75 gallon aquarium, Pool filter sand (Walmart), 10 mesh bags of Fluval soil under the sand. LOTS of plants. A tank full of Tetras - about 1 living plant per fish!
Newbie here: I am in the process of setting up my new tanks so I can't say if I'll be successful yet. But I have the supplies for doing a 3 layer planted tank: soil, sand, gravel.
I usually prefer a fine gravel. Not sand fine but not exactly what I'd call "gravel" size. Hard to explain. But no sharp edges because I almost always have some kind of sand sifter such as corydoras. I'd like to experiment with Fluval Stratum at some point but was worried about it lowering the ph of my water too much for what I was wanting to keep.
I recently changed out the gravel in my 55 gallon planted community tank for Fluval Stratum. Plants are loving it, however I will warn that it is very effective at lowering ph and reducing KH to 0. So if you have naturally hard, high ph tap water like I do, you need to be careful doing large water changes because these levels will swing quickly and stress your fish.
I had a lot of problems early on with Fluval Stratum. I wasn't aware how much it could affect pH. In my first ever tank, I used a thick layer of this soil. The problem is, my tap water is very soft and has a neutral pH of 7, GH of 4 and KH of 1. I had pH swings like crazy and at some point, needed to do water changes twice a day to try and keep it to 6.8. It would lower to 6 or below. I since then added crushed coral and it has kept my pH stable at 7-7.2 In the other tanks that I had setup, I used less Stratum, only in areas where I was planting fast growing plants. For the rest of the substrate, I used Seachem Flourite. I still needed to add crush coral to keep the pH higher as it would be at 6.4 or less which isn't good for the types of fish and shrimps that I have.
For my very first planted tank, I went with a deep substrate using Fluval Stratum for plants in mesh bags with a black and white sand cap. Im very happy with it and the growth on dwarf hair grass and cardinals (went with beginner plants) was near immediate....less than a week. My next "natural" project will be from a local pond with a higher elevation from any roads....with a sand cap and culture from that pond. No more gravel (only gravel) and plastic for me. Plants enable you to do many more things with an aquarium, because lets face it, you cannot achieve nature without them.
There are three necessary things to consider when deciding a substrate: 1. The fish's needs 2. The fish's colour 3. Plants 1. Are you planning on getting shell dwellers, cories or sand sifters? It may be better to stick with a sand or finer substrate 2. A blue fish will stand out in black substrate, a black fish will stand out in white substrate, etc. 3. Sand may not work as well as fluval stratum, or other planted substrates. A note on #3 is that you can always add a planted substrate under a bed of gravel/sand. We did this and it looks super natural. Sand and the plants are growing perfectly
In my opinion, the best way to go is an inert, fully natural, rounded and rather fine substrate. These are forever, you never need to replace them. How fine or coarse it should be, depends on the plants and fish you want to have. Very fine sand isn't good for plants because there's almost zero water cirdulation inside, no new nutrient and no oxigen reaches the root. Very coarse doesn't keep the roots in place and fish food sinks into it unreachable for the fish. Depending on the size of the fish, some medium sized gravels have a choking hazard. The most versatile typs is fine gravel or coarse sand, 0.5 - 2 mm in size, without extremely fine dust particles. The plants grow well in it and most species of fish do well with it too. Over time, it becomes kinda "active" by itself. Small amounts of organic matter constantly seep into it, decompose there and set free nutrients. The limited space between the small rocks keeps it seeping slow, it doesn't get as dirty as coarse gravel. When you have plants that need a lot of nutrients in the substrate, you can stick plant fertilizer to their roots. Active substrates that decompose or wear out have major flaws. They are not forever. You have to rip everything apart every couple of years, to replace the substrate. They cause a rollercoaster ride of PH and nutrient levels when you do a water change. When they are new they cause an overload of nutrients. Substrates with artificial color coating are bad because the coating wears down over time. They create micro plastic inside the aquarium. And their look is artificial. I'm sure that fish would't chose to live in a disney castle.
Hi! I'm using sand in my aquarium and the brown algae causes the sand to clump 🥺 this is my fault for not keeping up with maintenance. but any suggestions on what to do? I can also see detritus almost on the middle and I'm having a hard time growing the plants on it
I have three layers. Crushed lava rock, covered with fertalized plant substrate capped with small gravel. I have a 14 gal rimless cube with very minimal filtration so surface area is important.
@@Styleb4all I have some val , a dwarf aquarium lily ,two kinds of Anubis, one Amazon sword and dwarf hair sword . I root tab once a month and minimal fertilization once a week. Everything is growing good I have an Aqueon clamp on plant light.
I truly appreciated the information in this video. While I am still learning I am trying to plan for a tank housing neocaridina shrimp along with live plants. The hardest part at this stage is selecting the appropriate substrate. I love your videos!
Neocardinia can be quite hardy and do well with many substrates. I personally prefer a brown or black very fine gravel/coarse sand. I've also tossed them into outdoor ponds and their colors became amazing.
I use fluval stratum for the bottom and caribsea sand as the main topper so an inch or more so it won’t sink too the bottom so fast. Had eco complete gravel but my corycats weren’t as active as their are now come to find out that the gravel was scratching them up and causing red spots on their bellies. After switching to sand they were kinda jumping for joy and digging around and came out their little hide holes. I love sand cause it it feels so natural yes it’s a pain to clean but it makes feel more close to nature and most all fish will love it especially those that dig. I love how my trumpet snails emerge out the sand like little nocturnal zombies and then they disappear I also notice my betta scavenges around more and hangs at the bottom as she rests on the plants.😊
I generally go for natural/black river stone substrates or CaribSea freshwater planted substrates. I've managed to have plants grow just fine in both, and two of my best planted tanks, a goldfish tank (no longer sat up) and a betta tank (been up since September) don't have planted substrates. Goldfish had no fertz or root tabs, and the plants just exploded (easy to understand why that was the case). Betta tank has fertz and root tabs and, while not as fast as the goldfish tank, they're still growing quite well.
I recently re-setup my 17T and put a half-inch of fine white sand as the substrate. I plan to have corydoras, so a shallow sand layer should keep then happy while not being deep enough to have any anerobic pockets. For my plants, I am using a plant substrate in beakers that will be deeper than the sand and furnish a place for the plants to flourish. We shall see, as it has only been up a few weeks with only some plants. Planning on adding dwarf corys and endlers later this month. Hopefully with this setup everyone will feel at home and be happy. Take care.
