Ok....gravel you say. Thats fine. My question is can plants grow in gravel? I want to do a low care easy starter plant set up. Can I use gravel and grow aquarium plants? I am using the Fluval 3.0 plant light so the lighting will be great. I need your input please.
I am not completely new to fish my favorite sub is river rock, but I am wanting to do something small this time around.. I swapped my bigger tank out to join the reptile world and got my first leopard gecko and I love him... And now I miss my fish So I thought I would do a planted Betta tank 5g I hate seeing them in the little vases and such.. so I have been reading and watching to try and do a natural like setup so the fish is the centerpiece
me too! a lot of my spare time has been spent here lately.... equivalent to a full time job tbch xD All I do half the time is channel suf. And I believe it will pay off dividends down the road
I totally agree with your final choice. I started my first few tanks ever with gravel and have no regrets. So easy to clean, hides detritus, lots of surface area. After a few years I’ve slowly transitioned almost everything over to either pool filter sand or play sand, and have no regrets about that either (& probably won’t go back). Transitioned to sand for my corys and my rams and they are so much happier :) My low-tech plants have done great, too. Thanks for a great video, John and Lisa!
@@norastorm99 Yes, there are lots of videos on it as a budget substrate. I personally really like the way it looks - very beachy and natural looking. (I mix with a little fine gravel to make it look more natural). You do have to rinse it for a very, very long time initially, which was my main drawback.
Hi guys, I kept my goldfish and bottom feeders (loaches) on gravel for yeeeeears. One day I came home from work and my "big" g/fish (approx 6inches) was swimming around with his mouth open wide. It looked like he was "gasping for air" LOL. However, he had been shuffling around the bottom and got a piece of gravel stuck in his mouth! I carefully took him out and held him in a soft cloth and had to prise the stone out with a pair of tweezers. The long and short of this is that he was fine and seemed happy to have had the gravel stone removed....Just a little story.
You can add root tabs into the sand to help your plants with nutrients; sand is an inert substrate and you need to give your plants a little help. I use and would recommend Thrive root tabs from NilocG. They work awesome and your plants will love them.
how big aquarium? What fish will you keep? Remember to cycle the tank for atleast 2-3 weeks! I have 5 tanks and on all of them i have Fluval 3.0 marine light. I recommend it
@Sbren Hartgers Oh yeah it's been a long while. I have 4 aquariums with full maintenance. Thank you for the advice. Good to talk to a fellow aquarium hobbyist.
My 2nd tank i set up was a dirted tank but i capped it with sand to contain the mess a bit. I have a plant substrate in my other tank and honestly i believe that the dirt makes for much more healthy and intricate root systems. Plants ive pulled out of my 55 gallon have had much finer and larger root systems then my 30 gallon. I believe dirt us the best and cheapest way to maintain an aquarium
I did the same thing in my 10, except I put a scattering of gravel on top of the sand, more for aesthetics than anything. I don't consider myself advanced, I just wanted a good substrate for plants, and six months later, they're thriving!
Really great guys. Fifty five years ago I had several tanks and was even breading kribensis. Now it's unbelievable all the advancements that have been made. I should have my head examined but I am thinking about getting back into it and having a large tank with plants and discus (and even CO2!). Thanks for the great tips.
My first Aquarium in the 70's. We used to use a White Plastic Undergravel Filter with 2 Clear, Upright Plastic Tubes in the 2 Back Corners.! After putting the Gravel on top of the White Undergravel Filter, You then put 2 small Air Stones, connected to clear air tubing that was Connected to an Airpump, inside the 2 Upright Clear Plastic Tubes in the 2 Corners.! This Circulated the Water but when you took Out the Gravel, All the Sludge, over time, Collected Underneath the White Plastic Undergravel Filter.! Does Anyone else Remember these White Undergravel Filters.? 🤔
Im new in the Hobby, just started Last Dezember. But i did researches for over a year, Started with a 450 Liter Tank and Soil, gone Full Planted and since february i have Diskus in it. They do Perfect, dont have any Problems with algea or Something Else. Everything is working Fine, got a second Tank yesterday (450 Liter again) and this one will ne Sand for Sure, just to keep the second a bit simpler.
Me and my partner started at the high level. Aquasoil in the first tank. Dirted tank in the second. Third... Walstead! Great video guys. I wish I'd seen this before I started haha!
I'm surprised they didn't mention anyting about colored gravel. I would stay away from it since the coating on the gravel After Time tends to break down getting into the water column. The Coatings may be non-toxic but why chance it.
I have several aquariums loaded up with smooth, natural gravel & Aquarium CO-OP plants. Great combination. 👍😎. Thanks John & Lisa for the nice video. 📺😉
Wow. I have been scratching my head about what substrate I want for my 150 gallon aquarium that will be shipped to me next week. This video has helped reduce my confusion. I decided after watching this video....bare bottom or gravel. Great video.🐟👍
I have a planted tank and love Eco-Complete mixed with fine black sand. Its atleast 3in thick. Thanks for the video! I always learn something new when watching you guys! 🧡🐠
@@MichaelClark-uw7ex Yep! I've had the same Eco -Complete mixed with fine sand in my tank for almost a year now and my plants still are thriving to the point I have to trim them every week. Lol. No co2 or Fert either. Just Prime conditioner with water changes and a few different types of foods. I'm so thankful I used this stuff , aren't you? 😁
@KGTropicals - I've been in the hobby for about 55 years and still prefer aquarium gravel. Sand is a second runner up. Wish you touched base on the effects of substrate color has on the fish.
