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I'm looking to set up a new aquarium in the next year or so and I would like to choose a substrate that would be good for live plants. I have been reading in books and on the Internet about different substrates but this is just confusing me more. Some people say to you should use sand, gravel, eco-complete, clay etc. I am looking to set up my new aquarium with sort of an Amazon theme. A tank that is heavily planted and lots of schooling fish if this helps. Can someone help me out or tell me where to go to find out about using the best substrate?

Welcome

Im still relativly new but ive picked up some things to begin.

First, sand can be problematic because you can get dead patches in it, because sand can get so compact that no circulation occurs.

I have flourite in my tank (this is clay). I like the look but it is extreemly messy. It took me mabey 10hours to deal with all the silt and stuff from 1 bag of the stuff. It can be done more easily if you rinse before putting it in the tank.

There are some other discussions on substrate that go more into the eco complete / flourite comparison. THese are good things to look at for plants in general.

Chaos

__________________________________
- - - Humorous Bit of Wisdom - - -

Hi,
Here is a reply I made to a similiar question in the
Planted Aquaria forum:

Hi,
There are several sites on Substrates. I'll give you a few
at the end of this posting.
One of the primary purposes of substrate is to provide
a medium that plants can grow roots into and
anchor themselves.
To that end, to accomdate the variety of plants that "we"
put in our tanks, the substrate should be between three and
four inches deep. Some plants such as Swords have elaborate
root systems and need every bit that we can give them.
Others, such as the "carpet plants" (very short plants for
the foreground of tanks) generally have shallow root
systems and can get by with an inch to an inch and a half
in depth.

You can use nearly anything for a substrate as long as the
grain size is around 2-3mm.
You can use sand, potting soil, clay, peat, even unscented
kitty litter. There are specialized substrates such as
crushed coral, crushed limestone, crushed dolomite, and
crushed oyster shells as well.

The ones we use most often for plants are sand, and
aquarium gravel. This substrate is a form of silica and
its formula is SiO2. It is inert and offers nothing to
the plants except a place to anchor, and a breeding place
for the bacteria that changes ammonia to nitrite and
nitrite to nitrate. This bacteria is what the plants must
rely on to create the nutrients that they need to grow.
If you plan on a heavily planted tank and use only sand
or regular aquarium gravel at some point you will have to
provide the nutrients that plants need in various forms
of fertilizers.

To encourage plant growth several "speciality" forms of
substrates are used such as Onyx, "plant grow soil",
flourite and laterite. Some of these are clays that are
saturated with nutrients and are designed to leech the
nutrients into the tank in a slow release method.
Others, such as Laterite and Flourite, are actually
ancient clays (millions and millions of years old) that
are rich in iron and will leech iron (Fe) into the tank
slowly, over the life of the tank.

Laterite actually comes as a clay, and like any clay, when
wet, will turn the tank into really, really, muddy water.
To use laterite, you put a layer (1 - 1.5 inches thick)
down on the very bottom of the tank, and then "cap" it with
a layer of regular aquarium gravel. When cleaning you
use care to not disturb the clay layer or you will need a
filter such as a diatom filter to clean the water.
Flourite will cloud the water but it is clay that has been
fractionated (baked at very high temps) and then ground
into aquarium gravel size pieces. Again, a diatom filter
will clear the water of most tanks (depends upon size)
within an hour.
Both laterite and flourite are expensive. To get around the
expense, and eliminate the clouding Onyx was created.
However, its nearly as expensive as Flourite, and does not
last as long as flourite.
Another way to get around the expense of laterite and
Flourite, is to use a layer of UNSCENTED kitty litter.
It too is a clay, and has iron in it, not as concentrated,
but does have iron in it. Like laterite, it will turn the
tank into a disaster if you use only it, and so like
laterite, you put a layer down (1 - 1.5 inch thick) and
cap it with gravel or sand.

Here are a few sites for more reading:

http://home.infinet.net/teban/substrat.htm#peat

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/plant_substrates.php

And to determine how much substrate to purchase
here is a Substrate Calculator:

http://www.plantedtank.net/substratecalculator.html
Simply plug in the tank dimensions, and desired depth and
it will tell you how many pounds to purchase.

Hope this helps...
Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Well enough said, lol good response very informative.