How does my substrate idea sound?
 

Hi all,
I'm new to the planted aquarium world (have not been successful with
plants in the past). I have "invested" quite a bit of money lately on
tools and equipment to get my new planted tank started. I bought
myself the Hagen CO2 Natural Plant System, some nice river sand, API's
First Layer Laterite (which I plan to mix with my brown quartz
gravel). I also got one of those gravel tidies made by underworld. I
also have some Bioplast "MonoPur" filter peat. I'm scared, I'm not
sure I'm doing this right but here is my idea: I will first put a thin
layer of the filter peat, then approximately 3 inches of the
laterite/gravel mix, then put the gravel tidy over this, then place 2
inches of the river sand. Does this sound okay? Has anyone done this
before? I would really appreciate your help!

My tank details:
14 Gallons/50 litres (15H x 18W x 10D)
1.6 Watts of light/Gallon
PH: 7.8
GH: 15 dH

Plant list:
Cryptocoryne Wendtii "Brown"
Anubias Barteri "Coffeefolia"
Echinodorus Osiris (Rubra)
Lysimachia Nummularia 'Aurea'
Ludwigia Glandulosa "Perennis"
Limnophila Heterophylla
Hemygraphis Colorata
Echinodorus Parviflorus 'Tropica'

How does my substrate idea sound?
 

The main problem I see is that your sand will sink to the bottom and leave only
gravel exposed. when you are using sand and gravel it should be known that
small particasl will always fall to the bottom in a mix with larger particals.

Moon
remove nospam from e-mail to send to me, I grow trees in aquariums like bonsai.
I breed dwarf crayfish, great for planted community tanks. If you can get me a
shovelnose sturgeon fingerling (Scaphirhynchus platorynchus) no wild caught
please, contact me

How does my substrate idea sound?
 

In article ,
(Michelle) writes:

I will first put a thin
layer of the filter peat, then approximately 3 inches of the
laterite/gravel mix, then put the gravel tidy over this, then place 2
inches of the river sand. Does this sound okay? Has anyone done this
before? I would really appreciate your help!

I've never used a gravel tidy, but I suspect that plants would have trouble
growing roots through it, and if they do you'll have a hard time moving them
later. I think people usually use them with undergravel filters so that they
can use finer substrates.
Without the gravel tidy, as Moon suggested, the sand will eventually fall
through the gravel to the bottom leaving laterite filled gravel which will
severely cloud the water.
It's best to put the laterite under 2inches of plain gravel or sand. Some
plants won't grow roots more than 2inches and won't find the laterite if it's
buried deeper than that, others have large root systems and will do better with
3-4 inches - which is a good reason to slope the substrate up toward the back.
Cris