I have a dirted tank and am crazy ... how thoughtful of you. It was not difficult to set up, and went a year with very limited maintenance but I was looking to establish something alongside the Walsted Method, that leads to a self sustaining ecosystem... I have been running into problems recently but they have all centered around foreign elements making it into the tank.
A practical (and cost effective) application beginners might consider about gravel (and sand as well) is that in addition to the biological aspects, gravel can also double down as mechanical filtration media. Many of us discovered this when the undergravel ("whutever boomer!") filters came about and found ourselves having to, at some point, vac the substrate. I eventually said to myself ... "SELF! - you've got tanks full of perfectly effective and continuously reusable filtration media!" There followed experimentation with gravel in different filters and combinations with floss - sponge - lava rock, and once on a seriously sphincter tight budget (tank filter or new strings for the Les Paul) just gravel in a 16oz plastic cup with a spare 1" lift tube driven by an old airstone for a 15g with zebra danios and a few cory's! As Eric Clapton once said ... "It's in the way that you use it!" - Hoping this was helpful - Cheers!
Along time ago I used cheap "plain" clay cat litter not the clumping kind about 2 inches deep. I added fertilizer tabs an covered it with about an inch of gravel. My plants loved it. The water was clear and the Cory cats did great. I read about it online.
With the use of root tabs, a good fert., and quality plants, I've always had good luck growing plants in gravel. I've never used the specialty planted tank substrate.
have a tank with a nature look, as a stream. i use grey sand and small river rocks on top. i love it and so do my fish. after a few water siphons the sand and gravel mix together and look really good!i have sharks teeth, ray teeth, fossil Ammonite and various fossil shark/whale vertibrae in it. Glad i went this route. loaded with some cory cats, angel fish, gold/bluerams, guppies and sailfin mollies. Such an amazing community tank im proud of
I went with black blasting sand. It's kinda a middle ground between true sand and gravel, it's like a very coarse sand. And it looks great. Just make sure to clean it really well. 6 months in and no major issues with it and plants seem OK.
In my 50+ years of keeping tropical fish, I've used just about every substrate imaginable and when I recently up my old 75g I decided to try some Eco-Complete, I am amazed, that stuff is great for a planted tank, its a bit pricey $20/20lb bag but it comes with active bacteria so you have a cycled tank right out of the bag. I also have a planted 55 for my shrimp and it is organic potting soil with a sand cap, its doing great but the Eco-Complete seems to be growing faster. For any other tank, its hard to beat good old fashioned general purpose construction sand that has a wide variety of particle sizes.
John, Lisa, you are amazing at explaining things, and with a touch of humor. I started aquarium hobby about 8 months ago, and your videos is one of my sources to start researching. It feels so bad having a fish die and have no idea what happened, your videos and your work helped me understand a lot, so now I feel more confident. I started with a 10 gallon and before I knew I have 3 20 gallons and the 10 gallons is my breeder tank. Though I made mistakes in my first months, you guys kept me fishkeeping with all your hard work, because I understand a lot thanks to you guys. THANK YOU.
I just switched from old blue aquarium gravel to pea gravel in my 125g and I love it! It looks much more natural, it’s easy to gravel vac and I only paid $3 each for 50lb bags. I’m not a fan of sand, for all the cons mentioned.
Hey John, yeah I had to be that person 😂🤣😎 I'm crazy and have had many dirted tanks in my nano (2.5 and 5 gal) tanks. My first tanks ever was dirted, told you I was crazy. 🤪🤪 I'm not too crazy cause I an not digging it up from my yard but buying MircaleGrow Potting Soil. Love what you and Lisa have done for the hobby and when you guys come up to visit API, stromboli and cheesesteaks on me.
The best substrate for a planted tank is dirt capped off with either gravel or sand. I've done both and prefer gravel as the cap. The special designed aquarium plant substrates are very expensive considering a bag of organic dirt is dirt cheap.
I've got dirt with gravel over it and my plants thrive, I love it. It's like a little jungle in there. My nano fish and shrimpies just love all the plants too.
I have some jet black gravel and I really love the look. My plants are doing pretty good also. I am planning on getting a ten gallon which I want to turn into a dirted tank with a carpet eventually. I am also interested in white clouds. Thanks for the education.
I live in Florida where we haven’t sand in our yards not dirt lol. I mixed sand from my yard that I cleaned very well, with a bag of the wet substrate. Can’t remember what kind it was. I know my situation could be a little different than others but it worked great for me when starting a budget tank.
The landscaper store is perfect. I use pavers sand for all my tanks. I rinse the sand in a 30 liter bucket. Its a nice warm tan with bigger gravel in it. My shrimp have fun sifting it and my plants can easily root in it.
I used gravel, because, well, undergravel filter. I used the Top Fin "Natural Beach" gravel, which is somewhat coarse, light to medium brown. I was using a HOB filter, but I dropped that filter into the tank when breaking it down to move it (saggy bookshelf is likely a bad place...) I was lucky I had an old UG filter and air pump in a box under the bed, as this happened between paychecks and I was trying to cycle the tank. I ran the UG filter for a couple weeks with the HOB cartridge clipped to the inside of the tank in the path of the lift tube.
