What's THE BEST Aquarium Substrate? Substrate Basics (KFKFK)
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Hi KG Tropicals i was curious 🤔 can i put a Betta in a 10gal tank with some guppies please help.
@@tbonesfishies1797 in America you can do whatever you want just saying
Ok....gravel you say. Thats fine. My question is can plants grow in gravel? I want to do a low care easy starter plant set up. Can I use gravel and grow aquarium plants? I am using the Fluval 3.0 plant light so the lighting will be great. I need your input please.
I am not completely new to fish my favorite sub is river rock, but I am wanting to do something small this time around.. I swapped my bigger tank out to join the reptile world and got my first leopard gecko and I love him... And now I miss my fish So I thought I would do a planted Betta tank 5g I hate seeing them in the little vases and such.. so I have been reading and watching to try and do a natural like setup so the fish is the centerpiece
My very first tank, as a beginner, was dirted. I had no idea I was doing advanced stuff lol.
7:46 “If sand gets into the impeller of your filter it can absolutely ruin it.”
Me: *Laughs in sponge filters*
No wonder 😲
Reminds me of Finding Nemo
I don't even have sand, but somehow, my HOB filters all disappeared! Love my sponge filters
Me: laughs in intake pre filter.
Sponge Filter is good.
Kg tropical you are the best. I have learnt so much from you guys.
I have too!
me too! a lot of my spare time has been spent here lately.... equivalent to a full time job tbch xD All I do half the time is channel suf. And I believe it will pay off dividends down the road
Me too, thanks for sharing knowledge all across the world!! From Singapore here haha
We recently switched to a sand substrate in one of our tanks and I'm loving it. I find my plants don't grow as fast which means less trimming haha.
You can add root tabs into the sand to help your plants with nutrients; sand is an inert substrate and you need to give your plants a little help. I use and would recommend Thrive root tabs from NilocG. They work awesome and your plants will love them.
@@Backblast72 Where do you get it at ?
The quality of the backdrop in the video, amazing. Love the style your going with
Really great guys. Fifty five years ago I had several tanks and was even breading kribensis. Now it's unbelievable all the advancements that have been made. I should have my head examined but I am thinking about getting back into it and having a large tank with plants and discus (and even CO2!). Thanks for the great tips.
"I love the internet" that's a big mood 😂😂😂😂
Great information for beginners and those of us who feel ready to take the next step up from beginner😎
Thanks John and Lisa💕👍
Hey KGtropicals, I’m a big fan in fact I spent an entire day watching your videos! Love them and I always learn something new! 🐡🐠🐟
Man I love you guys when I clean my tanks I here the ten things song in my head lol helps me get in my zone
I AM buying an aquarium tomorrow!!!!! I'm so excited. I've watched a ton of your videos and I'm ready.
how big aquarium? What fish will you keep? Remember to cycle the tank for atleast 2-3 weeks! I have 5 tanks and on all of them i have Fluval 3.0 marine light. I recommend it
How is your tank doing?!
@Sbren Hartgers Oh yeah it's been a long while. I have 4 aquariums with full maintenance. Thank you for the advice. Good to talk to a fellow aquarium hobbyist.
@Mikeel Jahosafats yeap. And I have 4 now!
@@sybrenhartgers9768 great! I now have 4 and I'm currently about to pick up some shrimp tommorow!
I have several aquariums loaded up with smooth, natural gravel & Aquarium CO-OP plants. Great combination. 👍😎. Thanks John & Lisa for the nice video. 📺😉
Please quit using emojis like that. Nobody thinks you’re cool pops
@@timpike1616 😂😘👍👍👍
Hi guys, I kept my goldfish and bottom feeders (loaches) on gravel for yeeeeears. One day I came home from work and my "big" g/fish (approx 6inches) was swimming around with his mouth open wide. It looked like he was "gasping for air" LOL. However, he had been shuffling around the bottom and got a piece of gravel stuck in his mouth! I carefully took him out and held him in a soft cloth and had to prise the stone out with a pair of tweezers.
The long and short of this is that he was fine and seemed happy to have had the gravel stone removed....Just a little story.
I was going to get a loach and I have gravel so now I’m reconsidering
When it happened to my goldfish. I removed the gravel immediately. I kept it bare bottom and later added very large pebbles to the tank.
