Plants in Gravel Substrate? Planted Aquarium using Gravel

Setting up a planted aquarium with a gravel substrate can be a bit difficult without the right setup. Only certain plants are going to survive in a somewhat new gravel substrate aquarium. Some of the common plants used in gravel aquariums are Water Sprite, Anacharis, Water Wisteria, or Amazon Sword plants.

The difficulty with gravel substrate in a fish tank is that it has zero nutrients for the roots of the plants that feed heavily from their roots. So they get around this what you need to do is fine specific plants that feed their nutrients from the water column.

Another method that fishkeepers used to grow plants in Gravel substrate is to use a Fertilizer root tab. These are small gel capsules filled with fertilizer, soil, and micro nutrients designed specifically for aquarium plants.

More Added Talk

Hello I am looking to get into fish however I want something that isn't going to be super challenging and difficult I am looking to get a tank that is about no bigger than 30cm by 25cm , And I would like to be able to have some live plants in there what would be good to be able to have a very low maintenance easy fish I don't really want goldfish I've had those in the past growing up I'm wanting something a little more exotic

i'm sorry I don't want to upset people thinking i want to get a tank to small for something to have a good nice environment in, whats a good tank size for a starter tank that's on the smaller side.

I've just cycled my 42 gallon and so far the only tenants are 6 amano shrimp. Great wee guys. Defo recommend shrimp. for a 30 by 25? not much can fit in there and thrive, but also depends on the gallons. as the comment above said a betta on its own would be good. but there’s a lot of things that need to be done for a betta. heaters. hammocks ect.

Help please! My son got an aquarium for a gift. We added some fish in February. I know absolutely nothing about how to care for it. So for almost 2 weeks now the water is very cloudy. Like i can barely see the fish. I brought a sample to the pet shop and i was told the nitrates are a bit high. I was given some water containing "good bacteria" and told to wait it out. That was over a week ago and it looks even worse now. Its cloudy and yellowish. I was also told that a water change isn't recommended because its a small 10 gallon tank. This all started after I did a partial water change. Any advice would be highly appreciated.

Unfortunately the bacteria isn't in the water they gave you. The bacteria is in the decorations in their tanks. You could always buy decorations that been sitting inside aquariums at pet store if they been in the water at least a month. Or plants (Maybe a moss ball). Either way do a 50% water change and reduce the amount of light time and it'll help a bit.

Ask the pet store for some used filter floss, or post asking for some on a local aquarium Facebook group. That's where most of the good bacteria is. There's a little in the water but not enough to make much difference. You want some nice icky dirty filter media. Jam it in your filter or float it in the tank, either way it should really help.

You do need to do partial water changes, as a closed system doesn't get any cleaner. 25%-30% is a good amount. That usually doesn't crash your cycle. Did you clean the filter at the same time?

How many fish do you have and how many did you add to the tank at once? Also I know it sounds hard but live plants are amazing tools to keep your water balanced. I’ve struggled all my life with this. My advice would be to think about adding live plants if not. Id say limit the time you have the light on in your tank. Id do a 20% water change maybe even a 50% water change the first time at then decrease to a 20%. From my understanding the beneficial bacteria are in the substrate and filter. So as long as you don’t remove these things a small water change can be helpful. You said you have goldfish, they have a high waste output, have you looked into whats the best filtration for them? Hopefully this helps, sorry its so long.

But bacteria blooms are a part of cycling. The good bacteria is floating around and will settle. Do you have a air stone? If not add one and that will help your fish get oxygen as the bloom is happening. It should clear up in a couple days. If it does not you can do a 50% water change but do not clean the walls or decorations the good bacteria will stay on them and in your filter.

Yeah but there’s multiple reason why tank get cloudy, most common is bacteria bloom, overfeeding, overcrowded, people overcrowd their tank but with enough filtration they get clear water , those kits they sell with filter isn’t good enough so you’ll need a new filter.

Growing aquarium plants in a gravel substrate is possible with the right plants.

The best way to do this and over what period (eg. 25% every couple of days or whatever). Yes I already wish we bought a much larger tank.