Peat as a base substrate

[angelfish123]

I am in the process of creating a heavily planted 10 gallon tank. for the substrate I already a half and half mixture of gravel and crushed coral as a subtrate in mind, but before i put it in, I was going to ask you guys, would peat moss be a good choice to put in under the gravel? I've heard it will help the plants. Should I put the peat moss in under the gravel, or just use gravel as the sole substrate?

[blackwolfXKAV]

It would be easier and more beneficial to your plants ot use just sand, plain old gravel, or a planted substrate like eco-complete.

the crushed coral will be too abrasive for your plants roots, and the peat, among other things, will just be an unsinkable mess.

[Mgamer20o0]

why would you want to do this? i would just go with sand like blackwolfXKAV said. peat will lower the ph and crushed coral would raise it. it would take a long time before you could get it where you want it to be.

[ergo sum]

I vote for a very small amount under the gravel.

[Rex Grigg]

This is so wrong.

Crushed coral and peat mixed in a substrate will only result in ONE thing. Water parameters that swing from one side of the scale to another.

There is NO reason. Not one to put crushed coral in the substrate of a planted tank. I'm a big fan of a light dusting of peat on the very bottom. But it's a very light dusting.