Hi all! I have been doing lots of research on aquatic plants... bought a couple of books and went through all plant articles in aquabotanic and the krib. Turns out that it is very important to have a substrate that retains nutrients and normal gravel just does not do that. An article in the krib recommended fluorite gravel. I bought a large bag of it today and besides retaining nutrients it looks great! Will post in a few months to let you know if there is a difference in my plants.

Some plants like the Amazon sward dont need it to much. Others that rely on the roots solely will need it. I have it in my big tank and the plants love it but in the other tank that is my planted tank there just a combo if Sand and small gravel for the substate. I also use Flourish Excel for the food for the plants. My swards in that tank are just going crazy

How many watts per gallon do you have in that tank Koko?

On my planted tank there is a 130 watt light system. So that makes it about 3.6 watts per gal. Its the 36 gal tank.

Kingyo where did you find a large bag of it? All Ive seen are small, expensive bags at our store and Petsmart. I have just regular pea gravel in my 30 gallon, 2 watts per gallon, and my plants are actually doing really well. Im trying to decide if I should use it or not.

I've never seen it over here... I'll have to hunt around and see if I can get some. Thanks for the tip!

I found a couple of bags at Sailfin Petshop in Illinois. It was about twice the price of regular gravel.

bah i have 1 watt per gallon !!!, was the most powerfull light unit they had though.... im guessing dual tubes and starter units ?

Kev

This is what I use:)

http://shop.store.yahoo.com/lamps-now/362x...2xcoraqpch.html

what is flourite gravel

Wow Koko! You got the power of the sun in that strip light

Moongoldy, that gravel is made from fractured clay that has very good adsorbing properties. It will adsorb nutrients that would otherwise be carried away by the water. This makes the nutrients available for plants with roots

koko i would need 3 exatra tubes and starter units to match that..... would mean 4 tubes in my tank ive got no chance... i might see about putting one more in there though..... my plants might have a chance then