I love a very ruff gravel not only it provide that great bacteria too but i love it so baby guppy can hide between the grave and never get eaten by adults thanks for the video
I love my dirt tank with a sand cap. My plants grow large and the water quality has never suffered. It is a super easy project and if this novice can pull it off with their second tank ever so can you.
Cool! I love dirted tanks, and I want to try sand instead of gravel. But I am worried about corydoras disturbing the sand and getting dirt into the water column. Would corys be ok with sand and dirt?
Hi dirt tank keeper here... how dare you not talk in depth about my substrate of choice dont you know blah blah blah JUST KIDDING :P Great vid yall. Love the short and sweet right to the point style of the vid
I'm a newb fish keeper.. and your videos help me a lot. Many thanks to you guys.. all love from philippines. 🇵🇭 Yeah, I went with gravel and you really cant go wrong with gravel.. 😁
I'm confused if you don't know how to turn caps lock off and/or you don't realise many non dirtied Substrates can be free. I've 72 aquariums including dirted. I also understand a well balanced aquarium isn't simply based on the substrate. Please use lower caps when trying to address people.
I agree I've been keeping fish tanks for years. I just recently switched to dirted tank capped with sand and I will never go back. Plants grow like crazy and I don't have have to worry about figuring out what fertilizer to use. Deeper substrate seems to break down waste faster and I do less water changes because nitrates are lower than in my other tanks.
You must also take into account what kind of fish will be in the tank. For example corydora catfish prefer sand, while goldfish could get a piece of gravel stuck because they are grazers.
1:35 I KNEW IT!!! Gravels takes care of the Algae and im soooo sick of it, i have a small tank and a big tank, the small one has some gravels, even reaching up to 2 weeks water never becomes green, the Side of the tank will have algae tho. Easy to scrub it off And the big tank doesnt have any gravel, water becomes green NO MATTER what i do, i feed them lesser, it didnt helped, i shut the lights for a week, it didnt change anything, i bought some plants, and of course nothing changed, having Gravels is the best, you can clean them once a month and you will see how much dirt and stuff it has collected over the weeks This is what im looking for and im glad I finally am sure that Gravel does help
Love my black gravel. Had it for over 15 years, and all 3 of my bettas throughout their lifespan looked great in the tank with it. Never had any motivation to move from it.
First off I would like to say "I love your videos"! As an aquarist with multiple tank syndrome & ~50 years in the hobby I advise people to build their tanks ecosystem to the fish etc, that you are going to have within. Research what the water parameters should be for the inhabitants that will live in the ecosystem. Don't fight with the hobby; if you have hard water then have hard water inhabitants, the same goes for soft water. The substrate you use should help support the water paramiters.
I recently just got back into the hobby after ~20 years. I started back up with sand. Regular gravel definitely would have been an easier substrate. Its a bit tougher to keep looking clean because of its smaller grain size and the inability to gravel-vac like you do with gravel. Overall it does look pretty cool, though.
I’ve been keeping dirtied tanks since the 70s. I wouldn’t flush commercial dirt from eco complete or any other fish store dirt. Organic potting soil for $7 is all you need. Dirt is for show tanks only with expensive plants that require a lot of care. I don’t keep much more then sane in my breading tanks. But I will say dirt tanks are far easer then sand to take care of.
Just curious to know you guy's opinions on the "glass pebbles" as a substrate... They're smooth all around, but have decent surface area. Haven't seen anyone else really mention it... But I've got a 75 and a 40 that I'd like to do it for. The light reflection/scattering just adds to the beauty, in MY opinion. I've come to greatly respect and appreciate the information and humor you guys put out... FOR FREE NONETHELESS. Ha. Thanks!
over the years of keeping planted tanks, one way what seems to work well for me is a layer of slightly bigger stones, topped with some clay balls, then a good layer of aquatic soil, then capped of with a good layer of natural lake gravel and use the clay balls every few months placed in to the gravel and that seems to work very well. so far the tank has been setup for 4 years now, but over the years ive added kg's of gravel to get it much deeper in places and of course the plant food and co2. after 4 years i could do with a empty and add new soil topped with gravel but so far it still seems o be doing well, just catching up on maintenance as done very little over the last year and bit and lot plants died, filters did not get changed very often, water changes monthly. mad thing is been right back at it over the last month, and still not got water clear, still full of bits, so decided the main big filter below the tank can catch the big bits, and will only then need doing every few months, and got a internal filter half the flow rate of my main one to hopefully clear the water. but plants i thought had died a few have come back after at least 6 months not seeing them so i feel im getting back on track. what helped me get away with it is i had a very heavy planted tank and gather the plants made a good difference for the water
Thanks for the information. I've had aquariums of all sizes off and on for about 40years now. I have a 55 gallon now. When I set it up I put sand in. For a year I tried hard to keep it clean, I couldn't. So now it's a bear bottom tank. Nothing wrong with sand, it's just I don't know what I was doing wrong. I'll be going back to gravel. Thank you, I've learned something
Same here. 40 plus years and I tried sand. It stays cloudy no matter what. Bought it from the pet store too. Top Fin I believe. It sucks, I love the look but not the cloudiness…..
I like sand since my fish can dig around in it without hurting themselves and I dont have to worry about impaction. With a bit of fertilizer ive found my plants grow really well in it too
Ok I need help with2 aquariums. I have regular black gravel in them. I just got pygmy cory catfish in 1 and Jillii catfish in the other. Is the gravel going to hurt them? Should I put some black sand in them so they have softer places to land on? I do have alot of plants but I want them all to be happy. Thankx love your ch. You have helped me alot with all 7 of my tanks.
