PLANTED TANK SUBSTRATE AND SOIL GUIDE - BASE LAYER FERTILIZING VS. SAND, GRAVEL

Why would you need an active soil for your planted tank - a so-called clay-based soil? Do you need the base layer substrate beneath? This tutorial will teach you most of what you need to know about the stuff we all put at the bottom of our tanks: the fertilizing substrate, the general plant soils, as well as the inert elements: sand and gravel.

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SUBSTRATES

OUR FAVORITES

ADA Power Sand Advance M (6 liters)

ADA Aqua Soil Amazonia

GROUP LINKS TO OUR SUBSTRATES

General Plant Substrate:

Base Layer Fertilizing Substrate:

Decorative Sand:

Gravels:

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CREW
Camera Operators: Csaba Viczián, Sebastian Dudok
Post-Production by Peter Hajdu, Sebastian Dudok, Balazs Farkas
Social media: Viktor Lantos
Subtitles: Tamás Demeter
Graphics, editing and color grading made in DaVinci Resolve Studio 16

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#greenaqua #plantedtank #substrate #tutorial #soil #sand #gravel #aquascaping

[AntsCanada]

Awesome video! My current aquascape is missing the cosmetic sand and pebbles. I was waiting for this episode to upload. Now I know what I need. Thank you!

[danielkopejtko]

I like your style. You give everything very clearly, for everyone ...

[tigersunruss]

I don't think I've ever seen any of the pro people you bring in the shop to do aquascaping use three different layers how ever this makes way more sense. This is 100% a great video. This will make my 75 gal way more successful once I get it all set up. Thanks mate!

[minami]

This is my favorite channel about aquascaping ♥️

[alexcp]

@3:40 I believe you are mistaken, anaerobic bacteria do not convert nitrate into ammonia, they turn nitrate into atmospheric nitrogen. That's why sand tanks work just fine. However sand only tanks don't provide nutrients, which is I think the main difference

[izzyse]

Literally my favorite YouTube channel, Perfect channel on YouTube that shows you perfect ways to make beautiful nature in your home. I’m so surprised this channel isn’t passed the 1million subscribers mark, you guys deserve it

[towguy]

It took me well over an hr to watch this video. Very oriented and knowledgeable. Took 3 pages worth of notes 😅.

[tsubasawolfy]

It would be very nice if this video shows up 3 years ago, haha.
My first planted tank used the ADA Amazonia Light without fertilized substrate. The tank worked very well in the first three months(with pressurized CO2 system of course). Then, the plant stopped growing even with the liquid fertilizer (all in one fret). At that newbie time, I thought the Amazonia Light should contain lots of nutrients that supported plant growth at least for one year. After some searching, I realized the Amazonia Light may loss its nutrients, so I inserted some root tab near plants. Then, the plants started thriving vigorously for one year.
With this lesson, I rebuilt the tank with Tropica growth substrate at the bottom, and covered with clay base soil which has CEC( Cation Exchange Capacity) about 50 meq/100g. Now the tank has lasted for a year with good root development.
The soil and substrate DO play important roles on planted tank, and this video provides good suggestions for beginner to build the tank.

[martinmikota]

"I have seen ppl taking dirt from outside and putting it in oven..."

I was like "Oh hello MD fishtanks xDD"

[stephaniebloodworth]

Such a beautifully designed and photographed video! One suggestion would be to have the names of the items printed on the screen. At times showing the fish and tanks was lovely!

[jimmcintosh]

I have been away from the hobby for years. Back in and loving it, and Im very impressed at the attention to the science of it all. Bravo

[adgrimes]

I'm in the process of putting together a tank for my kids. I'm not really a hobbyist, very new to aquariums in general, but I do do my research to understand before diving in... The one thing thats been holding me up is the substrate layer(s) along with the plants to use, and I stumbled across this video this morning... What a gold mine of information! I now know what I need to be ordering for the final few bits before I can start actually setting this up! Thanks!! #excited

[hobbyscape]

Awesome tutorial on soils and substrate. It’s what I exactly need at the moment. Thanks for sharing.

[BodgieFromStraya]

FIRST - i love how all of your recent videos are literally perfect for me at this exact moment as i am planning and prepping a tank to enter the IALPC either next year or 2022

[pieekassim]

Well explained. And yes, I don’t like to use very fine and too bright sand. It looks bad when all fish poop visible. Thanks for another great content guys! Loved it. 💚

[jamesjolley]

First time back to tanks in a long time. This was really informative

[paragbrahme]

Awesome information to novice people like us. Can you do one tutorial on refreshing soil which is more than say year or so.
You guys are doing wonderful job.

Keep scaping keep educating us

Cheers

[Natquascape]

Once again my friend, you have given us a wealth of knowledge and entertainment. Love the video, thanks again

[Flyingdutchy]

Regular garden (organic) soil is perfectly usable. In fact, before Amano came to the scene, _ALL_ planted tanks had a soil layer with a sand capping layer.

We rescaped the university tank using the soil from the greenhouse (agricultural education so... :)) It's a 2 meter long tank and we raised it by about 30 cms in certain places, maybe more, using just the potting soil with a thin capping layer of sand.

Ofcourse now we can't go to the university to take care of it because circumstances, but it's still doing fine without 3 months of maintenance. The Monte Carlo has carpeted the entire thing.

That said, I use amano soil in my personal tanks. But whenever somebody says garden soil isn't advisable I can't help but roll my eyes. Again: This is how Dutch scapes were built for decades.

[jayant]

I love your channel because you give only genuine and very practical advice which all level of auqascapers can follow.