Ok, on my 2nd tank now, first one at my girlfriends has some hair/brush algae problems and is only now being helped by increased flow and Siamese Algae eaters. I'm sure the high nitrates in her tap water don't help (20-30ppm straight out the tap) but that is another issue.
Now starting my own tank, a 240 litre Fluval Roma, T8 lighting, 2 x40W. Local tap water for me is PH7.2 and nitrates are 5ppm, fairly hard water but not really tested apart from the PH and Nitrate .
I'd like to do it right this time ie give new plants enough nutrients through root tabs or substrate and liquid CO2 if needed. Before , we just bought the plants and left them in their pots /lead weights and shoved them in the gravel where they either grew like crazy or died in a week or two.
Step one is choosing a substrate and i'm leaning towards sand as i'd like Corries , but what should i use (can i use) as a base layer under the sand to provide fixing , rooting and nutrients for plants? Is sand on it's own enough? Obviously i would like something that won't appear through the sand if i go down that route but if i use something underneath then how much sand can i have on top with rotting stems?
I've heard of people using clay as a bottom layer, is this a good bet? Pond soil maybe but will corries dig it up? BTW i've searched high and low through the planted forum and not found much mention of this so help me out here please.
Cheers
Now starting my own tank, a 240 litre Fluval Roma, T8 lighting, 2 x40W. Local tap water for me is PH7.2 and nitrates are 5ppm, fairly hard water but not really tested apart from the PH and Nitrate .
I'd like to do it right this time ie give new plants enough nutrients through root tabs or substrate and liquid CO2 if needed. Before , we just bought the plants and left them in their pots /lead weights and shoved them in the gravel where they either grew like crazy or died in a week or two.
Step one is choosing a substrate and i'm leaning towards sand as i'd like Corries , but what should i use (can i use) as a base layer under the sand to provide fixing , rooting and nutrients for plants? Is sand on it's own enough? Obviously i would like something that won't appear through the sand if i go down that route but if i use something underneath then how much sand can i have on top with rotting stems?
I've heard of people using clay as a bottom layer, is this a good bet? Pond soil maybe but will corries dig it up? BTW i've searched high and low through the planted forum and not found much mention of this so help me out here please.
Cheers