@@KatieDeGo Yes. Anerobic bacteria grow where there is no oxygen. If you see black patches in your gravel, they are growing there. They give off hydrogen sulfide gas (H2S) which is highly toxic. It is commonly called "sewer gas" and has a distinctive rotten egg odor. It is highly poisonous (if you can smell it, it is at harmful levels). Turning over your substrate or having a thin substrate helps prevent this condition. You want an aerobic (oxygen-filled) environment throughout your tank.
@@KatieDeGo I'm also very new but from my understanding if there's pockets in the substrate and you disturb it (gravel vac or replanting or whatever) it releases ammonia and upsets the balance of the tank potentially killing off some friends along the way :/ but that's just my understanding I might be wrong!
Another great informative video. Thanks Cory! Just set up my first planted tank a few days ago using plants that I got from your store, some Easy-Green, etc. I used an aquarium pond soil that I mixed with gravel which I then topped with about an inch of finer gravel. So far nothing dead yet!
@@scottmerrow1488 ha, that's definitely a possibility. But his whole schtick has always been making products to make the hobby "easy". Though from their new head of marketing, they're trying to get away from that naming scheme apparently. But he's also said in the past that while sand is a viable option for plants. It's also the hardest. While sticking to making this easy for people getting into the hobby, just making it "easy" by telling people to pick something other than sand for their substrate?
@@scottmerrow1488 for sure. Most people just want whatever they can buy at the store. Initially at least. Some will want to go further and try to mimic nature. Most will probably just stick with what they have bc it seems daunting to change substrate. I did all sand bc I didn't want to put anything else in, just a nice 3in deep layer of inert coal slag
I have had moderate success with a base of small natural gravel on the bottom of my tanks capped with an inch or more of sand. I only have what you would characterize as “nano tanks”, the largest being a 14 gal cube. In that one in particular I’ve gone small natural gravel under the entire tank capped with a somewhat larger gravel for the back two thirds with a beach of sand covering the front third. The plants have been a mixed bag thus far over 6 months but I’ve had clear successes in the sand capped gravel. I suspect that will improve now that I’m incorporating grow tabs and liquid (Co-op) fertilizer (aside from the dissolved fish waste). I’ll add this as a “terrestrial” Rutgers certified master gardener of over 40 years. There is a soil correlation to what Cory says regarding the use of gravel as the planting base. That is potted and soil grown plantings benefit from “space” in the soil for root growth. Compacted clay for instance, like sand at your favorite beach, is not conducive to root growth in plants. Thus gardeners and farmers dealing with compacted soils incorporate various other materials (organics that slowly dissolve) by tilling and such to change that compacted “soil structure”. These techniques do a number of things that promote plant growth and root growth in particular. One important aspect is the break up of the compacted particles, providing “space” for root growth. And that “space” between the substrate particles, gravel in this aquatic case, helps create a superior planting substrate. Roots need space. This is also why stem plants often root like crazy when floated. There is virtually no resistance to root growth and so the plant takes advantage.
Pea gravel, crushed coral & usually eco-complete mixed in most of my 50+ tanks... Val, sagitaria, Anacaris, temple, red Ludwigia, water sprite, rotala, bacopa,etc... my tanks are jungles with a wide variety of fish... guppies, platys, mollies, corydoras, plecos, cichlids, etc... right now, I'm at approximately $500/ month... In my same substrate tanks, mostly cichlid sand, some play sand, Amazon swords, and Ozelot swords with tons of Aquarium Co-op root tabs... It takes awhile to get em going but they'll get 3 feet tall... thanks for another awesome education...! Keep it up...!
MD Fish Tanks uses mixed substrates with great results, so that's what i did, i have loaches, corydoras, and a raphael catfish. I don't bother planting into the substrate because they just dig up any plants that are rooted, i just put in a few houseplants with roots exposed but stuck between rocks and driftwood.
I just set up 2 tanks . Both tap water , both high light with no CO2 . One tank I put aquasoil into mesh bags under gravel , The other was 30% aquasoil just mixed with the same gravel . The tank with the aquasoil mixed had tons of algae (staghorn and hair) and after 2 months is still an ongoing issue . The tank with bagged aquasoil I have had to add root tabs to a few plants but very little algae and less maintenance such as water changes . not really apples to apples as The mixed aquasoil tank has been getting much bigger water changes as it would of completely gone to rack and ruin If not for the water changes . Both tanks were quite heavily planted with lots of floating plants as well . Neither tank ever got above 30ppm nitrates as I was testing every few days .
I see that its overdone by alot of people when it comes to aquascape....adding CO2 and fertilized substrates. .im using river sand ( coarse and fine ) with root tabs on and off...no CO2..its doing well..i never had algae issues frm day 1....my water parametera is stabil......its a 4ft tank and already running for 2 years.....I buy your idea of soils in meshbags...i may wanna try for my other tank setup...tq..😊
I mostly have used sand, or gravel with a good sand cap with plants like Amazon sword, Java fern, some sort of crypt, dwarf sagg. I do want to use soil again though because I got some nice colorful plants growing in it like rotalas and a yellow stem plant.
I’ve been using black diamond blasting sand in my 40 breeders. I really like the look, size and price. Low tech planted setups with mostly Anubis on driftwood.
I use BDB sand as well but I do a 2:1 ratio of 2 parts BDB to 1 part pea gravel and I love the contrast and natural look it creates. (Visible on my vids)
I’ve always used gravel, but my 75 gallon is about 1/3 sand on the right side. We love watching the Corydora sift through the sand, but I wanted a heavily planted tank.
What is your opinion on using black dimond blasting sand from tractor supply? (I plan to keep black neon tetras, cherry shrimp, ottos and chili rasboras in a 20gal Long)
Another great video! Question I got an easy planter ( love it) for Christmas, I half filled it with gravel,stuffed root tabs under it and placed a dwarf aquarium lily bulb on the gravel so the sides protect the bulb . I had a beautiful one before but it kept getting ripped out of the substrate from the fish wrestling over food and males being males. With time will mulm settle in the non filled part and cause bulb to rot or will it use it to grow?
