Amazon tank

[marshall unger]

I'm planning on starting a 90 gallon aquarium and I hope to have lots of plants including amazon swords but I don't know wat would be the best type of substrate.:help:

 

[Rbishop]

Eco Complete.

 

[echoofformless]

The truth is that almost any kind of medium grained substrate would work great. There is a growing collective opinion that these specialized "plant" substrates really aren't as effective as the manufacturers want us to believe.

With amazon swords, Eco Complete would be great but the truth is I have seen some amazingly huge and robust specimens growing in plain old gravel. And they are heavy root feeders, so if you give them Flourish root tabs they will be very happy. Mine grow in Onyx Sand with the tabs and they doing just great.

 

[Mgamer20o0]

i am sure Eco Complete is very good. for me in bigger tanks i find it way to much money. i have cheap gravel bought at home depot for $5 for 50 pounds.

 

[Marinemom]

Amazons are not that picky. As long as you have good water conditions and decent lighting along with root tabs since they are root feeders, you should do just fine with them.

Marinemom

 

[John N.]

It's true most any plain substrate is good enough to plant in. I would suggest looking at lesco.com and find something called Soilmaster select charcoal, or get aquariumplants.com substrate (which is similar to SMS) if you want something on the cheap.

-John N.

 

[monkey_toes]

I used 75% pool filter sand and 25% plain gravel in my 125g Amazon tank. I've had great plant growth with no supplemental fertilization. My swords went from sorry-looking 8" 5-leafers at the store to 20" 50-leafers in less than six months and have been putting out shoots with half a dozen adventitious plantlets on them.

 

[Shagmaster]

I use a 50/50 mix of "Play Sand" and small pond gravel in my 250. Have 2 Amazon Swords that are going nuts. Not to mention the other plants in the tank. Both sand and gravel I got at home depot for less than $5 for 50 pounds.