Same thing happened to my huge black 'goldfish',luckily it managed to spit the gravel out on its own.
Perfect timing! My tank was delivered today. Tomorrow I have an appointment at my lfs to get my scaping supplies.
Good luck! That's always fun :)
@Dom The Bomb and thats the addiction
My 2nd tank i set up was a dirted tank but i capped it with sand to contain the mess a bit. I have a plant substrate in my other tank and honestly i believe that the dirt makes for much more healthy and intricate root systems. Plants ive pulled out of my 55 gallon have had much finer and larger root systems then my 30 gallon. I believe dirt us the best and cheapest way to maintain an aquarium
I did the same thing in my 10, except I put a scattering of gravel on top of the sand, more for aesthetics than anything. I don't consider myself advanced, I just wanted a good substrate for plants, and six months later, they're thriving!
But you have to use the special aquarium soil right? Or can you use something like potting soil?
@@sonofaquack6987 make sure it's organic especially if you're going to have fish...
Have kept fish for well over 50 years and I think that this is definitely the best substrate to use, especially if you want plants.
Imma put fertilized soil under and sand on top hopefully that works
Great video love how you give options and give people ideas for the future. Your videos are really helpful for beginners and experienced keepers.
I came to the same conclusion as I started my first 20 gallon tank, it is very nice to hear my thoughts vindicated by an expert. Subscribed. :)
Thanks once again you guys!!! I needed to learn about this!
Just putting my first tank together following 5 years away....your information is giving me confidence in my decisions
I totally agree with your final choice. I started my first few tanks ever with gravel and have no regrets. So easy to clean, hides detritus, lots of surface area. After a few years I’ve slowly transitioned almost everything over to either pool filter sand or play sand, and have no regrets about that either (& probably won’t go back). Transitioned to sand for my corys and my rams and they are so much happier :) My low-tech plants have done great, too. Thanks for a great video, John and Lisa!
I've seen play sand for kids can I use that into the akvarium?
@@norastorm99 Yes, there are lots of videos on it as a budget substrate. I personally really like the way it looks - very beachy and natural looking. (I mix with a little fine gravel to make it look more natural). You do have to rinse it for a very, very long time initially, which was my main drawback.
IV BEEN ON A DIRT SUBSTRATE THESE DAY PARTLY BECAUSE IM CHEAP AND PARTLY BECAUSE IT SEEMS TO KEEP A WELL BALANCED TANK
I'm confused if you don't know how to turn caps lock off and/or you don't realise many non dirtied Substrates can be free.
I've 72 aquariums including dirted. I also understand a well balanced aquarium isn't simply based on the substrate.
Please use lower caps when trying to address people.
I agree I've been keeping fish tanks for years. I just recently switched to dirted tank capped with sand and I will never go back. Plants grow like crazy and I don't have have to worry about figuring out what fertilizer to use. Deeper substrate seems to break down waste faster and I do less water changes because nitrates are lower than in my other tanks.
I'm surprised they didn't mention anyting about colored gravel. I would stay away from it since the coating on the gravel After Time tends to break down getting into the water column. The Coatings may be non-toxic but why chance it.
Toneloke 3000 And it just starts to look bad as the color comes off.
Sharon Nehring 👌
I hate rainbow gravel
40th like 😎
You guys are the very reason why I love fish keeping
Again, amazingly detailed
Wow. I have been scratching my head about what substrate I want for my 150 gallon aquarium that will be shipped to me next week. This video has helped reduce my confusion. I decided after watching this video....bare bottom or gravel. Great video.🐟👍
John, Lisa, you are amazing at explaining things, and with a touch of humor. I started aquarium hobby about 8 months ago, and your videos is one of my sources to start researching.
It feels so bad having a fish die and have no idea what happened, your videos and your work helped me understand a lot, so now I feel more confident.
I started with a 10 gallon and before I knew I have 3 20 gallons and the 10 gallons is my breeder tank.
Though I made mistakes in my first months, you guys kept me fishkeeping with all your hard work, because I understand a lot thanks to you guys.
THANK YOU.
Facts
Thank you so much for this video Kgtropicals! I am helping my sister with her ten gallon Betta tank and this video will very much help.