Question: If I have a bottom layer of topsoil/compost covered by a top layer of sand, do I plant my plants into the sand or do I plant them into the topsoil? Thanks
I didn't have a good experience with sand substrate. One of my snails died, and its smell lingered for a month. Sand is also hard to clean with siphon tube
I like to layer mine with pea pebbles on the bottom and coarser sand over it and just load it up with root tabs i only had easy to grow plants and it works out great for me.
My current favorite substrate is decomposed granite. I don't know of anyone else using it. I have been using it for a couple of years. It is very dirty and takes a long time to rinse clean. I find it at Home Depot. Try it out and see what you think.
@@amayanut8105 ya, it's not fun to clean. I fill up a 5 gallon bucket just under half full. Then blast it with a garden hose. Dump out the water when it gets full. I do that until it run as clear as I can get it. If you have a nano tank, it's not to bad.
Hi. I have a 10gal tank, fresh water. I have 3 tetra fish they will be about year old in October, and just recently a black molly fish. I upgraded my filter. However the water is still murky after maintenance. I think it's the type of gravel am using. Any tips? Thank you!
Lots of great info and insights! I’ve heard you make the “plants don’t grow in sand on the beach” analogy many times over the past several years, and I’m just not convinced that’s relevant. The image shown in the video was of the ocean, so obviously the vast majority of freshwater plants aren’t going to grow on that beach. I haven’t observed the same effect on freshwater beaches. And what about sand that isn’t close to a lake? Plants grow there just fine if they have enough water. I bet if you set up several tanks exactly the same way with the only difference being sand in some vs gravel in others, you wouldn’t see a difference in root structure or foliage.
This video came at an interesting time lol. Earlier today I bought a bunch of supplies to "dark start" cycle my first proper planted tank, some of which were two bags of fluval stratum. I wanted to keep the substrate simple, buuuut also want a few amano shrimp once my aquarium has stabilised. Hopefully the substrate doesn't lower the ph so much that I need to manually increase the kh and gh x.x
My plants keep on floating after few days, what substrate can you recommend sir? Can you teach me how to layer the sand and the substrate, do i need to put the aquasoil first before the sand? What substrate can you recommend?
My first 5 gallon aquarium has been great for over a year . I went with 4 inches of washed o’Reilly’s oil dry . Never dissolves. Only Java moss that grows wildfire so no roots .
Hi AC Team, Ive been watching your videos for a while now and appreciate the detail... thanks. I live in a small apartment in Hong Kong and decided to keep shrimp. The tank hasn't arrived yet, so doing research about substrate. The tank Ive bought is the NoCleanAquariums 5 gallon with under gravel filter. I intend to try using a small canister filter with intake in rear compartment and outlet back into the main tank. I don't know how big the gaps are in the bottom so unsure of gravel or aqua soil (Stratum seems to be very accessible in Hong Kong). I'm undecided if I should use aqua soil and have a Iwagumi style (planted carpet), or use gravel and just have epiphytes (moss on rocks, Anubis etc). I'm pretty new to shrimp keeping/. Any advice, please?
I breed Endless, long thin white cloud, several types of cool water tolerant barbs. I grow sag, val, anubias, pearl weed and crypts. Most of my tanks are 40 breeders and I have blasting sand media as a substrate. Roughly a third of my tanks have a small pebble lava rock. Ideally, I would like to find standard lava rock in a crushed form that would be affordable, but unfortunately I have not. The lava rock I'm using is not the standard, it is a light Brown in color, and it is incredibly light when I apply it from the local garden supply store in bulk a third of it is unusable. It floats. I have a 20 gallon sterlite van in my back yard and soak it for a couple days, net off the floaters and throw all of that in my landscaping, so it's not wasted. But I really would like to find standard black lava rock enough crushed about a quarter inch pebble size.
I am setting up a 32 gallon tank. I want live plants as well as fish. I have almost 1 Ton (I’m not exaggerating) of 3/8 inch red & black lava rock that I bought for Adenium culture about 10 years ago. The seller sold railroad cars full of the stuff for aquarium use, but it was for reef tanks (got the “mixed color” cheap, as buyers wanted all-black 3/8”). Can I use this for substrate? Add anything else to it? Also plan to add larger lava rocks for aquascaping. Any advice? Thanks…
I use Fluval stratum mixed with black blasting sand. Plants love it. I’ve had this tank (55g) set up for a little over 3 years. Do I need to change out my substrate? Maybe just freshen it up? I do regular water changes but only cut the gravel once or twice a month. I don’t like disturbing the plants. Mostly crips and a monster Aponogeton.
I go as naturally as possible. I use dirt in all of my tanks with a cap of small gravel or sand and all are fairly deep substrate beds. Several inches at the least. No real issues with these setups and much better than aquatic soils. No algea blooms, healthy ecosystem, and stability. Did I mention the plants love it?
After nearly a year of fishes dying or becoming diseased, I moved to dirted substrate and a sand cap. Along the way I discovered Father Fish's channel and that really helped me along in the journey. The diseases were gone and the tank became healthy. But plants wouldn't sustain because of the Goldfish in the tank that would eat almost all kinds of plants and left just about three species alone. I wanted to ask your hones opinion on dirted tanks. I know it's not everybody's cup of tea but it certainly became my favorite over time - also considering the money and maintenance time that was saved, lol. But did you ever try a dirted tank? I am asking you because you don't go too scientific on us and spew out complicated terms, and you've been also visiting many natural aquarium shopkeepers, hobbyists and breeders.
@@spacerangera.k.a.spacetoas4094 I got some potting soil and mixed my homemade compost and other ingredients that I saw in one of Father Fish's videos. All ingredients were gardening minerals and stuff. I could find most of them easily. BTW, I capped mine with sand, so that's why the soil did not cause ammonia spikes. Just saying cause I heard some people put in rich minerals without a cap and have their fish dying within a week.
My 4ft has crushed shell it came with it when I brought it secondhand, do you have any opinion on this ? From what iv seen it’s called shell grit and it normally used as chicken feed
I used eco plant aquarium substrate and some other brand red clay substrate with a little crush coral. Its a 120 gallon planted tank with small community fish.. i bought a octopus plotomos and a red dwarf lily from you a little over a year ago and MAN do they look great!!! I'll have to post an update on my channel
I think I got a adubias as well and when I got the adubias it was big but now its BIG and you can tell how healthy the leaves are they are super thick dark green. Your plants have by far turned out the best out of the plants I have. Can't wait to order more
I acually have the same substrate that I have in my planted tank in with my predator tank. I have another 100 gallon that has a redtail catfish and 2 oscars im housing till my local store sells them. They didn't have the room so I took them in for now. But anyway my other 100 gal non planted tank has this substrate and I truly believe having a healthy substrate helps with your water quality
So if you already have low pH but want to use say fluvial stratum for a planted tank, it may be wise to add some crushed coral? For my 5G shrimp tank I have 1.5in of stratum and a .75in sand cap. The first tank is doing great, the 2nd tank (recently set up) is just doing ok.
