plant substrate

[schizo_fish]

Can anyone help me? i want to put a fertile substrate under my gravel/sand for my plants and need some suggestions. What is the best fertile substrate to use? and where can i get it from?
thanks.

p.s. i didn't post this in the plant section because the number of responses are often limited due to the low traffic.

thanks for any help.

 

[schizo_fish]

has anyone got any ideas?

 

[digital_run]

Unless you are planning on keeping plants that "require" a special substrate then i wouldn't bother. Most plants can be kept in gravel or sand and will do perfectly fine. Root tabs can be used in conjunction with sand/gravel to aid plants. What type of plants were you thinking about getting?

 

[yvez9]

I just put mine in gravel
afetr a few days, their roots have attached solidly to the gravel and they are secured

I also add some plant gro every week to add iron to the water

 

[maestro]

best are carib sea eco complete or seachem flourite but its expensive £25 a bag and a bag isnt that big! you'll need 2 for a 20 gallon tank as an example

Otherwise id just go for sand with root tabs, wouldnt use gravel though

 

[clutterydrawer]

laterite?

really though, mine are doing great just in sand with root tabs. they were fine when i had gravel too.

 

[blue_ram]

This really depends on the type of plants. For easy to grow, low light, beginner plants, plain old gravel will do. For little more challenging plants, with higher light requirements, go with Eco-complete or Flourite. I've only used Eco-complete, but I've heard Flourite works just as well. Nice thing about Eco-complete is that you don't have to wash it. Just dump it in the aquarium! Flourite is supposed to be a pain to wash, with its significant dust content. You should be able to get Flourite at local Petsmart. It's pretty expensive though (~$25 per bag). Unfortunately, due to shipping cost, online order after shipping charge is about the same. If you can get multiple bags, may be you can get special ordered from your lfs.

A cheaper option would be Shultz Profile Aquatic soil. I've never used this, but I've heard good things about them. Unlike Eco-complete and Flourite, it's widely available at Walmart and Home Depot.