Making my planted tank awesome

[ANIM4L]

I was wondering, compared to having a non planted tank, what requiremtns are there for a planted tank. I have a 60 gallon tank that is planted, some plants doing greats, others not so good. My main question is with filtering, i know i need less water aggitation, so i am redoing my filters, i will have a 350 magnum and a rena xp3 going into my tank. The other thing i keep reading is people take out the carbon in the filters, how come???

My other main quesiton is this: My substrate. Should i have:

100% flourite

70%fluorite 30% sand

or

50% sand 50%laterite?

i will have kuhli loaches in a week, so i want them to be happy, what would be best for the plants though??? Please help me out if you know!

 

[houndour]

The carbon removes trace elements that plants need.

How much laterite you choose to have is down to your pocket and what type of plants you're planning on having.

I believe stem plants take most of their nutrients direct from the water...surely this is why they grow roots everywhere.

Glosso is recommended to have a nutrient rich substrate. Swords I think get their nutrients from the roots in the substrate...hence why root tabs are sometimes recommended.

 

[illusion54]

I'd say the substrate is based on personal preference and what your wallet can afford.

 

[zig]

Well whatever you decide flourite and sand dont really mix, the sand will always end up on the bottom eventually, so ideally i would suggest 100% flourite or mix it with a gravel of similar grain size, again if the gravel is to big the flourite will eventually end up on the bottom of the tank.

If you find gravel of a similar grain size to flourite you can mix it 50/50, the gravel grain size should ideally be 1-3mm and no bigger.

 

[ANIM4L]

the sand i have now is the black sand from caribsea i belive. Moonlight sand? I forget right off the top of my head, but i know they make another type that is gravel and has a grain size of about that of flourite. If i dont wanna spend all the money on that gravel and flourite (2 bags flourite = 40$, 2 bags gravel = 45$) then should i do laterite. Is there a difference in amount of nutrients, cloudyness of water, length of product lasting in the tank, etc? pros and cons anyone?

also i found something on eco-complete plant substrate, anyone know anything about this?

 

[ANIM4L]

ok i have done more and more research and knocked it down to this:

100% flourite

or

100% black onyx sand


so what do people suggest and why?