Thank you !! I am keeping fishes from 2012 but it was like my fishes were hardy enough to survive 5 years without using science on them . But now watching your videos are like god we didn't care about this that time and it is so important. Thank you once again to both of you for such a valuable info u provide.
I have two dirted tanks and I'm not crazy... I think. I use ocean forest and have eco complete over the dirt in one and flourite in my other one. Been doing great.
Awesome video guys!!! I used tons of substrates from ADA, Eco-complete, Fluval Stratum, and regulator sand. Planted tank for beginners, I recommend Eco-complete, It's easy. My personal favorite is ADA for advanced users.
dirted tanks with sand over the top as a cap is by far the best and cheapest planted tank setup possible.. and if you select the dirt properly the nutrients will sustain plants for a couple of years minimum..
I just bought nutrient rich plant substrate and ill cover it with a light layer of gravel so then i can plant AND its easy.....although that sounds too good to be true.
Thankyou, for explaining the subject of substrate.... As a beginner, it can be daunting. But, glad you made my decision much easier..... Gravel, it is ❤️🐠🦐🌿🌱🍃🍀
Hi there, getting back into it and I just got a 55g. Setting it up and will prob will go with black gravel… looking for a good name brand if you can suggest a couple that would be great. Also, I absolutely love the two tanks you have in this video. What are you using to black out the one on the left and what’s the blue background on the right??? Where can I purchase these? Thanks great video!
I’ve been using plant and shrimp substrate made from clay because I love the look of the round balls very modern look…. I’m put together a new betta tank … any thoughts on using this type of substrate
I work at Orleys spas and stoves where I live and we carry top quality parts and units, (were a bit pricey, but were unmatched in the pacific northwest region) and our sand for filtration goes for $5.00 a bag, or a pallet for $200. And quite a few customers use the sand in their aquariums. I go bare glass or gravel (rarely), but that's just me.
Get Surfshark VPN at surfshark.deals/KGTropicals and enter promo code KGTropicals for 85% discount and 3 extra months for free!
Hi KG Tropicals i was curious 🤔 can i put a Betta in a 10gal tank with some guppies please help.
@@tbonesfishies1797 in America you can do whatever you want just saying
Ok....gravel you say. Thats fine. My question is can plants grow in gravel? I want to do a low care easy starter plant set up. Can I use gravel and grow aquarium plants? I am using the Fluval 3.0 plant light so the lighting will be great. I need your input please.
I am not completely new to fish my favorite sub is river rock, but I am wanting to do something small this time around.. I swapped my bigger tank out to join the reptile world and got my first leopard gecko and I love him... And now I miss my fish So I thought I would do a planted Betta tank 5g I hate seeing them in the little vases and such.. so I have been reading and watching to try and do a natural like setup so the fish is the centerpiece
My very first tank, as a beginner, was dirted. I had no idea I was doing advanced stuff lol.
7:46 “If sand gets into the impeller of your filter it can absolutely ruin it.”
Me: *Laughs in sponge filters*
No wonder 😲
Reminds me of Finding Nemo
I don't even have sand, but somehow, my HOB filters all disappeared! Love my sponge filters
Me: laughs in intake pre filter.
Sponge Filter is good.
Kg tropical you are the best. I have learnt so much from you guys.
I have too!
me too! a lot of my spare time has been spent here lately.... equivalent to a full time job tbch xD All I do half the time is channel suf. And I believe it will pay off dividends down the road
Me too, thanks for sharing knowledge all across the world!! From Singapore here haha
My wife and I love watching you guys and we've recently discovered our 6 mos. old little girl giggles and squeals every time Lisa comes on. 💜💜💜
I totally agree with your final choice. I started my first few tanks ever with gravel and have no regrets. So easy to clean, hides detritus, lots of surface area. After a few years I’ve slowly transitioned almost everything over to either pool filter sand or play sand, and have no regrets about that either (& probably won’t go back). Transitioned to sand for my corys and my rams and they are so much happier :) My low-tech plants have done great, too. Thanks for a great video, John and Lisa!
I've seen play sand for kids can I use that into the akvarium?
@@norastorm99 Yes, there are lots of videos on it as a budget substrate. I personally really like the way it looks - very beachy and natural looking. (I mix with a little fine gravel to make it look more natural). You do have to rinse it for a very, very long time initially, which was my main drawback.
Hi guys, I kept my goldfish and bottom feeders (loaches) on gravel for yeeeeears. One day I came home from work and my "big" g/fish (approx 6inches) was swimming around with his mouth open wide. It looked like he was "gasping for air" LOL. However, he had been shuffling around the bottom and got a piece of gravel stuck in his mouth! I carefully took him out and held him in a soft cloth and had to prise the stone out with a pair of tweezers.
The long and short of this is that he was fine and seemed happy to have had the gravel stone removed....Just a little story.
I was going to get a loach and I have gravel so now I’m reconsidering
When it happened to my goldfish. I removed the gravel immediately. I kept it bare bottom and later added very large pebbles to the tank.
Same thing happened to my huge black 'goldfish',luckily it managed to spit the gravel out on its own.
We recently switched to a sand substrate in one of our tanks and I'm loving it. I find my plants don't grow as fast which means less trimming haha.
You can add root tabs into the sand to help your plants with nutrients; sand is an inert substrate and you need to give your plants a little help. I use and would recommend Thrive root tabs from NilocG. They work awesome and your plants will love them.
