# What is the best substrate



## Izzy- (Jun 11, 2014)

Dirt


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## CannaBrain (Oct 3, 2008)

Best is a relative term around here...


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## BBradbury (Nov 8, 2010)

*Your Tank*

Hello tet...

The best substrate as far as easy to clean is likely polished pea-sized gravel from the pet store. It can't compact and cause water chemistry problems and plants planted in it will get good water circulation to provide oxygen to the plant roots.

I used Anubias nana to cover the bottom of a tall 45 gallon tank I set up a few years ago. It still looks good and though it grows slowly, it doesn't require expensive lighting and just uses fertilizers the fish produce. Pretty easy.

B


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## Aquatic Delight (Mar 2, 2012)

the best substrate is personal prefrence. i love eco complete and i swear by it, other people will swear by ADA or any of the other hundred substrates out there.

the truth is you can make any substrate work well using a combo of root tabs and liquid fert dosing.


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## Tetra1 (May 29, 2012)

Ok, so I think I'm gonna dirt my tank. Now, the big question, what is the best dirt to use? The tank is a Fluval Spec V, and I've got about 20 plants to put in there give or take. I'm going to cap with pea gravel I think. Thoughts on good dirt? 😼


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## Freemananana (Jan 2, 2015)

I believe capping with sand, because it is fine, is suggested. That way it keeps all the dirt down. Right?

My favorite is black diamond blasting sad, or any black sand for that matter. The blasting sand is just heavy and doesn't stir up very much.


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## klibs (May 1, 2014)

Dirt capped with sand IMO.
Never had ADA though


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## Kareen (Apr 6, 2013)

Go with Dirt and pool filter sand or black sand is the best way to go my plants grow really good.


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## Red Cloud (Nov 11, 2014)

Aqua Soillllllll. Dirt will drive ya crazy

Obsession is a matter of opinion


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## Tetra1 (May 29, 2012)

Thanks for all of the suggestions, I went with dirt and am capping with sand. Everything is ordered up and ready to go. Once everything is planted up, I'll post a build thread. Thanks again. &#55357;&#56890;


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## Neatfish (Jun 22, 2012)

Just wondering how many 9 liter bags of ADA aqua soil for a 10g?


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## Red Cloud (Nov 11, 2014)

Depends on how thick you want your substrate. A 9L bag filled my 25g from 2-4" and then I capped it. In my 10g, a 2L bag was not quite enough, so I would say less than half a bag.


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## RWaters (Nov 12, 2003)

Tetra1 -=You'll find that dirt and sand will be best for growing your plants but once those roots start to get established, you'll have a mess on your hands if you want to move the plants. We'll want pictures when you're done.


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## BeastMaster (Dec 17, 2012)

Neatfish said:


> Just wondering how many 9 liter bags of ADA aqua soil for a 10g?



Easy formula: 9L is approximately 549 cubic inches in volume. Take your tank footprint in inches and multiply inside length X inside width. Divide the 549 cubic inches by the foot print and the result will be the average depth of the substrate. :bounce:


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Tetra1 (May 29, 2012)

*Pics coming soon*



RWaters said:


> Tetra1 -=You'll find that dirt and sand will be best for growing your plants but once those roots start to get established, you'll have a mess on your hands if you want to move the plants. We'll want pictures when you're done.


I'm not going to be moving plants around too much unless I get real bored. Thanks for the heads up though. I will be getting my first pics out on this thread real soon. This is my first rodeo with dirt aside from planted tanks I did back in the day. Hopefully I will have a lush beautiful one with all of the new tech stuff there is out these days, we'll see? 
Cheers! :bounce:


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## Krispyplants (Apr 15, 2014)

Dirt and sand will definitely not look good for the long run as it blends. If you are talking about pure dirt, it is really messy even when capped. The most used combination by many other who has the will to spend the cash is ADA capped with sand grade that is nutrient rich. I think that they now have fine grade ADA as well. What many over look is the fact that pool sand will not help many bushy carpeting plant such as Dwarf Baby Tears because it's root have to penetrate the sand before getting to the nutrients which indeed has a short root system. Like many that has said before, plants will uptake most from the roots. Now if you have something like java fern, anubias or bolbitis. The sand will not help much either like mention as their roots have to penetrate the sand first. This is most critical when your mother plant sends out detaching some baby plants and they cant get to the nutrients blocked off by pool sand. In my experience, rhizome plants will grow much more faster, propagate faster and look more healthier once their roots reach into the substrate. For the smaller ones that can't spread their roots far enough will keep on decaying.


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## Tetra1 (May 29, 2012)

*Tank substrate*

I ended up using organic potting soil with a coarse gravel sand mix cap. I planted my tank up and started with 5 plants. Today I have already propagated the plants twice and they are flourishing. I would have to say the dirt with the cap I chose is perfect. The tank looks natural and beautiful. I added some fish and Cory catfish and they couldn't be happier. I will post pictures shortly.

:fish::bounce:


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## GraphicGr8s (Apr 4, 2011)

Tetra1 said:


> I ended up using organic potting soil with a coarse gravel sand mix cap. I planted my tank up and started with 5 plants. Today I have already propagated the plants twice and they are flourishing. I would have to say *the dirt with the cap I chose is perfect.* The tank looks natural and beautiful. I added some fish and Cory catfish and they couldn't be happier. I will post pictures shortly.
> 
> :fish::bounce:


And you just learned the lesson. It is perfect. For YOU.

For me plain dirt uncapped is perfect. In some of my tanks. In others I have BBS pea gravel and that too is perfect.


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## Tetra1 (May 29, 2012)

*Photo of tank*









graphicgr8s said:


> and you just learned the lesson. It is perfect. For you.
> 
> For me plain dirt uncapped is perfect. In some of my tanks. In others i have bbs pea gravel and that too is perfect.


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