I am so glad I found this channel, I just with that other new fish keepers find this channel before they make mistakes
Thanks for giving info tailored for a NEW fish keeper. Very helpful! Thanks!
Guys thanks for making your video so easy to understand in regards to gravel.
I'm glad you made this video it's really helpful although it's 2 years later for me!
I hope beginners find it helpfull
Thank you !! I am keeping fishes from 2012 but it was like my fishes were hardy enough to survive 5 years without using science on them . But now watching your videos are like god we didn't care about this that time and it is so important. Thank you once again to both of you for such a valuable info u provide.
I have some jet black gravel and I really love the look. My plants are doing pretty good also. I am planning on getting a ten gallon which I want to turn into a dirted tank with a carpet eventually. I am also interested in white clouds. Thanks for the education.
Thanks for the work you do to put out such great content. I have learned so much from all your videos.
Thank you so much. This really helped. You two are stars.
Great advice, just what I needed 🤓
One of your best videos. Highly useful. Thank you!
SUPER ADVICE!THANKS SO MUCH TO MAKE RIGHT CHOISE
I like father fish deep substrate idea
I have learnt so much from this video. Thanks for sharing
My wife and I love watching you guys and we've recently discovered our 6 mos. old little girl giggles and squeals every time Lisa comes on. 💜💜💜
thank you for the information it’s help us to decide what is good to put in the aquarium thanks again 🌹
My 65 is roughly half sand and half gravel. I like the way it looks, and it gives everybody a chance to explore the substrate they prefer.
I love some substrates better than others, great video
I have a planted tank and love Eco-Complete mixed with fine black sand. Its atleast 3in thick. Thanks for the video! I always learn something new when watching you guys! 🧡🐠
I use straight Eco-Complete in my 75 and have a 55 with soil under sand.
The Eco-Complete is winning hands down.
@@MichaelClark-uw7ex Yep! I've had the same Eco -Complete mixed with fine sand in my tank for almost a year now and my plants still are thriving to the point I have to trim them every week. Lol. No co2 or Fert either. Just Prime conditioner with water changes and a few different types of foods. I'm so thankful I used this stuff , aren't you? 😁
I love that white betta in the background of the glo-tank. I have one too!
Thank you guys ❤
have a tank with a nature look, as a stream. i use grey sand and small river rocks on top. i love it and so do my fish. after a few water siphons the sand and gravel mix together and look really good!i have sharks teeth, ray teeth, fossil Ammonite and various fossil shark/whale vertibrae in it. Glad i went this route. loaded with some cory cats, angel fish, gold/bluerams, guppies and sailfin mollies. Such an amazing community tank im proud of
TQ so much for the tips and advice.. it's very useful..and the explaination was very easy to understand..👍🤝
Excellent video thank you you have helped me make my decision
Along time ago I used cheap "plain" clay cat litter not the clumping kind about 2 inches deep. I added fertilizer tabs an covered it with about an inch of gravel. My plants loved it. The water was clear and the Cory cats did great. I read about it online.
Excellent tutorial.
In my 50+ years of keeping tropical fish, I've used just about every substrate imaginable and when I recently up my old 75g
I decided to try some Eco-Complete, I am amazed, that stuff is great for a planted tank, its a bit pricey $20/20lb bag but it comes with active bacteria so you have a cycled tank right out of the bag.
I also have a planted 55 for my shrimp and it is organic potting soil with a sand cap, its doing great but the Eco-Complete seems to be growing faster.
For any other tank, its hard to beat good old fashioned general purpose construction sand that has a wide variety of particle sizes.
The landscaper store is perfect. I use pavers sand for all my tanks. I rinse the sand in a 30 liter bucket. Its a nice warm tan with bigger gravel in it. My shrimp have fun sifting it and my plants can easily root in it.
Me and my partner started at the high level. Aquasoil in the first tank. Dirted tank in the second.
Third... Walstead!
Great video guys. I wish I'd seen this before I started haha!
Im new in the Hobby, just started Last Dezember. But i did researches for over a year, Started with a 450 Liter Tank and Soil, gone Full Planted and since february i have Diskus in it. They do Perfect, dont have any Problems with algea or Something Else. Everything is working Fine, got a second Tank yesterday (450 Liter again) and this one will ne Sand for Sure, just to keep the second a bit simpler.