Great video. I'm trying to work out the best substrate for a corydoras tank with heavy planting, I've always kept my corys on sand but the plants don't do so well and the sand gets compacted. I absolutely love watching my corys snuffle about in the sand but I want plants too! Is there a happy medium?
Question about the new light - in your opinion will just 1 of the 36” lights have enough spread to cover a whole 40breeder? Right now I have 1 light from hygger but especially with the dead spot from the hinge on my lid, it’s not enough spread to reach front to back.
Thanks Cory. I need some Crushed Coral. The one pet store talked me out of it. Hmm. Why? I have a few Nerite Snails, a few Ghost Shrimp, and my water is hard. I save my Egg Shells for the birds. I clean and crush them.
!Hi! I already have rock gravel in but it not keeping my plants in place so I was wondering if I could put Fluval Bio Stratum Aquarium on top of the natural color rock? And can I use as a diy by using Lego mats to divide if I can't put the Fluval Bio Stratum Aquarium on top. I already have the tank setup no fish yet. Or better yet blue sand from Petco. So can I put the sand with the natural color rock? I want it to look natural as possible. Or use that Lego mat to divide. I saw someone on TH-cam that used a Lego mat for divide the sand or rock to make a design. So since your a real fish guy and enjoy your videos I like to ask you. Also what fertilizer do I get for the plants that's not expensive. That's safe for fish and snails and shrimp
Depends on filtration. Look into a fine river gravel, maybe by CaribSea. Sand can easily be kicked up and ruin filter impellers. Also, the aforementioned gravel will hide the poo better and allow for quick gravel vacuuming, making maintenance easier.
I am setting up my first ever tank (200L) in the UK. The cheapest sand I can buy is white, but has been referred to by one reviewer as blast sand. Could this presumably sharp sand hurt the gills of fish?
Hi hi, my substrate disintegrates, the water gets muddy and the plant leaves get dirty, does it mean I need to change all the substrate every six months? Many thanks
Question for the community: I am newer to the hobby- but how do I gravel vac and not mess up plant roots? Also, will gravel vacuuming release any yucky stuff from my substrate into the water? Thanks friends! 😊
When I'm doing a heavy gravel vac I leave at least a couple inch border around the base of the plant and only lightly vac on the top if I'm worried about looks. I haven't had any problems doing it this way but my tank is also just about a year old so I'm still very new too! Good luck! 💙
@prestonheitzman107 I appreciate your reply! I apologize- I didn't get a notification. So even if I can see gunk pretty deep I should just let it chill for the anaerobic bacteria?
*What kind of substrate do you like to use, and what kind of plants and fish do you keep with it?*
I generally find a mix of both works best. Depending on how you do your layout.
Aquasoil is great but a bit expensive to fill an entire tank!
75 gallon aquarium, Pool filter sand (Walmart), 10 mesh bags of Fluval soil under the sand. LOTS of plants. A tank full of Tetras - about 1 living plant per fish!
Newbie here: I am in the process of setting up my new tanks so I can't say if I'll be successful yet. But I have the supplies for doing a 3 layer planted tank: soil, sand, gravel.
@@blujeans9462 I'm going to try that method soon as well. Going to be interesting.
I usually prefer a fine gravel. Not sand fine but not exactly what I'd call "gravel" size. Hard to explain. But no sharp edges because I almost always have some kind of sand sifter such as corydoras. I'd like to experiment with Fluval Stratum at some point but was worried about it lowering the ph of my water too much for what I was wanting to keep.
Remember kids, if you are ever lost in the woods start talking about substrate, people with show up to argue with you
Especially if you mention fruity pebble gravel being superior to every other type of substrate.
💀👄💀
Just say cat litter is the best substrate
@filthygaijin6566 you say that, but i remember seeing a test and it was concluded that cat litter was actually really good
@@aperson336 😂
I recently changed out the gravel in my 55 gallon planted community tank for Fluval Stratum. Plants are loving it, however I will warn that it is very effective at lowering ph and reducing KH to 0. So if you have naturally hard, high ph tap water like I do, you need to be careful doing large water changes because these levels will swing quickly and stress your fish.
No one warned me about the pH thing and my tap is 7.8. The tank I put stratum in is 6.2!
Indeed soil from your backyard is better if you have high ph and like hard water fish stay far away.
I had a lot of problems early on with Fluval Stratum. I wasn't aware how much it could affect pH. In my first ever tank, I used a thick layer of this soil. The problem is, my tap water is very soft and has a neutral pH of 7, GH of 4 and KH of 1. I had pH swings like crazy and at some point, needed to do water changes twice a day to try and keep it to 6.8. It would lower to 6 or below. I since then added crushed coral and it has kept my pH stable at 7-7.2 In the other tanks that I had setup, I used less Stratum, only in areas where I was planting fast growing plants. For the rest of the substrate, I used Seachem Flourite. I still needed to add crush coral to keep the pH higher as it would be at 6.4 or less which isn't good for the types of fish and shrimps that I have.
For my very first planted tank, I went with a deep substrate using Fluval Stratum for plants in mesh bags with a black and white sand cap. Im very happy with it and the growth on dwarf hair grass and cardinals (went with beginner plants) was near immediate....less than a week.
My next "natural" project will be from a local pond with a higher elevation from any roads....with a sand cap and culture from that pond.
No more gravel (only gravel) and plastic for me.
Plants enable you to do many more things with an aquarium, because lets face it, you cannot achieve nature without them.
I WILL NEVER GET SICK OR BORED OF THESE VIDEOS!!!!
