Substrate, Dont Know What To Do

[SilverDollar_03]

Do you mix normal gravel with the flourite or other mineral rich gravels, or do you have a layer of gravel and a layer of flourite and then another layer of gravel on top? tell me what to do!!

 

[sinistral]

You could actually do it either way. My planted tank has fluorite only as a substrate. As long as the roots of the plant can reach the fluorite layer, you'll be okay. I've never used laterite, but I understand that is a different story (and not really relevant to your question ).

 

[SilverDollar_03]

hmm...okay. i think i might just do a bottom layer of flourite and a top layer of gravel. also, how do you prune plants? do you cut off the tops, or do you just rip the stem and all off?

 

[sinistral]

Sounds good. Over time, it's likely that the layers will mix together, but there's nothing wrong with that. The fluorite I have is sharp, so if you have bottom feeders like cory cats or loaches you might want to look into the more granular form of that substrate.

When I prune plants I tend to just cut the tops off-- however long I need to. If it's a stem plant I tend to cut the stem just above the growth node. If it's a leaf or rosette plant I either take a whole dying leaf out or trim the tops off.

EDIT: I forgot to ask you: are you planning to plant the tank with the Silver Dollars? They're herbivores and will tend to eat most aquatic plants.

 

[SilverDollar_03]

no, the planted tank is going to be a new 15 gallon "eclipse" tank with a biowheel. its just going to have 4 Dwarf Puffers in it, and some ghost shrimp too...