questions about plant substrate

[Ficious]

so ive gone the eco-complete route before...i cant really remember the name but it was full of plant goodies. it was great until i had to do gravel vacs and the stuff would cloud my tank. it would also get sucked up into the syphon and the stuff aint cheap.

ive sinced then torn down that tank and am using a sand/gravel combo...mostly gravel with patches of sand. my new project is 2 twenty long tanks under about 80 watts of light. i plan on growing plants mostly with a breeding pair in one or small school of rosboras in the other.

im wondering if its worth the money to buy this stuff and try it again. do i rinse it completely until it isnt clowdy or does that take the important stuff away? also how do you avoid the gravel vac situtation? do you have a large enough layer of gravel that it doesnt matter? is it possible to grow decent plants with tabs and fertilizer alone?

side question...would one large spounge filter work in a 20 gallon?

 

[hybridtheoryd16]

Plant substrates are not meant to be gravel vac'ed. They have nutrients in them that plants feed off of. And they collect tank debirs and break them down into food for the plants.


The fert tabs and stuff would depend greatly on if you plant to use co2 and or flouirsh excel organic carbon.

If not using co2 or excel then I would not use any fertilizers. Doing so ends in algae most of the time.

Most all low light plants can be grown in plain gravel with no ferts and no co2. Although co2 or excel is beneficial in every planted tank.