Question

[WayneVT08]

Do I have to have a certain kind of soil to have live plants? Like nutrient based soil? Or is just regular sand alright? I wanted to know since I was about to head up to my fish store to see what kind of plants they had and ideally I wanted a moss for my piece of bogwood, but they might not have it. So could I just use the same sand that is already in the tank and can it possibly be done?

 

[garuf]

nutrient rich soil is always going to help but you can use totally inert substrates and get a good result i.e. silica sand also if you can get diana walsteds book on ecology of the planted aquarium this shows how you can use garden soil to produce a planted tank to create what is know as "el natural" I personally wouldn't recommend this and would go for something like ADA or Tropica substrate if you can get it, if not sand will be fine provided you dose plenty of nutrients into the water column.

 

[WayneVT08]

Once I get paid, I think I'm gonna start planting my tank. I have 5 little plants right now, have no idea what their called but I got them yesterday to see how they would do.

 

[ICEEGRL]

You can always add plant tabs in the sand to feed the plants. They don't cost that much and are really easy.