Planted 40 Gallon Breeder Substrate Question

[Jurrian Hering]

Hi all!

I am starting to get together supplies for a new 40-gallon breeder tank. The goal is for it to be densely planted and medium-high light, but no CO2. I want to have a big school of Corydoras (not sure which species yet) and several pairs of Bolivian Rams. (Any suggestions on other fish to add would be great!)

My question is about substrate and what would be best for this. In a tank I currently have set up I used Eco Complete and unfortunately noticed that most of my corys barbles have been rubbed off. What in your experience is the best planted substrate for Corydoras? Thinking I may have to use basic gravel and plenty of root tabs. 

I am still pretty new to the hobby so would love any advice possible! Thanks!

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 11/10/2022 at 3:24 AM, Jurrian Hering said:

Hi all!

I am starting to get together supplies for a new 40-gallon breeder tank. The goal is for it to be densely planted and medium-high light, but no CO2. I want to have a big school of Corydoras (not sure which species yet) and several pairs of Bolivian Rams. (Any suggestions on other fish to add would be great!)

My question is about substrate and what would be best for this. In a tank I currently have set up I used Eco Complete and unfortunately noticed that most of my corys barbles have been rubbed off. What in your experience is the best planted substrate for Corydoras? Thinking I may have to use basic gravel and plenty of root tabs. 

I am still pretty new to the hobby so would love any advice possible! Thanks!

I've used fine grained sand on top of a layer of gravel, which softens the blow to the corys barbles and gives the plants something decent to root in.

[Andy's Fish Den]

If you are going planted tank, I will suggest a layer of a planted substrate such as Fluval stratum topped with some pool filter sand. What I have started doing is putting the stratum or whatever plant substrate that you want to use in mesh bags, learned this trick from MD fish tanks, and placing them wherever you plan to have plants and then covering with sand. the plant roots can still get into the mesh bag to reach the nutrients, but you wont have the two substrates mixing, and if you ever decide to change things up, you can just pull the mesh bags out. 

[Schuyler]

On 11/9/2022 at 6:24 PM, Jurrian Hering said:

Hi all!

I am starting to get together supplies for a new 40-gallon breeder tank. The goal is for it to be densely planted and medium-high light, but no CO2. I want to have a big school of Corydoras (not sure which species yet) and several pairs of Bolivian Rams. (Any suggestions on other fish to add would be great!)

My question is about substrate and what would be best for this. In a tank I currently have set up I used Eco Complete and unfortunately noticed that most of my corys barbles have been rubbed off. What in your experience is the best planted substrate for Corydoras? Thinking I may have to use basic gravel and plenty of root tabs. 

I am still pretty new to the hobby so would love any advice possible! Thanks!

Are you planning on doing all one substrate type? Have you considered having an area with sand and another with gravel/aquasoil/etc?

If you end up going with a planted substrate I would recommend capping it with something else. Most of them are pretty lightweight (at least from what I've seen) so the grains will easily be kicked up by corys and they could uproot newly planted stems or just make a mess of any carpeting plants or sandy areas. Even my tiny guppies managed to kick it up and move it around.

If you do decide to mix a planted substrate with sand I would not recommend skipping the bag trick @Andy's Fish Den recommended it your corys may turn your move sandy look into more of a cookies and cream look.

I'm pretty new to the hobby too but my setup sounds pretty similar what you're going for (no CO2, moderately planned, 40 breeder). If you want to check it out, there is a link to it in my signature.

Good luck! Hope you share what you end up doing!

[mynameisnobody]

Personally, I’ve always preferred ecocomplete simply because I’m lazy and I dig the look. I have a dozen or so panda Cory’s and they seem happy and healthy. However, I’ve always wanted an alternative that wasn’t sand, but was just as comfy for any bottom dwellers. I came across a bag of Activ-Flora and it caught my eye. I decided to use 4 bags of it for a 40 breeder I just obtained. After a week, this has been my experience. 

Pro’s:
-It comes in a variety of colors and they all look supremely natural and aesthetically soothing. 

-It comes in black.

-I purchased the Lake Gems variety and I love it.

-It’s newly planted so I don’t how well it will facilitate growth. It is an array of sizes, my assumption is that it will be just fine. Some easy green and root tabs and it’ll be full in no time. 
 

Cons:

- It will cloud your water. My water has been cloudy since set up. I may throw some filter floss around a sponge, but since there are no inhabitants, I don’t mind very much. 
 

I highly recommend it and from a past live stream, @Cory mentioned that it’s what the staff at the store recommends to people. Hope this helps. 

Edited November 10, 2022 by Jazz Pizza

[Jurrian Hering]

On 11/10/2022 at 7:56 AM, Jazz Pizza said:

Personally, I’ve always preferred ecocomplete simply because I’m lazy and I dig the look. I have a dozen or so panda Cory’s and they seem happy and healthy. However, I’ve always wanted an alternative that wasn’t sand, but was just as comfy for any bottom dwellers. I came across a bag of Activ-Flora and it caught my eye. I decided to use 4 bags of it for a 40 breeder I just obtained. After a week, this has been my experience. 

Pro’s:
-It comes in a variety of colors and they all look supremely natural and aesthetically soothing. 

-It comes in black.

-I purchased the Lake Gems variety and I love it.

-It’s newly planted so I don’t how well it will facilitate growth. It is an array of sizes, my assumption is that it will be just fine. Some easy green and root tabs and it’ll be full in no time. 
 

Cons:

- It will cloud your water. My water has been cloudy since set up. I may throw some filter floss around a sponge, but since there are no inhabitants, I don’t mind very much. 
 

I highly recommend it and from a past live stream, @Cory mentioned that it’s what the staff at the store recommends to people. Hope this helps. 

That may be a winner i love the look of that variety! Thanks!

On 11/10/2022 at 3:29 AM, Andy's Fish Den said:

If you are going planted tank, I will suggest a layer of a planted substrate such as Fluval stratum topped with some pool filter sand. What I have started doing is putting the stratum or whatever plant substrate that you want to use in mesh bags, learned this trick from MD fish tanks, and placing them wherever you plan to have plants and then covering with sand. the plant roots can still get into the mesh bag to reach the nutrients, but you wont have the two substrates mixing, and if you ever decide to change things up, you can just pull the mesh bags out. 

I hadn't thought of doing it that way. That could be interesting to try it for sure! thank you!

On 11/10/2022 at 7:05 AM, Schuyler said:

Are you planning on doing all one substrate type? Have you considered having an area with sand and another with gravel/aquasoil/etc?

If you end up going with a planted substrate I would recommend capping it with something else. Most of them are pretty lightweight (at least from what I've seen) so the grains will easily be kicked up by corys and they could uproot newly planted stems or just make a mess of any carpeting plants or sandy areas. Even my tiny guppies managed to kick it up and move it around.

If you do decide to mix a planted substrate with sand I would not recommend skipping the bag trick @Andy's Fish Den recommended it your corys may turn your move sandy look into more of a cookies and cream look.

I'm pretty new to the hobby too but my setup sounds pretty similar what you're going for (no CO2, moderately planned, 40 breeder). If you want to check it out, there is a link to it in my signature.

Good luck! Hope you share what you end up doing!

Hmm that's a good point Aswell. Definitely could make a cool aquascape with two different substrates. Thank you for the input and I will definitely be sharing updates as the tank build comes together!