There are three necessary things to consider when deciding a substrate:
1. The fish's needs
2. The fish's colour
3. Plants
1. Are you planning on getting shell dwellers, cories or sand sifters? It may be better to stick with a sand or finer substrate
2. A blue fish will stand out in black substrate, a black fish will stand out in white substrate, etc.
3. Sand may not work as well as fluval stratum, or other planted substrates.
A note on #3 is that you can always add a planted substrate under a bed of gravel/sand. We did this and it looks super natural. Sand and the plants are growing perfectly
This is what I needed. Thanks so much
@@misterbean4125 no problem!
how many pounds of gravel to sand ratio do you recommend for a 20 gal long?
@@tylerclutts5778 It's typically recommended to have the top layer be double the height of the bottom layer
Do you find that when vacuuming the different layers get mixed up?
In my opinion, the best way to go is an inert, fully natural, rounded and rather fine substrate. These are forever, you never need to replace them. How fine or coarse it should be, depends on the plants and fish you want to have. Very fine sand isn't good for plants because there's almost zero water cirdulation inside, no new nutrient and no oxigen reaches the root. Very coarse doesn't keep the roots in place and fish food sinks into it unreachable for the fish. Depending on the size of the fish, some medium sized gravels have a choking hazard. The most versatile typs is fine gravel or coarse sand, 0.5 - 2 mm in size, without extremely fine dust particles. The plants grow well in it and most species of fish do well with it too. Over time, it becomes kinda "active" by itself. Small amounts of organic matter constantly seep into it, decompose there and set free nutrients. The limited space between the small rocks keeps it seeping slow, it doesn't get as dirty as coarse gravel.
When you have plants that need a lot of nutrients in the substrate, you can stick plant fertilizer to their roots.
Active substrates that decompose or wear out have major flaws. They are not forever. You have to rip everything apart every couple of years, to replace the substrate. They cause a rollercoaster ride of PH and nutrient levels when you do a water change. When they are new they cause an overload of nutrients.
Substrates with artificial color coating are bad because the coating wears down over time. They create micro plastic inside the aquarium. And their look is artificial. I'm sure that fish would't chose to live in a disney castle.
Hi! I'm using sand in my aquarium and the brown algae causes the sand to clump 🥺 this is my fault for not keeping up with maintenance. but any suggestions on what to do? I can also see detritus almost on the middle and I'm having a hard time growing the plants on it
I love Cory's thought process and the way he explains things. This is my go to channel for all things freshwater aquariums
Cor(e)y is the absolute best. He explains things in a way that almost everyone can understand.
But he’s wrong
@@PepeCoinMania No you are. Find another hobby
I have three layers. Crushed lava rock, covered with fertalized plant substrate capped with small gravel. I have a 14 gal rimless cube with very minimal filtration so surface area is important.
Hey man, what plants do you have in this setup and how well do they do?
@@Styleb4all I have some val , a dwarf aquarium lily ,two kinds of Anubis, one Amazon sword and dwarf hair sword . I root tab once a month and minimal fertilization once a week. Everything is growing good
I have an Aqueon clamp on plant light.
Do you have fish?
@williamleidy6713 I feel like I have seen this in MD videos. If you look at his tanks they are amazing
I use multiple, my favorite for planted tanks is fluval stratum, but it’s a pain to start up, plants don’t like to stay in at first.
I truly appreciated the information in this video. While I am still learning I am trying to plan for a tank housing neocaridina shrimp along with live plants. The hardest part at this stage is selecting the appropriate substrate. I love your videos!
Neocardinia can be quite hardy and do well with many substrates. I personally prefer a brown or black very fine gravel/coarse sand. I've also tossed them into outdoor ponds and their colors became amazing.
I use fluval stratum for the bottom and caribsea sand as the main topper so an inch or more so it won’t sink too the bottom so fast. Had eco complete gravel but my corycats weren’t as active as their are now come to find out that the gravel was scratching them up and causing red spots on their bellies. After switching to sand they were kinda jumping for joy and digging around and came out their little hide holes. I love sand cause it it feels so natural yes it’s a pain to clean but it makes feel more close to nature and most all fish will love it especially those that dig. I love how my trumpet snails emerge out the sand like little nocturnal zombies and then they disappear I also notice my betta scavenges around more and hangs at the bottom as she rests on the plants.😊
I generally go for natural/black river stone substrates or CaribSea freshwater planted substrates. I've managed to have plants grow just fine in both, and two of my best planted tanks, a goldfish tank (no longer sat up) and a betta tank (been up since September) don't have planted substrates. Goldfish had no fertz or root tabs, and the plants just exploded (easy to understand why that was the case). Betta tank has fertz and root tabs and, while not as fast as the goldfish tank, they're still growing quite well.
I recently re-setup my 17T and put a half-inch of fine white sand as the substrate. I plan to have corydoras, so a shallow sand layer should keep then happy while not being deep enough to have any anerobic pockets. For my plants, I am using a plant substrate in beakers that will be deeper than the sand and furnish a place for the plants to flourish. We shall see, as it has only been up a few weeks with only some plants. Planning on adding dwarf corys and endlers later this month. Hopefully with this setup everyone will feel at home and be happy. Take care.
Pretty new in fishkeeping... is it bad to have anaerobic pockets, especially w planted tanks?
@@KatieDeGo Yes. Anerobic bacteria grow where there is no oxygen. If you see black patches in your gravel, they are growing there. They give off hydrogen sulfide gas (H2S) which is highly toxic. It is commonly called "sewer gas" and has a distinctive rotten egg odor. It is highly poisonous (if you can smell it, it is at harmful levels). Turning over your substrate or having a thin substrate helps prevent this condition. You want an aerobic (oxygen-filled) environment throughout your tank.
@@KatieDeGo I'm also very new but from my understanding if there's pockets in the substrate and you disturb it (gravel vac or replanting or whatever) it releases ammonia and upsets the balance of the tank potentially killing off some friends along the way :/ but that's just my understanding I might be wrong!
My first 10g i got last march has all petco artificials but im going to aquarium co op this week to go all planted!
Another great informative video. Thanks Cory! Just set up my first planted tank a few days ago using plants that I got from your store, some Easy-Green, etc. I used an aquarium pond soil that I mixed with gravel which I then topped with about an inch of finer gravel. So far nothing dead yet!
My latest iteration is Stratum capped with natural rock/gravel - I'm trying to up my plant game😎 Thanks Cory 💕👍
I use tropica soil and then i have a sand area aswell. Works well for the plants that i have to cut back every two weeks!
