# Substrate for 90L planted tank



## Jaap (Jun 24, 2005)

Hello,

I am setting up a planted tank and would like to have a good substrate for plants. I will also have co2 and good lighting. Here are my options:

1. Sera Floredepot as undersoil
2. Seachem Flourite Dark/Black/Red
3. Sand
4. Small gravel
5. Medium gravel
6. Medium-Large size porus gravel (it says its good for bacteria growth)

Which one of the above will serve me best or which combination of the above will serve me best?

Thanks.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Are those your only choices? Do you want to have to fertilize manually? With all of those choices you will have to fertilize. The Seachem Flourite will provide some iron I don't know how much. I would not do a gravel over 3mm size. It gets too hard to plant and your roots needs something that small to really latch on to.


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## Thirston (Mar 23, 2008)

What size is the aquarium? Fluorite is nice stuff but can get expensive if used in larger tanks. You could mix it 50/50 with a small gravel and still get very nice results (I've done this in the past).

To save a little money and get a similar if not superior CEC you could try Soilmaster Select or Turface products. These don't have nutrients built into them per se but when used in conjunction with water column and substrate ferts they create a wonderful and inexpensive substrate.

Sand in and of itself offers nothing except a place for the plants to rest their roots.

As Tex already wrote, large gravel is usually frowned upon.


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## Left C (Jun 14, 2005)

Can you get ADA Amazonia?


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## johnny313 (May 19, 2011)

organic soil topped off with flourite works amazing


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

Peat and activated carbon topped with anything inert works great.

So you see the pattern - you do not need to get fancy brand names. Except AquaSoil which is in a league of its own.

Basically try to emulate more of what happens in Nature: Rich substrate, capped with something inert to not pollute the water. Water as clean as it can be, no fertilizers in it. Simple.

--Nikolay


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## BananableLector (Oct 26, 2011)

I'm trying a low tech / low cost apporoach with Miracle-Gro ORGANIC potting mix, the regular potting mix has chemical ferts you might not want in your tank. 1inch of that with a 1inch cap of any small gravel (2mm-5mm) and works great. Almost a week in with no cloudiness, heavily planted to avoid any major spikes in ammonia. new plants are already starting to show growth.


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