Need Help With Substrate!

[ticklemepunk473]

I have a 30 gallon tank with natural gravel on the bottom. I don;t have enough gravel and I am now realising that my plants are dying because, duh, they don;t have anything to draw out of the stupid plain gravel. So I am wondering if I can sandwich a layer of flouritein between the already in place layer of gravel and put another layer on top of that? Will this freak my fish out? Should I take them out while I remodel or would that be worse?

[odessa]

You can add fertilizer tabs in the gravel to the plants. Keep in mind that most aquatic plant accept nutrients from the water column more readily than from the substrate. You can add fluorite to the gravel, I would just mix it in with the gravel rather than trying to layer it, it Will just end up mixed anyway. From your earlier post you said that you were lighting challenged, I would bet the low light issue might be the cause of some of your plants dying. What type of plants do you have? I have added substrate with he fish in the tank before it doesn't hut them just clouds the water a little.

[djlen]

Most plants take most of their nutrients from the water column, through their leaves. There are some exceptions(like Amazon Swords), that are root feeders.
Are you feeding anything, and if so, what? And what is your lighing situation?

Flourite is a great substrate, but very difficult to add to an existing aquarium because it clouds the water. I'm not talking about anything like you can imagine. I'm talking......like coffee.
Get yourself a 5 gal. paint strainer(Home Depot/$2), dump about 1/3 - 1/2 bag of Flourite into the strainer over a 5 gal. bucket and rinse it until it runs clear. Remove the 'clean' Flourite and repeat the process until it's all washed.
Before you add it to your tank, I would strongly consider removing the fish to a bucket and saving the water that's presently in the tank to buckets. Save as much as possible. Then add the flourite back into the tank. You can mix it or lay it on top.....whatever your preference.
Lay an empty bowl on top of the substrate and fill it til it overflows with your saved tank water, and keep filling the tank back up that way to create as little disturbance to the Flourite as possible. You will still see some clouding, but much, much less than if you don't wash it well beforehand.
You will love this product, but it's just a pain in the butt to add to an existing tank.

Len

[ticklemepunk473]

Yeah I have An amazon sword which is wilting and getting opaque leaves. and I have a moneywart which I hate anyway so I am not worried about it dying. I am going to get some anacharis maybe and some micro sword and some lot light stuff because I want some stuff that will grow quickly and fill in my tank. Any suggestions?