Pebble substrate with plants

[Tiffers27]

My 55g tank is what I’m assuming would be considered moderately planted. My substrate is just pebble substrate. Is that okay? Most of these plants have been growing well for 2-3 months at this point so I would think if something was wrong I would know by now? Some are heavy root feeders but those get root tabs frequently and I also use liquid fertilizer as needed but they all seem to be doing mostly well. I have considered switching substrate or making sections of different substrate but I think that would do more harm than good at this point. Opinions?

(All live plants except for the large one to the far left of the picture.)

[Beau Burkhalter]

Keep doing root tabs and liquid ferts and it should be good forever

[lefty o]

gravel substrate and plants are just fine.  

[PineSong]

Your tank looks great--what a nice blend of textures in your plants! I also have plants in plain gravel, though my gravel is a bit smaller in size,.

As fish mulm accumulates and the clay from the root tabs builds up over time (assuming you are using root tabs like the Co-op's that have clay in them) you will have more 'soil' in the substrate than you started with.