Substrate Recommendation for 60 gallon

[Jack CO]

I just picked up a 60 gallon aquarium (48.5x18.5x16in) today that I’m planning on planting, just not super heavily planted. My budget isn’t super high but I want to get a substrate that can grow plants well. My current thought is that I could put aquasoil in areas I want to plant and use sand for the rest. I’m just wondering what other people have done while still being able to grow plants well. 

[anewbie]

I'm not a fan of stuff like aquasoil long term; eventually it will be exhausted and you will have to do what you need to do in the first place; and fertilize the plants. For substrate - there are three i like - pool filter on the cheap end; jungle river (caribsea) and estes stoney river (black marine substrate). It is inert so fine for freshwater. There are more scientific study on substrate and some are suppose to have a lot more crc (ion exchange) that will help with plants but for the stuff I grow i find it doesn't make a lot of difference - you can get an aquarium like this with pretty much any substrate:

[Lennie]

On 6/10/2023 at 10:29 PM, anewbie said:

I'm not a fan of stuff like aquasoil long term; eventually it will be exhausted and you will have to do what you need to do in the first place; and fertilize the plants.

I had a chance to try basically most combinations, gravel, sand, lavarock, aquasoil ,dirted bottom, roottabs, clay based substrates like JBL Manado... and tbh, no other combinations were close to aquasoils when it comes to plant growth and colors. Maybe dirted bottoms, but it is hard to balance it right a bit.

Plant quality in my 3 aquasoil tanks vs other 9 tanks is observable even without co2

 

On 6/10/2023 at 10:21 PM, Jack CO said:

My current thought is that I could put aquasoil in areas I want to plant and use sand for the rest. I’m just wondering what other people have done while still being able to grow plants well. 

You can use aquasoil as a bottom layer maybe in filter bags like MD Fish tank does. You may find plenty of his videos scaping like that. If you can't, hit me up. I will find some for you

 

That being said, although I personally think aquasoil is the best (I use Tropica, dunno about others), it is more costy. You can still have an okay growth with other combinations. In my tanks where I wanna keep it cheaper, I use lavarocks, roottabs and a lil bit of dirt on the bottom and top it off with sand

 

Edited June 10, 2023 by Lennie

[Jack CO]

On 6/10/2023 at 1:39 PM, Lennie said:

I had a chance to try basically most combinations, gravel, sand, lavarock, aquasoil ,dirted bottom, roottabs, clay based substrates like JBL Manado... and tbh, no other combinations were close to aquasoils when it comes to plant growth and colors. Maybe dirted bottoms, but it is hard to balance it right a bit.

Plant quality in my 3 aquasoil tanks vs other 9 tanks is observable even without co2

 

You can use aquasoil as a bottom layer maybe in filter bags like MD Fish tank does. You may find plenty of his videos scaping like that. If you can't, hit me up. I will find some for you

 

That being said, although I personally think aquasoil is the best (I use Tropica, dunno about others), it is more costy. You can still have an okay growth with other combinations. In my tanks where I wanna keep it cheaper, I use lavarocks, roottabs and a lil bit of dirt on the bottom and top it off with sand

 

I’ve watched most of his videos, and I was thinking about doing something similar to him. I have considered doing the pond compost method he does but I can’t find a brand for that in the US. I should also say that my current stocking plans are some African butterfly fish, petricola catfish, and a ropefish. The plants I currently think I want are Brazilian penny wort, some crypts, floating plants(I grow these fine), probably some val, and then other easy to grow plants. I’d appreciate any plant recommendations for ones that are easy to grow without co2 and limited fertilizer. 

[Lennie]

On 6/10/2023 at 10:49 PM, Jack CO said:

I want are Brazilian penny wort, some crypts, floating plants(I grow these fine), probably some val, and then other easy to grow plants.

I have them all. They are all considerably easy plants. You don't need anything extreme or something to force your budget for these plants really. That being said, plants are weird, there have been times I've witnessed a plant grows insane in one of my tanks and dies on another. Plants are usually about trial and error no matter how easy they are I think.

 

I've never tried pond compost, but as a base layer I've used JBL Aquabasis plus a couple times. Still supported my hungry root feeders like swords with roottabs.

 

I'm not from US so no clue what's available there. Maybe someone can help with that one.

 

As you've mentioned you have watched MD's videos, you have probably already noticed that he usually fills the bottom layer either with something bigger size grains, leftover aquasoil-gravel-sand mixture, or anything that would let plant roots to grow a bit better. Then he covers it all with the sand he likes. That is actually the ideal way of growing plants in my personal opinion. If I wanna use sand, I also create a good layer on bottom for roots to grow freely.

 

[Jack CO]

On 6/10/2023 at 2:08 PM, Lennie said:

I have them all. They are all considerably easy plants. You don't need anything extreme or something to force your budget for these plants really. That being said, plants are weird, there have been times I've witnessed a plant grows insane in one of my tanks and dies on another. Plants are usually about trial and error no matter how easy they are I think.

 

I've never tried pond compost, but as a base layer I've used JBL Aquabasis plus a couple times. Still supported my hungry root feeders like swords with roottabs.

 

I'm not from US so no clue what's available there. Maybe someone can help with that one.

 

As you've mentioned you have watched MD's videos, you have probably already noticed that he usually fills the bottom layer either with something bigger size grains, leftover aquasoil-gravel-sand mixture, or anything that would let plant roots to grow a bit better. Then he covers it all with the sand he likes. That is actually the ideal way of growing plants in my personal opinion. If I wanna use sand, I also create a good layer on bottom for roots to grow freely.

 

Sounds good. I have some spare pea gravel I could put at the bottom before adding the sand. I’m going to go for a rocky look with my main plants being for the butterfly fish, so mostly focused at the surface. I’ll probably go with that and root tabs. I’ve been talking with one of my buddies who has planted tanks and they have mostly recommended easy green, so I’ll probably do that. Thanks for the help