I've got a 75 that I set up recently and used the black diamond blasting sand. And it's a pretty heavily planted tank
@@scottmerrow1488 ha, that's definitely a possibility. But his whole schtick has always been making products to make the hobby "easy". Though from their new head of marketing, they're trying to get away from that naming scheme apparently.
But he's also said in the past that while sand is a viable option for plants. It's also the hardest. While sticking to making this easy for people getting into the hobby, just making it "easy" by telling people to pick something other than sand for their substrate?
@@scottmerrow1488 for sure. Most people just want whatever they can buy at the store. Initially at least. Some will want to go further and try to mimic nature. Most will probably just stick with what they have bc it seems daunting to change substrate.
I did all sand bc I didn't want to put anything else in, just a nice 3in deep layer of inert coal slag
I have had moderate success with a base of small natural gravel on the bottom of my tanks capped with an inch or more of sand. I only have what you would characterize as “nano tanks”, the largest being a 14 gal cube. In that one in particular I’ve gone small natural gravel under the entire tank capped with a somewhat larger gravel for the back two thirds with a beach of sand covering the front third. The plants have been a mixed bag thus far over 6 months but I’ve had clear successes in the sand capped gravel. I suspect that will improve now that I’m incorporating grow tabs and liquid (Co-op) fertilizer (aside from the dissolved fish waste).
I’ll add this as a “terrestrial” Rutgers certified master gardener of over 40 years. There is a soil correlation to what Cory says regarding the use of gravel as the planting base. That is potted and soil grown plantings benefit from “space” in the soil for root growth. Compacted clay for instance, like sand at your favorite beach, is not conducive to root growth in plants. Thus gardeners and farmers dealing with compacted soils incorporate various other materials (organics that slowly dissolve) by tilling and such to change that compacted “soil structure”. These techniques do a number of things that promote plant growth and root growth in particular. One important aspect is the break up of the compacted particles, providing “space” for root growth. And that “space” between the substrate particles, gravel in this aquatic case, helps create a superior planting substrate. Roots need space. This is also why stem plants often root like crazy when floated. There is virtually no resistance to root growth and so the plant takes advantage.
Pea gravel, crushed coral & usually eco-complete mixed in most of my 50+ tanks... Val, sagitaria, Anacaris, temple, red Ludwigia, water sprite, rotala, bacopa,etc... my tanks are jungles with a wide variety of fish... guppies, platys, mollies, corydoras, plecos, cichlids, etc... right now, I'm at approximately $500/ month... In my same substrate tanks, mostly cichlid sand, some play sand, Amazon swords, and Ozelot swords with tons of Aquarium Co-op root tabs... It takes awhile to get em going but they'll get 3 feet tall... thanks for another awesome education...! Keep it up...!
Any pics?
MD Fish Tanks uses mixed substrates with great results, so that's what i did, i have loaches, corydoras, and a raphael catfish. I don't bother planting into the substrate because they just dig up any plants that are rooted, i just put in a few houseplants with roots exposed but stuck between rocks and driftwood.
Any specific brands?
I just set up 2 tanks . Both tap water , both high light with no CO2 . One tank I put aquasoil into mesh bags under gravel , The other was 30% aquasoil just mixed with the same gravel . The tank with the aquasoil mixed had tons of algae (staghorn and hair) and after 2 months is still an ongoing issue . The tank with bagged aquasoil I have had to add root tabs to a few plants but very little algae and less maintenance such as water changes . not really apples to apples as The mixed aquasoil tank has been getting much bigger water changes as it would of completely gone to rack and ruin If not for the water changes . Both tanks were quite heavily planted with lots of floating plants as well . Neither tank ever got above 30ppm nitrates as I was testing every few days .
Thank you for sharing this. I'd been thinking about doing the bagged aquasoil but you just sold me on it.
I see that its overdone by alot of people when it comes to aquascape....adding CO2 and fertilized substrates. .im using river sand ( coarse and fine ) with root tabs on and off...no CO2..its doing well..i never had algae issues frm day 1....my water parametera is stabil......its a 4ft tank and already running for 2 years.....I buy your idea of soils in meshbags...i may wanna try for my other tank setup...tq..😊
I mostly have used sand, or gravel with a good sand cap with plants like Amazon sword, Java fern, some sort of crypt, dwarf sagg. I do want to use soil again though because I got some nice colorful plants growing in it like rotalas and a yellow stem plant.
I like a just an inch or so of sand to make my Corydoras happy and then I grow plants in clay pots with gravel and root tabs.
I’ve been using black diamond blasting sand in my 40 breeders. I really like the look, size and price. Low tech planted setups with mostly Anubis on driftwood.
I use BDB sand as well but I do a 2:1 ratio of 2 parts BDB to 1 part pea gravel and I love the contrast and natural look it creates. (Visible on my vids)
What was that thing at 8:48 - what was it doing? It almost looked like a magnet?
I’ve always used gravel, but my 75 gallon is about 1/3 sand on the right side. We love watching the Corydora sift through the sand, but I wanted a heavily planted tank.
What is your opinion on using black dimond blasting sand from tractor supply? (I plan to keep black neon tetras, cherry shrimp, ottos and chili rasboras in a 20gal Long)
I use gravel, aqua soil and sand. Sand topping has always worked well for me
My ten gallon has sand since I have a pair of assassin snails in there. Seeing the tips of their shells sticking out of the sand is pretty cute.
Very informative video. Thanks. Greetings from Oceanside California 🤙
So many options 😵💫
I added some granite gravel like you'd find in the Pacific NW creeks/lakes, and the dissolved silica soon caused "brown algae" / diatoms.
I use white pea pebbles and three large black stones as a centerpiece. Enough water flow to bury Anubias a little and I only keep snails
What is that magnet you used to pick up the aquasoil?
I’m trying to grow more plants in my tank, so I’m trying out Fluval flourite substrate. Thanks for this informative video!
What are your thoughts on mixing sand with smooth gravel? I love black sand, but I want to set up another tank with some more challenging plants...
I find that the gravel or small rock sinks into the sand.
This is an excellent video on substrate! Thank you very much👍
Another great video! Question I got an easy planter ( love it) for Christmas, I half filled it with gravel,stuffed root tabs under it and placed a dwarf aquarium lily bulb on the gravel so the sides protect the bulb . I had a beautiful one before but it kept getting ripped out of the substrate from the fish wrestling over food and males being males. With time will mulm settle in the non filled part and cause bulb to rot or will it use it to grow?
