I am planning to try to move into the planted aquarium world. (slowly). I
have a couple beginning questions. I have a nice thick layer of fine
gravel, so I don't want to dig it out and throw it away and replace with
flourite, which might be ideal. Is realistically possible to add laterite
to my gravel? I know it is suppose to be on the bottom layer. Can I do
that without emptying my entire tank?

My other question is can you have a planted tank with a large (not giant)
common pleco? They tend to plow things over. It is a 55 gallon tank.

Thanks for you experiences.
Rob