]

you can also just toss in a couple of root tabs, they always do the trick

 

[gale]

I couldn't find flourite so while I was at petsmart I bought laterite. HOwever, after reading some stuff on the net I'm not so sure-most of it says it will cloud your water and turn it red for a long time after if it's not under 2-3 inches of gravel or other substrate so I'm hesitant to just add it in now. Naturally petsmart is over an hour away in a town I manage to get to about 3 times a year. So returning it is probably not an option. Makes me want to start up a whole new tank just so I can use it.