Great advice. is a legend and he know's what's best. He has yrs of experience. I'll definitely take his advice.
Great info, thank you for your time
Question: If I have a bottom layer of topsoil/compost covered by a top layer of sand, do I plant my plants into the sand or do I plant them into the topsoil? Thanks
I didn't have a good experience with sand substrate. One of my snails died, and its smell lingered for a month. Sand is also hard to clean with siphon tube
I like to layer mine with pea pebbles on the bottom and coarser sand over it and just load it up with root tabs i only had easy to grow plants and it works out great for me.
My current favorite substrate is decomposed granite. I don't know of anyone else using it. I have been using it for a couple of years. It is very dirty and takes a long time to rinse clean. I find it at Home Depot. Try it out and see what you think.
So neat! I've never heard of that being used as substrate but I bet it looks amazing
I have some of this in my garage and can’t imagine how long it must take to wash it. But I might give it a try for my plant storage pond!
@@amayanut8105 ya, it's not fun to clean. I fill up a 5 gallon bucket just under half full. Then blast it with a garden hose. Dump out the water when it gets full. I do that until it run as clear as I can get it. If you have a nano tank, it's not to bad.
I’m Having the hardest time finding pool filter sand in the middle of winter lol. Note to self for next pool season- stock up!
Hi. I have a 10gal tank, fresh water. I have 3 tetra fish they will be about year old in October, and just recently a black molly fish. I upgraded my filter. However the water is still murky after maintenance. I think it's the type of gravel am using. Any tips? Thank you!
I have a verry fine sand substrate, and plants grow just fine.
Lots of great info and insights! I’ve heard you make the “plants don’t grow in sand on the beach” analogy many times over the past several years, and I’m just not convinced that’s relevant. The image shown in the video was of the ocean, so obviously the vast majority of freshwater plants aren’t going to grow on that beach. I haven’t observed the same effect on freshwater beaches. And what about sand that isn’t close to a lake? Plants grow there just fine if they have enough water. I bet if you set up several tanks exactly the same way with the only difference being sand in some vs gravel in others, you wouldn’t see a difference in root structure or foliage.
This video came at an interesting time lol. Earlier today I bought a bunch of supplies to "dark start" cycle my first proper planted tank, some of which were two bags of fluval stratum. I wanted to keep the substrate simple, buuuut also want a few amano shrimp once my aquarium has stabilised. Hopefully the substrate doesn't lower the ph so much that I need to manually increase the kh and gh x.x
hi sir is it ok if i mixed various type of substrate for my betta tank?
What’s best for a 20 breeder tank that might have live plants and elephant nose fish
What is the tool being used at 8:47? Is it just a fancy siphon?
Curious have you ever tried like a crushed lava rock.. or what I call bonsi crushed rock. ⁉️
Do you have any experience with layering or mixing different substrates?
75 gallon with oranda, ranchu, ryukin. Sand substrate and boulder scape.
Can I use aquasoil underneath my rock base/gravel
My plants keep on floating after few days, what substrate can you recommend sir? Can you teach me how to layer the sand and the substrate, do i need to put the aquasoil first before the sand? What substrate can you recommend?
Thanks Corey..😀
My first 5 gallon aquarium has been great for over a year . I went with 4 inches of washed o’Reilly’s oil dry . Never dissolves. Only Java moss that grows wildfire so no roots .
Hi Cory,
Great video as always. Can you please tell what the best substrate would be for fancy goldfish?
Hi AC Team, Ive been watching your videos for a while now and appreciate the detail... thanks. I live in a small apartment in Hong Kong and decided to keep shrimp. The tank hasn't arrived yet, so doing research about substrate. The tank Ive bought is the NoCleanAquariums 5 gallon with under gravel filter. I intend to try using a small canister filter with intake in rear compartment and outlet back into the main tank. I don't know how big the gaps are in the bottom so unsure of gravel or aqua soil (Stratum seems to be very accessible in Hong Kong). I'm undecided if I should use aqua soil and have a Iwagumi style (planted carpet), or use gravel and just have epiphytes (moss on rocks, Anubis etc). I'm pretty new to shrimp keeping/. Any advice, please?
I breed Endless, long thin white cloud, several types of cool water tolerant barbs. I grow sag, val, anubias, pearl weed and crypts. Most of my tanks are 40 breeders and I have blasting sand media as a substrate. Roughly a third of my tanks have a small pebble lava rock. Ideally, I would like to find standard lava rock in a crushed form that would be affordable, but unfortunately I have not. The lava rock I'm using is not the standard, it is a light Brown in color, and it is incredibly light when I apply it from the local garden supply store in bulk a third of it is unusable. It floats. I have a 20 gallon sterlite van in my back yard and soak it for a couple days, net off the floaters and throw all of that in my landscaping, so it's not wasted. But I really would like to find standard black lava rock enough crushed about a quarter inch pebble size.
Have you tried soaking the floating rocks for a while to see if they take on water like drift wood?
I am setting up a 32 gallon tank. I want live plants as well as fish. I have almost 1 Ton (I’m not exaggerating) of 3/8 inch red & black lava rock that I bought for Adenium culture about 10 years ago. The seller sold railroad cars full of the stuff for aquarium use, but it was for reef tanks (got the “mixed color” cheap, as buyers wanted all-black 3/8”). Can I use this for substrate? Add anything else to it? Also plan to add larger lava rocks for aquascaping. Any advice? Thanks…
I use Fluval stratum mixed with black blasting sand. Plants love it. I’ve had this tank (55g) set up for a little over 3 years. Do I need to change out my substrate? Maybe just freshen it up? I do regular water changes but only cut the gravel once or twice a month. I don’t like disturbing the plants. Mostly crips and a monster Aponogeton.
5:38 yes that's was my last disaster. Live in and learn.
Very wise advice
I go as naturally as possible. I use dirt in all of my tanks with a cap of small gravel or sand and all are fairly deep substrate beds. Several inches at the least. No real issues with these setups and much better than aquatic soils. No algea blooms, healthy ecosystem, and stability. Did I mention the plants love it?