Necro Lifetalks you mean Money? The Tanks a buyed as Used ones and im Working as a Software Developer in Austria, so i have a Good income.
I'm a newb fish keeper.. and your videos help me a lot. Many thanks to you guys.. all love from philippines. 🇵🇭
Yeah, I went with gravel and you really cant go wrong with gravel.. 😁
My first Aquarium in the 70's.
We used to use a White Plastic Undergravel Filter with 2 Clear, Upright Plastic Tubes in the 2 Back Corners.! After putting the Gravel on top of the White Undergravel Filter, You then put 2 small Air Stones, connected to clear air tubing that was Connected to an Airpump, inside the 2 Upright Clear Plastic Tubes in the 2 Corners.! This Circulated the Water but when you took Out the Gravel, All the Sludge, over time, Collected Underneath the White Plastic Undergravel Filter.!
Does Anyone else Remember these White Undergravel Filters.? 🤔
I've done gravel, sand, organic potting soil, and now use coal slag blasting media. Love the blasting media!
Nice information!
Awesome video guys!!! I used tons of substrates from ADA, Eco-complete, Fluval Stratum, and regulator sand. Planted tank for beginners, I recommend Eco-complete, It's easy. My personal favorite is ADA for advanced users.
You are the best! Thanks a lot
Amazing video for me (an biginer)😊 the gravel i have allready bought but this video incurage me that i ve done the right decision. Thanks guys
Just to the point information ... choose whats easy to maintain as a beginer ... thanks buddies ❤️
I have a dirted tank and am crazy ... how thoughtful of you.
It was not difficult to set up, and went a year with very limited maintenance but I was looking to establish something alongside the Walsted Method, that leads to a self sustaining ecosystem... I have been running into problems recently but they have all centered around foreign elements making it into the tank.
My first tank was gravel, but now i use black sand with the aquarium planter boosting. Now I have a beautiful 29 gallon planted aquarium.
Thanks
Blasting sand is amazing!! It makes your plants pop!
A practical (and cost effective) application beginners might consider about gravel (and sand as well)
is that in addition to the biological aspects, gravel can also double down as mechanical filtration media.
Many of us discovered this when the undergravel ("whutever boomer!") filters came about and found
ourselves having to, at some point, vac the substrate. I eventually said to myself ... "SELF! - you've got
tanks full of perfectly effective and continuously reusable filtration media!" There followed experimentation
with gravel in different filters and combinations with floss - sponge - lava rock, and once on a seriously
sphincter tight budget (tank filter or new strings for the Les Paul) just gravel in a 16oz plastic cup with a
spare 1" lift tube driven by an old airstone for a 15g with zebra danios and a few cory's! As Eric Clapton
once said ... "It's in the way that you use it!" - Hoping this was helpful - Cheers!
Thankyou, for explaining the subject of substrate....
As a beginner, it can be daunting. But, glad you made my decision much easier.....
Gravel, it is ❤️🐠🦐🌿🌱🍃🍀
Ok, Gravel, thanks for the helpful information.
I use black limpopo sand. Looks great and Cory's love it.
Should do one on the overuse of aquarium treatments and cures.
I just switched from old blue aquarium gravel to pea gravel in my 125g and I love it! It looks much more natural, it’s easy to gravel vac and I only paid $3 each for 50lb bags. I’m not a fan of sand, for all the cons mentioned.
over the years of keeping planted tanks, one way what seems to work well for me is a layer of slightly bigger stones, topped with some clay balls, then a good layer of aquatic soil, then capped of with a good layer of natural lake gravel and use the clay balls every few months placed in to the gravel and that seems to work very well. so far the tank has been setup for 4 years now, but over the years ive added kg's of gravel to get it much deeper in places and of course the plant food and co2. after 4 years i could do with a empty and add new soil topped with gravel but so far it still seems o be doing well, just catching up on maintenance as done very little over the last year and bit and lot plants died, filters did not get changed very often, water changes monthly. mad thing is been right back at it over the last month, and still not got water clear, still full of bits, so decided the main big filter below the tank can catch the big bits, and will only then need doing every few months, and got a internal filter half the flow rate of my main one to hopefully clear the water. but plants i thought had died a few have come back after at least 6 months not seeing them so i feel im getting back on track. what helped me get away with it is i had a very heavy planted tank and gather the plants made a good difference for the water
I love your videos Corey. You are so knowledgeable.i learn a lot from them. Please keep up the good work! :)
Thank you, but my name is John
Love my black gravel. Had it for over 15 years, and all 3 of my bettas throughout their lifespan looked great in the tank with it. Never had any motivation to move from it.
