New with this "plant base" product

[Dieboldly]

Hey guys, usually I'm use to my tank only having gravel. Now I decided I wanted healthy looking plants in my tank now and was told to buy this...
CaribSea Flora Max Planted Aquarium Substrate

So I did. I bought 2 bags of it. Gave me about 30lb worth. 15lb each. Now my question is, I'm I suppose to put something on top like gravel again? Or is it suppose to stay just that product? My water is sooooo dirty now from this. It's almost like dirt ha with rock. Will it eventually be okay? Won't dirty the tank once moved around?

Thanks guys. This is how the tank looks now.

Oh also I looked it up and a website told me I should use about 50lbs of this to make a nice 2" rise for the roots....this true or will what I have be okay? $17 a bag

 

[Dieboldly]

Sorry this is what I bought....

http://m.petsmart.com/h5/hub?id=htt...rate-zid36-5049883/cat-36-catid-300052?null#a

 

[tomojsg]

never used that stuff before but as a beginner to planted tanks
maybe you should have started out with some more basic
things like low tech and low light planted setups. there are
various of plants that you can keep with just low-med lights.
and honestly unless you plan to do a real nice heavily planted
tank with c02 injectors and everything i find it unnecessary to
buy everything but thats just my opinion. anyhow since you
already got the substrate you can move forward and work with
what you already got. 1 for the water once you add a filter it will
clear up. 2 you can work with the amount of substrate you already
have so you dont have to buy more if you plan on doing a simple
low tech/low light planted tank. 3 you can keep many plants by
dosing with liquid nutrients like seachem flourish and excel which
are great products to use btw. also you can use root tabs and other
similar products to feed your potted plants and etc the nutrients
they need. theres a great sticky you can read up on here i suggest
you take a look when u can. hoped this helped in any way lol.

 

[duanes]

I have used fluorite, and it will clear, but may take a week or so.
It has minerals such as iron that many plants appreciate.
You don't need anything on top, but you can if you want more substrate.
I have mixed it, mostly because it is expensive to cover 6 ft tanks, and I like PFS on top. I find it especially helps some of the more red color plants stay vibrant.
It is below the sand in the tank below.

and in the tank below it is the major part of the substrate

 

[Tifftastic]

I used it in the tank below. It was really cloudy at first when I set it up too and then it cleared. First pic is the day I put the substrate in and the last couple are about six months later. It will look cloudy and when everything settles it'll look kind of like a layer of dust over it, but it will eventually work itself back in.

 

[Dieboldly]

I have used fluorite, and it will clear, but may take a week or so.
It has minerals such as iron that many plants appreciate.
You don't need anything on top, but you can if you want more substrate.
I have mixed it, mostly because it is expensive to cover 6 ft tanks, and I like PFS on top. I find it especially helps some of the more red color plants stay vibrant.
It is below the sand in the tank below.

and in the tank below it is the major part of the substrate

So basically all I wanted to do was make a good growing space for some live plants. This tank holds a red dragon flowerhorn for the time being. I'm going to the store to buy pea pebbles I think to layer on top. Is pea pebbles from like lowes or homedepot okay? Also can my guy live in the water even tho the cloudiness isn't fully gone? I let the stuff settle and now have a filter going....

 

[Dieboldly]

Or what about sand?

 

[duanes]

I prefer sand to pea gravel, fish feces and detritus tend to sit on top where it can easily be vacuumed off during regular water changes.
Although most sand from hardware stores will work, I would get the washed sand, or pool filter sand which isn't so dusty. I get 50lbs for about $5 a bag.
Pea gravel will have interstitial spaces between the large grains which allows detritus to accumulate, it becomes hard to remove, rots, and becomes a water quality issue.
Just a heads up, most FHs are not plant friendly, I have found most Amphilophus types only tolerate plants like Java Fern, and Anubias which anchor into wood or pourous rock, or floating plants, anything in the sand or gravel is usually dug up.

 

[Dieboldly]

I prefer sand to pea gravel, fish feces and detritus tend to sit on top where it can easily be vacuumed off during regular water changes.
Although most sand from hardware stores will work, I would get the washed sand, or pool filter sand which isn't so dusty. I get 50lbs for about $5 a bag.
Pea gravel will have interstitial spaces between the large grains which allows detritus to accumulate, it becomes hard to remove, rots, and becomes a water quality issue.
Just a heads up, most FHs are not plant friendly, I have found most Amphilophus types only tolerate plants like Java Fern, and Anubias which anchor into wood or pourous rock, or floating plants, anything in the sand or gravel is usually dug up.

How do you vacuum the sand? I haven't ever really used sand before. Always gravel. I've had him with live plants before and he did fine

 

[Dieboldly]

So I put a layer of pea pebble down and probably will do a layer of sand now later