suzannegirl
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i have fine gravel in my 125l tank but tempted to try tropica soil instead anyone else use this
tropica soil
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You don’t need to spend all that money on “nutrient packed” soil. In a few years, all that nutrition will be sucked out by the plants, and then you just left with plain old soil.
Play sand is a great option. Just get root tabs and/or liquid fertilizers.
(I see you are in Scotland... do they have a Lowe’s/HomeDepot over there?)
Play sand is a great option. Just get root tabs and/or liquid fertilizers.
(I see you are in Scotland... do they have a Lowe’s/HomeDepot over there?)
No, but there is Argos., and their play sand is widely used.
Why are you wanting to use soil
My LFS said I needed soil under my sand to grow Aquarium grass. Is that accurate?
Not entirely, but it may work better.
The simple answer is yes. The way to do it is get a shallow container half fill with soil the denser the better cover with a light coating of sand and plant. Bury that under your base so you dont see it. The grass will spread away from that with time
The expanded answer is take the grass seperate one plant out. That is what you are trying to get to hang on to something
I assume you are talking hair grass
The initial question asked about a specific plant substrate, but there has been no info as to the intended plants, fish, water parameters, etc., so I will simply offer a general comment.
If you have fish intended (as opposed to just an aquatic plant tank with no fish) I would not use any so-called "plant" substrate, under a cap or sand or not. Some of these certainly have no benefit at all. Most if not all can be detrimental to fish in one of several ways, from roughness (I had this with Flourite years ago) to bacterial issues to ammonia poisoning. Consider the fish, provide the substrate they need (some must have smooth sand, and this is still without any question the overall best aquarium substrate). It is easy enough to add nutrients if required via liquid fertilizer and/or substrate tabs.
If you have fish intended (as opposed to just an aquatic plant tank with no fish) I would not use any so-called "plant" substrate, under a cap or sand or not. Some of these certainly have no benefit at all. Most if not all can be detrimental to fish in one of several ways, from roughness (I had this with Flourite years ago) to bacterial issues to ammonia poisoning. Consider the fish, provide the substrate they need (some must have smooth sand, and this is still without any question the overall best aquarium substrate). It is easy enough to add nutrients if required via liquid fertilizer and/or substrate tabs.
Those are for plant tanks. Not really for fish tanks with plants.
I think,any good potting soil layed an inch or so thick with a layer of gravel about an inch or even two, over it would do fine. In plant only tanks and no fish that root deeply. No Geophagus!
I think,any good potting soil layed an inch or so thick with a layer of gravel about an inch or even two, over it would do fine. In plant only tanks and no fish that root deeply. No Geophagus!
I have Tropica Aquarium Soil in my tank, from what I have experienced it does the plants well and other than an initial nutrient leak that can cause an ammonia spike I dont see any issues with it.
As mentioned above eventually it will run out of the nutrients and you end up with an inert substrate, but you can then add root tabs at that point. It is reasonably well documented with some of the profesional aquascapers that long term tanks are possible with this substrate with people like George Farmer and Juris Jutjajevs as a couple of examples of people that have either long term tanks with this substrate or re-use the substrate through different tanks. Equally in terms of fish welfare, I feel it is worth mentioing George Farmers success with his Apisto colony now in its third generation in this kind of set up. I mention George a few times here because his methods are so well recorded on YouTube and they are easy to repeat.
Wills
As mentioned above eventually it will run out of the nutrients and you end up with an inert substrate, but you can then add root tabs at that point. It is reasonably well documented with some of the profesional aquascapers that long term tanks are possible with this substrate with people like George Farmer and Juris Jutjajevs as a couple of examples of people that have either long term tanks with this substrate or re-use the substrate through different tanks. Equally in terms of fish welfare, I feel it is worth mentioing George Farmers success with his Apisto colony now in its third generation in this kind of set up. I mention George a few times here because his methods are so well recorded on YouTube and they are easy to repeat.
Wills
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