30cm cube planted tank

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kevinjames

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Setting up my first mederately planted tank. Its a 30 cm cube, will have smallish hardscape of rocks and bogwood. Planning to use aqua soil, capped with sand. I have plenty of sand available but unsure on the volume of aqua soil i will need. Also for capping the soil should i use a layer of gravel substrate between the soil and sand?

As for the plants will be adding what is available from local shops. Unless anyone in the uk has an online retailer they recommend. Plan is a couple of small anubius attached to hardscape, fern of some sort attached in same way. Maybe some moss on hardscape too. Plants in the substrate will be small low growing grasses at front then stem plants at the back.

any recommendations on what plants to use. Been in hobby a long time but plants are new to me.
 
Sounds like a good project I have a planted 60cm flat tank and love it.

If you layer sand over aquarium soil it will typically just blend together over time, the small grains of sand will fill the gaps between the soil balls. One way to do it is to put the soil in nylon mesh bags with plastic zips, but that has a negative effect in the sense that soil open to the water column kind of recharge from liquid ferts over time (though not significantly). But that could be a way of doing what you want to. Otherwise its best to split the soil and sand with rocks and wood so they can't mix together.

An other option is some of the Wio substrates as they are meant to last much longer than traditional soils but also look more natural than preformed balls like Tropica or ADA.

In terms of online plant shops I really like Aqua Essentials, they do all the popular plants but also some slightly unusual low tech plants like Hydrocotyle Vulgaris which is a really nice, easy plant that grows umbrella like leaves on runners. Some other really good plant stores are places like Pro Shrimp, Aquarium Gardens, Horizon Aquatics, Riverwood Aquatics, Java Plants and Plants Alive. I prefer ordering online as they are all dedicated plant suppliers where as most LFS are likely fish shops that also sell plants so you don't get great selections, sometimes growth and algae or snail problems etc.

Wills
 
@Wills pretty much covered it in terms of on-line. Much better option than LFS. I have also had some good plants with the eBay seller K2Aqua (pretty sure that's the name). FWIW I buy tissue cutlured plants wherever possible, it really is worth the extra money and you won't get any unwanted hitch hikers. Personally I would not bother with the aqua soil and just stick with sand - its what I have in all my tanks. For plants in the substrate that need it use Seachem Flourish root tabs - don't cheap out here, most of the so called aquatic root fertilisers you will see cheap on Amazon or eBay are not worth buying. For those that get their nutrients directly from the water I use Seachem Comprehensive or TNC lite. If you plan on adding fish or shrimp any time soon definitely avoid the aqua soils.
 
Thanks for the replies. Lot of info to go through so will pick over the suggestions.

Any suggestions of what type of plants to go for? Im sure most the stem plants will be fine, also the anubius and ferns. Not sure what foreground plants to go for. Want it to be sparse rather than a carpet of plants.
 

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