Larger Tank Plant Substrate

[Waterloo Kid]

I have torn down my Rio 400 (100 US gallons) tank after 5 years. When I first put it together I knew nothing of planted tanks so I was using plain gravel. Now I know better.......

My main concern at the moment is that I really can't financially justify using one of the more specialised substrates (Aqua Soil, Eco Complete etc.) and so the only option I can see left is using a mixture of API Laterite and fine gravel (1-2mm). I've guessed that I will need 2 large boxes of Laterite (1560g) based on 1oz per gallon. Is this going to handicap my choice of plants in any way? Would I be better just letting detritus build up in the gravel naturally (I don't think so but it's worth asking!)?

I will be using the standard Juwel T8 lighting rig (2 x 40W) suplimented by 2 55W T5 tubes. A mixture of full spectrum and plant specific tubes.

The plants I intend to grow are still to be decided but will include:

Various anubia
Amazon Sword
Sag. Subulata

Any suggestions of plants that will compliment these are welcome!

I intend to add low levels of CO2 and fertilise using a liquid supliment once/twice a week. I want a relatively easy mainenance tank due to having two small children and not enough time.

At the moment the tank contains only the anubia, sat in about 2mm of water. Very useful to let the leaves dry out for removing 5 years of algae from the leaves!

Anyway, can anyone suggest a cheaper alternative to Laterite or come up with any issues with my current plan?

WK

 

[crimsontsavo]

I've grown plants in regular garden clay and soil, topped with sand. Had fish in there too. Never used fertilizer though, so you'd have one step upish on my old tanks.
I did rinse the soil though, to get all the floaties out.

 

[garuf]

please delete.

 

[Themuleous]

You could try akadama, its a bonsai soil but its getting great reviews and is about a 1/4 the price of other substrates. There is an article on theplantedtank.co.uk.

Sam