@KGTropicals, you're the best, guys!!!
Greetings from Bolivia and take care of covid19!
Arowanas are looking amazing.
I love a very ruff gravel not only it provide that great bacteria too but i love it so baby guppy can hide between the grave and never get eaten by adults thanks for the video
Hey John, yeah I had to be that person 😂🤣😎 I'm crazy and have had many dirted tanks in my nano (2.5 and 5 gal) tanks. My first tanks ever was dirted, told you I was crazy. 🤪🤪
I'm not too crazy cause I an not digging it up from my yard but buying MircaleGrow Potting Soil.
Love what you and Lisa have done for the hobby and when you guys come up to visit API, stromboli and cheesesteaks on me.
Just ordered surfshark. Going to try it. I'll let you know how it works out for me. Keep up the great work!
How did you like Surfshark?
great timing. i am in the midst of cleaning my tank and changing my substrate. I think i wanna go for a dirted tank
I am not even thinking about about buying an aquarium and fish, but this videos are actually kinda entertaining
The best substrate for a planted tank is dirt capped off with either gravel or sand. I've done both and prefer gravel as the cap. The special designed aquarium plant substrates are very expensive considering a bag of organic dirt is dirt cheap.
I've got dirt with gravel over it and my plants thrive, I love it. It's like a little jungle in there. My nano fish and shrimpies just love all the plants too.
New in the fish Hobby thanks...😮
I recently just got back into the hobby after ~20 years. I started back up with sand. Regular gravel definitely would have been an easier substrate. Its a bit tougher to keep looking clean because of its smaller grain size and the inability to gravel-vac like you do with gravel. Overall it does look pretty cool, though.
get catfish and snails. easy solution
@KGTropicals - I've been in the hobby for about 55 years and still prefer aquarium gravel. Sand is a second runner up. Wish you touched base on the effects of substrate color has on the fish.
I agree with Lanken H you guys are the best your fish are so pretty 😍
I ended up buying finely ground gravel that’s a little tiny bit larger than sand, looks great too.
Not my first aquariam……but…..im old now and i want easy…..and simple…..and i love your advice…
You must also take into account what kind of fish will be in the tank. For example corydora catfish prefer sand, while goldfish could get a piece of gravel stuck because they are grazers.
SIR LOVE YOUR VIDEOS
I went with black blasting sand. It's kinda a middle ground between true sand and gravel, it's like a very coarse sand. And it looks great. Just make sure to clean it really well. 6 months in and no major issues with it and plants seem OK.
Very interesting video 👍.
i always use those huge glass things, kind of like marbles but smaller and cut in half and smooshed
its so funny to watch the fish dig in them but they also keep me up all night when they dig
Great information and i love all the info that you guys share.
Question: My friend gave me the old planted aquarium substrate that he had used for 5 months, and then took them off the tank and it had been lying around his house for about a year now. is it still usable?
I live in Florida where we haven’t sand in our yards not dirt lol. I mixed sand from my yard that I cleaned very well, with a bag of the wet substrate. Can’t remember what kind it was. I know my situation could be a little different than others but it worked great for me when starting a budget tank.
I used gravel, because, well, undergravel filter. I used the Top Fin "Natural Beach" gravel, which is somewhat coarse, light to medium brown. I was using a HOB filter, but I dropped that filter into the tank when breaking it down to move it (saggy bookshelf is likely a bad place...) I was lucky I had an old UG filter and air pump in a box under the bed, as this happened between paychecks and I was trying to cycle the tank. I ran the UG filter for a couple weeks with the HOB cartridge clipped to the inside of the tank in the path of the lift tube.
I like sand since my fish can dig around in it without hurting themselves and I dont have to worry about impaction. With a bit of fertilizer ive found my plants grow really well in it too