@@Backblast72 Where do you get it at ?
I AM buying an aquarium tomorrow!!!!! I'm so excited. I've watched a ton of your videos and I'm ready.
how big aquarium? What fish will you keep? Remember to cycle the tank for atleast 2-3 weeks! I have 5 tanks and on all of them i have Fluval 3.0 marine light. I recommend it
How is your tank doing?!
@Sbren Hartgers Oh yeah it's been a long while. I have 4 aquariums with full maintenance. Thank you for the advice. Good to talk to a fellow aquarium hobbyist.
@Mikeel Jahosafats yeap. And I have 4 now!
@@sybrenhartgers9768 great! I now have 4 and I'm currently about to pick up some shrimp tommorow!
My 2nd tank i set up was a dirted tank but i capped it with sand to contain the mess a bit. I have a plant substrate in my other tank and honestly i believe that the dirt makes for much more healthy and intricate root systems. Plants ive pulled out of my 55 gallon have had much finer and larger root systems then my 30 gallon. I believe dirt us the best and cheapest way to maintain an aquarium
I did the same thing in my 10, except I put a scattering of gravel on top of the sand, more for aesthetics than anything. I don't consider myself advanced, I just wanted a good substrate for plants, and six months later, they're thriving!
But you have to use the special aquarium soil right? Or can you use something like potting soil?
@@sonofaquack6987 make sure it's organic especially if you're going to have fish...
Have kept fish for well over 50 years and I think that this is definitely the best substrate to use, especially if you want plants.
Imma put fertilized soil under and sand on top hopefully that works
Really great guys. Fifty five years ago I had several tanks and was even breading kribensis. Now it's unbelievable all the advancements that have been made. I should have my head examined but I am thinking about getting back into it and having a large tank with plants and discus (and even CO2!). Thanks for the great tips.
My first Aquarium in the 70's.
We used to use a White Plastic Undergravel Filter with 2 Clear, Upright Plastic Tubes in the 2 Back Corners.! After putting the Gravel on top of the White Undergravel Filter, You then put 2 small Air Stones, connected to clear air tubing that was Connected to an Airpump, inside the 2 Upright Clear Plastic Tubes in the 2 Corners.! This Circulated the Water but when you took Out the Gravel, All the Sludge, over time, Collected Underneath the White Plastic Undergravel Filter.!
Does Anyone else Remember these White Undergravel Filters.? 🤔
Perfect timing! My tank was delivered today. Tomorrow I have an appointment at my lfs to get my scaping supplies.
Good luck! That's always fun :)
@Dom The Bomb and thats the addiction
The quality of the backdrop in the video, amazing. Love the style your going with
Im new in the Hobby, just started Last Dezember. But i did researches for over a year, Started with a 450 Liter Tank and Soil, gone Full Planted and since february i have Diskus in it. They do Perfect, dont have any Problems with algea or Something Else. Everything is working Fine, got a second Tank yesterday (450 Liter again) and this one will ne Sand for Sure, just to keep the second a bit simpler.
Necro Lifetalks you mean Money? The Tanks a buyed as Used ones and im Working as a Software Developer in Austria, so i have a Good income.
Me and my partner started at the high level. Aquasoil in the first tank. Dirted tank in the second.
Third... Walstead!
Great video guys. I wish I'd seen this before I started haha!
I'm surprised they didn't mention anyting about colored gravel. I would stay away from it since the coating on the gravel After Time tends to break down getting into the water column. The Coatings may be non-toxic but why chance it.
Toneloke 3000 And it just starts to look bad as the color comes off.
Sharon Nehring 👌
I hate rainbow gravel
40th like 😎
I have several aquariums loaded up with smooth, natural gravel & Aquarium CO-OP plants. Great combination. 👍😎. Thanks John & Lisa for the nice video. 📺😉
Please quit using emojis like that. Nobody thinks you’re cool pops
@@timpike1616 😂😘👍👍👍
Wow. I have been scratching my head about what substrate I want for my 150 gallon aquarium that will be shipped to me next week. This video has helped reduce my confusion. I decided after watching this video....bare bottom or gravel. Great video.🐟👍
Hey KGtropicals, I’m a big fan in fact I spent an entire day watching your videos! Love them and I always learn something new! 🐡🐠🐟
I have a planted tank and love Eco-Complete mixed with fine black sand. Its atleast 3in thick. Thanks for the video! I always learn something new when watching you guys! 🧡🐠
I use straight Eco-Complete in my 75 and have a 55 with soil under sand.
The Eco-Complete is winning hands down.
@@MichaelClark-uw7ex Yep! I've had the same Eco -Complete mixed with fine sand in my tank for almost a year now and my plants still are thriving to the point I have to trim them every week. Lol. No co2 or Fert either. Just Prime conditioner with water changes and a few different types of foods. I'm so thankful I used this stuff , aren't you? 😁
I am so glad I found this channel, I just with that other new fish keepers find this channel before they make mistakes
@KGTropicals - I've been in the hobby for about 55 years and still prefer aquarium gravel. Sand is a second runner up. Wish you touched base on the effects of substrate color has on the fish.
Just putting my first tank together following 5 years away....your information is giving me confidence in my decisions
My 65 is roughly half sand and half gravel. I like the way it looks, and it gives everybody a chance to explore the substrate they prefer.
