New to Planted tank

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aegisreflector

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I want to do an iwugami or also known as ada amano tank. Are there other kinds of substrates just as good as ada substrate soil for plants? the ADA brand is quite expensive. Looking to do a 65 gallon. Suggestion for substrate? i want to be able to keep a wide array of plant species.
 
Are there other kinds of substrates just as good as ada substrate soil for plants? the ADA brand is quite expensive.

Regular gravel or sand works fine with a good fertilizer. Note even these expensive aquarium substrates require the use of fertilizer. if you don't use fertilizer the netrient in the substrate will be depleted within one year. Once the nutreients in the substrate are gone you have two choices, replace the substrate or start using a fertilizer.
 
The two best fertilizers on the market are Seachem Flourish comprehensive. The other is Brightwell Aquatics florinmult Plant care. Most aquarium have sufficient nitrates or phosphates from fish waste. If you have low levels you will may need to add some. Brightwell doesn't have any nitrates and phosphates so you will need to add some if needed. Seachem is formulated with the minimum amount of nitrates and Phosphates. From my experience keep nitrate at about 10ppm. above 20ppm nitrate may become toxic for fish. although many people however cannot get below 20ppm due to nitrates in the tap water and don't see any problems. Below 10 you might get close to not having enough. I generally keep my phosphates between 0.3ppm and 1.5ppm. At one time phosphate was thought to cause algae. So many try to keep it very low. Tom Barr however confirmed that high phosphates do not cause algae

In addition to CO2 and light there are, 6 mineral macro nutrients, and 9 micro nutrients. If you are short just one you could get algae. Think of CO2 and Light as the throttle on a car. The more you have the faster your plants will grow. Think of macro nutrients as fuel. However unlike a car all 6 fuels must be present. If not plant growth will stall. The 9 micro nutrients are the breaks. If you are short any one of the 9 plants won't grow or look sick. Also if you have too much micro nutrients the water may become toxic to fish and again the plants won't grow.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_nutrition
 
The two best fertilizers on the market are Seachem Flourish comprehensive. The other is Brightwell Aquatics florinmult Plant care. Most aquarium have sufficient nitrates or phosphates from fish waste. If you have low levels you will may need to add some. Brightwell doesn't have any nitrates and phosphates so you will need to add some if needed. Seachem is formulated with the minimum amount of nitrates and Phosphates. From my experience keep nitrate at about 10ppm. above 20ppm nitrate may become toxic for fish. although many people however cannot get below 20ppm due to nitrates in the tap water and don't see any problems. Below 10 you might get close to not having enough. I generally keep my phosphates between 0.3ppm and 1.5ppm. At one time phosphate was thought to cause algae. So many try to keep it very low. Tom Barr however confirmed that high phosphates do not cause algae

In addition to CO2 and light there are, 6 mineral macro nutrients, and 9 micro nutrients. If you are short just one you could get algae. Think of CO2 and Light as the throttle on a car. The more you have the faster your plants will grow. Think of macro nutrients as fuel. However unlike a car all 6 fuels must be present. If not plant growth will stall. The 9 micro nutrients are the breaks. If you are short any one of the 9 plants won't grow or look sick. Also if you have too much micro nutrients the water may become toxic to fish and again the plants won't grow.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_nutrition
thank you for the informative reply. i have a lot to research.
 
Gravel or sand in my opinion, those fancy substrates with added this and that are really a waste of money.

Depending on the stocking in your tank vacuuming the substrate is a waste of time all you are doing is throwing away free fertilizer, Even things like the odd dead leaf and the Indian Almond leaf I use were left in the tank to rot.

Up until my tanks were damaged by flooding I never vacuumed, however my tanks did have Malaysian Trumpet snails.
 
for fertilizer, I recommend the Most commonly used and its just great period. NilocG liquid EI dry fertilizers DIY
 

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