After nearly a year of fishes dying or becoming diseased, I moved to dirted substrate and a sand cap. Along the way I discovered Father Fish's channel and that really helped me along in the journey. The diseases were gone and the tank became healthy. But plants wouldn't sustain because of the Goldfish in the tank that would eat almost all kinds of plants and left just about three species alone. I wanted to ask your hones opinion on dirted tanks. I know it's not everybody's cup of tea but it certainly became my favorite over time - also considering the money and maintenance time that was saved, lol. But did you ever try a dirted tank? I am asking you because you don't go too scientific on us and spew out complicated terms, and you've been also visiting many natural aquarium shopkeepers, hobbyists and breeders.
Where did you get the dirt for your tank? I've been looking into this a lot
@@spacerangera.k.a.spacetoas4094 I got some potting soil and mixed my homemade compost and other ingredients that I saw in one of Father Fish's videos. All ingredients were gardening minerals and stuff. I could find most of them easily. BTW, I capped mine with sand, so that's why the soil did not cause ammonia spikes. Just saying cause I heard some people put in rich minerals without a cap and have their fish dying within a week.
My 4ft has crushed shell it came with it when I brought it secondhand, do you have any opinion on this ? From what iv seen it’s called shell grit and it normally used as chicken feed
I have a small nano aquarium I am going to set up for a Betta (planted). What would be the best suggestion for substrate?
Thanks for the video. I've been thinking about redoing mine and wanted some thoughts
I used eco plant aquarium substrate and some other brand red clay substrate with a little crush coral. Its a 120 gallon planted tank with small community fish.. i bought a octopus plotomos and a red dwarf lily from you a little over a year ago and MAN do they look great!!! I'll have to post an update on my channel
I think I got a adubias as well and when I got the adubias it was big but now its BIG and you can tell how healthy the leaves are they are super thick dark green. Your plants have by far turned out the best out of the plants I have. Can't wait to order more
I acually have the same substrate that I have in my planted tank in with my predator tank. I have another 100 gallon that has a redtail catfish and 2 oscars im housing till my local store sells them. They didn't have the room so I took them in for now. But anyway my other 100 gal non planted tank has this substrate and I truly believe having a healthy substrate helps with your water quality
So if you already have low pH but want to use say fluvial stratum for a planted tank, it may be wise to add some crushed coral? For my 5G shrimp tank I have 1.5in of stratum and a .75in sand cap. The first tank is doing great, the 2nd tank (recently set up) is just doing ok.
I’ve had the best luck with Japanese contra soil.
Great video. I'm trying to work out the best substrate for a corydoras tank with heavy planting, I've always kept my corys on sand but the plants don't do so well and the sand gets compacted. I absolutely love watching my corys snuffle about in the sand but I want plants too! Is there a happy medium?
Question about the new light - in your opinion will just 1 of the 36” lights have enough spread to cover a whole 40breeder? Right now I have 1 light from hygger but especially with the dead spot from the hinge on my lid, it’s not enough spread to reach front to back.
Pool filter sand for the win!
And here I am with black diamond blasting sand in all my tanks lol lots of root tabs and have great results with easy grow plants ✌🏻
Thanks Cory. I need some Crushed Coral. The one pet store talked me out of it. Hmm. Why? I have a few Nerite Snails, a few Ghost Shrimp, and my water is hard. I save my Egg Shells for the birds. I clean and crush them.
What do you sagest for a 55gal planted betta tank?
Excellent topic
Cory have you ever tryed black medium blasting sand made for sandblasting?
!Hi! I already have rock gravel in but it not keeping my plants in place so I was wondering if I could put Fluval Bio Stratum Aquarium on top of the natural color rock? And can I use as a diy by using Lego mats to divide if I can't put the Fluval Bio Stratum Aquarium on top. I already have the tank setup no fish yet. Or better yet blue sand from Petco. So can I put the sand with the natural color rock? I want it to look natural as possible. Or use that Lego mat to divide. I saw someone on TH-cam that used a Lego mat for divide the sand or rock to make a design. So since your a real fish guy and enjoy your videos I like to ask you. Also what fertilizer do I get for the plants that's not expensive. That's safe for fish and snails and shrimp
I am setting up a 150 thinking about Oscar’s to start any ideas gravel or sand ? Thank you
Depends on filtration. Look into a fine river gravel, maybe by CaribSea. Sand can easily be kicked up and ruin filter impellers. Also, the aforementioned gravel will hide the poo better and allow for quick gravel vacuuming, making maintenance easier.
I have always wondered, why is there so much footage of places like Petco/Petsmart in your videos? Where does it come from?
I am setting up my first ever tank (200L) in the UK. The cheapest sand I can buy is white, but has been referred to by one reviewer as blast sand. Could this presumably sharp sand hurt the gills of fish?
I use 3 to 4 inch's of kitty litter and crushed coral in my Cichlid tanks and have no problems. It is not expensive.
Hi what would be best substrate for a gold fish tank? No plants at all.
Can you guys do goldfish care video.
Plain gravel. Some most tanks brown natural and one is black.
Hi hi, my substrate disintegrates, the water gets muddy and the plant leaves get dirty, does it mean I need to change all the substrate every six months?
Many thanks
What about using crushed coral when the water has high pH and gH?
Can you put sand on top of black gravel with the speckled bright colors in it? Want to put plants in fish tank.
The gravel will make it’s way to the top.
Question for the community: I am newer to the hobby- but how do I gravel vac and not mess up plant roots? Also, will gravel vacuuming release any yucky stuff from my substrate into the water? Thanks friends! 😊
Second this question! 3 months into the hobby!
When I'm doing a heavy gravel vac I leave at least a couple inch border around the base of the plant and only lightly vac on the top if I'm worried about looks. I haven't had any problems doing it this way but my tank is also just about a year old so I'm still very new too! Good luck! 💙
When I use a vac, I only go along the surface of the substrate to collect any debris on top. I don't disturb more than the very top layer of gravel.
@DreamPainter54 I didn't get a notification from your reply and just saw it. Thank you friend! Hope you're having a lovely day 💗
@prestonheitzman107 I appreciate your reply! I apologize- I didn't get a notification. So even if I can see gunk pretty deep I should just let it chill for the anaerobic bacteria?
What about mixing sand with gravel to accommodate corydoros and plants at the same time?
My Cory’s do fine with gravel
Can i have planted substrate with gravel over the top?
What is the easiest substrate to clean with an electric vacuum or python.
I m just a beginner..Please suggest substrate for non planted cherry barbs... dimensions of tank are L 36 inch...B 12 inch ... W 15 inch. Thanks