Great information for beginners and those of us who feel ready to take the next step up from beginner😎
Thanks John and Lisa💕👍
I have a dirted tank and am crazy ... how thoughtful of you.
It was not difficult to set up, and went a year with very limited maintenance but I was looking to establish something alongside the Walsted Method, that leads to a self sustaining ecosystem... I have been running into problems recently but they have all centered around foreign elements making it into the tank.
A practical (and cost effective) application beginners might consider about gravel (and sand as well)
is that in addition to the biological aspects, gravel can also double down as mechanical filtration media.
Many of us discovered this when the undergravel ("whutever boomer!") filters came about and found
ourselves having to, at some point, vac the substrate. I eventually said to myself ... "SELF! - you've got
tanks full of perfectly effective and continuously reusable filtration media!" There followed experimentation
with gravel in different filters and combinations with floss - sponge - lava rock, and once on a seriously
sphincter tight budget (tank filter or new strings for the Les Paul) just gravel in a 16oz plastic cup with a
spare 1" lift tube driven by an old airstone for a 15g with zebra danios and a few cory's! As Eric Clapton
once said ... "It's in the way that you use it!" - Hoping this was helpful - Cheers!
Along time ago I used cheap "plain" clay cat litter not the clumping kind about 2 inches deep. I added fertilizer tabs an covered it with about an inch of gravel. My plants loved it. The water was clear and the Cory cats did great. I read about it online.
I like father fish deep substrate idea
With the use of root tabs, a good fert., and quality plants, I've always had good luck growing plants in gravel. I've never used the specialty planted tank substrate.
have a tank with a nature look, as a stream. i use grey sand and small river rocks on top. i love it and so do my fish. after a few water siphons the sand and gravel mix together and look really good!i have sharks teeth, ray teeth, fossil Ammonite and various fossil shark/whale vertibrae in it. Glad i went this route. loaded with some cory cats, angel fish, gold/bluerams, guppies and sailfin mollies. Such an amazing community tank im proud of
Man I love you guys when I clean my tanks I here the ten things song in my head lol helps me get in my zone
I went with black blasting sand. It's kinda a middle ground between true sand and gravel, it's like a very coarse sand. And it looks great. Just make sure to clean it really well. 6 months in and no major issues with it and plants seem OK.
In my 50+ years of keeping tropical fish, I've used just about every substrate imaginable and when I recently up my old 75g
I decided to try some Eco-Complete, I am amazed, that stuff is great for a planted tank, its a bit pricey $20/20lb bag but it comes with active bacteria so you have a cycled tank right out of the bag.
I also have a planted 55 for my shrimp and it is organic potting soil with a sand cap, its doing great but the Eco-Complete seems to be growing faster.
For any other tank, its hard to beat good old fashioned general purpose construction sand that has a wide variety of particle sizes.
John, Lisa, you are amazing at explaining things, and with a touch of humor. I started aquarium hobby about 8 months ago, and your videos is one of my sources to start researching.
It feels so bad having a fish die and have no idea what happened, your videos and your work helped me understand a lot, so now I feel more confident.
I started with a 10 gallon and before I knew I have 3 20 gallons and the 10 gallons is my breeder tank.
Though I made mistakes in my first months, you guys kept me fishkeeping with all your hard work, because I understand a lot thanks to you guys.
THANK YOU.
Facts
I just switched from old blue aquarium gravel to pea gravel in my 125g and I love it! It looks much more natural, it’s easy to gravel vac and I only paid $3 each for 50lb bags. I’m not a fan of sand, for all the cons mentioned.
Hey John, yeah I had to be that person 😂🤣😎 I'm crazy and have had many dirted tanks in my nano (2.5 and 5 gal) tanks. My first tanks ever was dirted, told you I was crazy. 🤪🤪
I'm not too crazy cause I an not digging it up from my yard but buying MircaleGrow Potting Soil.
Love what you and Lisa have done for the hobby and when you guys come up to visit API, stromboli and cheesesteaks on me.
I've done gravel, sand, organic potting soil, and now use coal slag blasting media. Love the blasting media!
The best substrate for a planted tank is dirt capped off with either gravel or sand. I've done both and prefer gravel as the cap. The special designed aquarium plant substrates are very expensive considering a bag of organic dirt is dirt cheap.
I've got dirt with gravel over it and my plants thrive, I love it. It's like a little jungle in there. My nano fish and shrimpies just love all the plants too.
"I love the internet" that's a big mood 😂😂😂😂
I have some jet black gravel and I really love the look. My plants are doing pretty good also. I am planning on getting a ten gallon which I want to turn into a dirted tank with a carpet eventually. I am also interested in white clouds. Thanks for the education.
I live in Florida where we haven’t sand in our yards not dirt lol. I mixed sand from my yard that I cleaned very well, with a bag of the wet substrate. Can’t remember what kind it was. I know my situation could be a little different than others but it worked great for me when starting a budget tank.
The landscaper store is perfect. I use pavers sand for all my tanks. I rinse the sand in a 30 liter bucket. Its a nice warm tan with bigger gravel in it. My shrimp have fun sifting it and my plants can easily root in it.
What do you think about glass gravel. We had this as kids in the 1970s? It was the norm. I believe it was Tumbled to smooth out sharp edges. Thoughts?
I do not like it, the smooth stone don't give anything for the roots to grab.
I used gravel, because, well, undergravel filter. I used the Top Fin "Natural Beach" gravel, which is somewhat coarse, light to medium brown. I was using a HOB filter, but I dropped that filter into the tank when breaking it down to move it (saggy bookshelf is likely a bad place...) I was lucky I had an old UG filter and air pump in a box under the bed, as this happened between paychecks and I was trying to cycle the tank. I ran the UG filter for a couple weeks with the HOB cartridge clipped to the inside of the tank in the path of the lift tube.
I love a very ruff gravel not only it provide that great bacteria too but i love it so baby guppy can hide between the grave and never get eaten by adults thanks for the video
I love my dirt tank with a sand cap. My plants grow large and the water quality has never suffered. It is a super easy project and if this novice can pull it off with their second tank ever so can you.
Cool! I love dirted tanks, and I want to try sand instead of gravel. But I am worried about corydoras disturbing the sand and getting dirt into the water column. Would corys be ok with sand and dirt?
@@butkusfan23 Just do a deep enough sand layer. About an inch and a half to two inches should be enough.
Thanks for giving info tailored for a NEW fish keeper. Very helpful! Thanks!
Not my first aquariam……but…..im old now and i want easy…..and simple…..and i love your advice…
Hi dirt tank keeper here... how dare you not talk in depth about my substrate of choice dont you know blah blah blah JUST KIDDING :P Great vid yall. Love the short and sweet right to the point style of the vid
I'm a newb fish keeper.. and your videos help me a lot. Many thanks to you guys.. all love from philippines. 🇵🇭
Yeah, I went with gravel and you really cant go wrong with gravel.. 😁
IV BEEN ON A DIRT SUBSTRATE THESE DAY PARTLY BECAUSE IM CHEAP AND PARTLY BECAUSE IT SEEMS TO KEEP A WELL BALANCED TANK
I'm confused if you don't know how to turn caps lock off and/or you don't realise many non dirtied Substrates can be free.
I've 72 aquariums including dirted. I also understand a well balanced aquarium isn't simply based on the substrate.
Please use lower caps when trying to address people.
I agree I've been keeping fish tanks for years. I just recently switched to dirted tank capped with sand and I will never go back. Plants grow like crazy and I don't have have to worry about figuring out what fertilizer to use. Deeper substrate seems to break down waste faster and I do less water changes because nitrates are lower than in my other tanks.
You must also take into account what kind of fish will be in the tank. For example corydora catfish prefer sand, while goldfish could get a piece of gravel stuck because they are grazers.
I love that white betta in the background of the glo-tank. I have one too!
You guys are the very reason why I love fish keeping
I ended up buying finely ground gravel that’s a little tiny bit larger than sand, looks great too.
Amazing video for me (an biginer)😊 the gravel i have allready bought but this video incurage me that i ve done the right decision. Thanks guys
I came to the same conclusion as I started my first 20 gallon tank, it is very nice to hear my thoughts vindicated by an expert. Subscribed. :)
I love some substrates better than others, great video
Father Fish would Disagree 🐠
😂😂
1:35 I KNEW IT!!! Gravels takes care of the Algae and im soooo sick of it, i have a small tank and a big tank, the small one has some gravels, even reaching up to 2 weeks water never becomes green, the Side of the tank will have algae tho. Easy to scrub it off
And the big tank doesnt have any gravel, water becomes green NO MATTER what i do, i feed them lesser, it didnt helped, i shut the lights for a week, it didnt change anything, i bought some plants, and of course nothing changed, having Gravels is the best, you can clean them once a month and you will see how much dirt and stuff it has collected over the weeks
This is what im looking for and im glad I finally am sure that Gravel does help
I'm glad you made this video it's really helpful although it's 2 years later for me!
I hope beginners find it helpfull
Love my black gravel. Had it for over 15 years, and all 3 of my bettas throughout their lifespan looked great in the tank with it. Never had any motivation to move from it.
Guys thanks for making your video so easy to understand in regards to gravel.
First off I would like to say "I love your videos"! As an aquarist with multiple tank syndrome & ~50 years in the hobby I advise people to build their tanks ecosystem to the fish etc, that you are going to have within. Research what the water parameters should be for the inhabitants that will live in the ecosystem. Don't fight with the hobby; if you have hard water then have hard water inhabitants, the same goes for soft water. The substrate you use should help support the water paramiters.
I recently just got back into the hobby after ~20 years. I started back up with sand. Regular gravel definitely would have been an easier substrate. Its a bit tougher to keep looking clean because of its smaller grain size and the inability to gravel-vac like you do with gravel. Overall it does look pretty cool, though.
get catfish and snails. easy solution
Thank you so much. This really helped. You two are stars.
Blasting sand is amazing!! It makes your plants pop!
My first tank was gravel, but now i use black sand with the aquarium planter boosting. Now I have a beautiful 29 gallon planted aquarium.
One of your best videos. Highly useful. Thank you!
How about I add a layer of gravel on a layer of sand or plant substrate? Would it be easier to vacuum and good for plants rooted into substrate?
Just ordered surfshark. Going to try it. I'll let you know how it works out for me. Keep up the great work!
How did you like Surfshark?
I’ve been keeping dirtied tanks since the 70s. I wouldn’t flush commercial dirt from eco complete or any other fish store dirt. Organic potting soil for $7 is all you need. Dirt is for show tanks only with expensive plants that require a lot of care. I don’t keep much more then sane in my breading tanks. But I will say dirt tanks are far easer then sand to take care of.
Just curious to know you guy's opinions on the "glass pebbles" as a substrate... They're smooth all around, but have decent surface area. Haven't seen anyone else really mention it... But I've got a 75 and a 40 that I'd like to do it for. The light reflection/scattering just adds to the beauty, in MY opinion.
I've come to greatly respect and appreciate the information and humor you guys put out... FOR FREE NONETHELESS. Ha.
Thanks!
I have a 5 gal. A newbie, I'm using glass pebbles.
TQ so much for the tips and advice.. it's very useful..and the explaination was very easy to understand..👍🤝
over the years of keeping planted tanks, one way what seems to work well for me is a layer of slightly bigger stones, topped with some clay balls, then a good layer of aquatic soil, then capped of with a good layer of natural lake gravel and use the clay balls every few months placed in to the gravel and that seems to work very well. so far the tank has been setup for 4 years now, but over the years ive added kg's of gravel to get it much deeper in places and of course the plant food and co2. after 4 years i could do with a empty and add new soil topped with gravel but so far it still seems o be doing well, just catching up on maintenance as done very little over the last year and bit and lot plants died, filters did not get changed very often, water changes monthly. mad thing is been right back at it over the last month, and still not got water clear, still full of bits, so decided the main big filter below the tank can catch the big bits, and will only then need doing every few months, and got a internal filter half the flow rate of my main one to hopefully clear the water. but plants i thought had died a few have come back after at least 6 months not seeing them so i feel im getting back on track. what helped me get away with it is i had a very heavy planted tank and gather the plants made a good difference for the water
Again, amazingly detailed
Just bought black diamond blasting sand 20/40 from Tractor Supply. Beautiful black sand, smallish. Don't get the fine. 9 bucks for 50lbs
Thanks for the information. I've had aquariums of all sizes off and on for about 40years now. I have a 55 gallon now. When I set it up I put sand in. For a year I tried hard to keep it clean, I couldn't. So now it's a bear bottom tank. Nothing wrong with sand, it's just I don't know what I was doing wrong. I'll be going back to gravel. Thank you, I've learned something
Same here. 40 plus years and I tried sand. It stays cloudy no matter what. Bought it from the pet store too. Top Fin I believe. It sucks, I love the look but not the cloudiness…..
SUPER ADVICE!THANKS SO MUCH TO MAKE RIGHT CHOISE
I like sand since my fish can dig around in it without hurting themselves and I dont have to worry about impaction. With a bit of fertilizer ive found my plants grow really well in it too
Ok I need help with2 aquariums. I have regular black gravel in them. I just got pygmy cory catfish in 1 and Jillii catfish in the other. Is the gravel going to hurt them? Should I put some black sand in them so they have softer places to land on? I do have alot of plants but I want them all to be happy. Thankx love your ch. You have helped me alot with all 7 of my tanks.
I use black limpopo sand. Looks great and Cory's love it.
Thank you !! I am keeping fishes from 2012 but it was like my fishes were hardy enough to survive 5 years without using science on them . But now watching your videos are like god we didn't care about this that time and it is so important. Thank you once again to both of you for such a valuable info u provide.
I am not even thinking about about buying an aquarium and fish, but this videos are actually kinda entertaining
I have two dirted tanks and I'm not crazy... I think. I use ocean forest and have eco complete over the dirt in one and flourite in my other one. Been doing great.
Awesome video guys!!! I used tons of substrates from ADA, Eco-complete, Fluval Stratum, and regulator sand. Planted tank for beginners, I recommend Eco-complete, It's easy. My personal favorite is ADA for advanced users.
Great video guys!! Thank you for all the information you share!! 👍🙏🌿🌱🐟♥️
dirted tanks with sand over the top as a cap is by far the best and cheapest planted tank setup possible.. and if you select the dirt properly the nutrients will sustain plants for a couple of years minimum..
@KGTropicals, you're the best, guys!!!
Greetings from Bolivia and take care of covid19!
I just bought nutrient rich plant substrate and ill cover it with a light layer of gravel so then i can plant AND its easy.....although that sounds too good to be true.
Great video love how you give options and give people ideas for the future. Your videos are really helpful for beginners and experienced keepers.
great timing. i am in the midst of cleaning my tank and changing my substrate. I think i wanna go for a dirted tank
Thankyou, for explaining the subject of substrate....
As a beginner, it can be daunting. But, glad you made my decision much easier.....
Gravel, it is ❤️🐠🦐🌿🌱🍃🍀
Hi there, getting back into it and I just got a 55g. Setting it up and will prob will go with black gravel… looking for a good name brand if you can suggest a couple that would be great.
Also, I absolutely love the two tanks you have in this video. What are you using to black out the one on the left and what’s the blue background on the right??? Where can I purchase these?
Thanks great video!
I’ve been using plant and shrimp substrate made from clay because I love the look of the round balls very modern look…. I’m put together a new betta tank … any thoughts on using this type of substrate
I agree with Lanken H you guys are the best your fish are so pretty 😍
Should do one on the overuse of aquarium treatments and cures.
Just to the point information ... choose whats easy to maintain as a beginer ... thanks buddies ❤️
I work at Orleys spas and stoves where I live and we carry top quality parts and units, (were a bit pricey, but were unmatched in the pacific northwest region) and our sand for filtration goes for $5.00 a bag, or a pallet for $200. And quite a few customers use the sand in their aquariums. I go bare glass or gravel (rarely), but that's just me.