New to planted tanks — substrate suggestions/opinions?

It doesn't what substrate you use or what root tabs you use to grow an anubuas ???

For the case in hand, though, there are already LED lights on the aquarium, if I'm not mistaken they are slightly higher powered than would be useful.

To keep things simple, using a substrate with nutrition already in it, say Fluval Stratum or Tropica soil and using rooted plants that feed from the roots will negate the need to fertilize the water column or the gravel.

There are a hundred and one ways to keep a planted aquarium.. I'm trying to keep it simple. I'm more than happy to discuss the different methods, but I'm not sure this is the correct venue.
 
I think for a beginner the OP's flourite is fine... with root tabs &/or column dosing as needed. Yes, there are many way to keep different plants. Do those substrates do the big ammonia spike for a month or so like some do? Or messiness/algae when plants are moved? Those are my concerns with any "soil" substrate & why I haven't tried them.

I want to see pics of Joel's giant crypts! I've never had a wendtii grow more than 4-6 inches in any tank no matter the inert substrate, ferts or lighting. I may need you to share come spring, lol.
 
Something like Stratum will not really leech ammonia when it starts up in the same way that some of the more advanced soils iwll.

If you have the flourite in the aquarium it's borderline (IMO) to use it, especially if you need to add root tabs to it, things like API or Seachem don't really have any of the Macro elements needed so are of little use in a new aquarium (read the labels), so you are going to be paying maybe $15+ for a pack of root tabs, so unless the aquarium is running with flourite, it makes more sense, to me, to go with Stratum.

The way Flurite will work in an established aquarium where it has had months or more time to be surrounded by mulm and to build up it's own store of nutrients is far different than starting up a brand new aquarium, where if you don't get those nutrients, the plants are not going to survive.
 
That anubias was an example of what one can grow low tech. Right now I have in various tanks at least a dozen anubias 1+ to 2+ ft. tall. I still uses water column ferts in tanks with them. This was my high light, terraced tank in one of its early iterations. Small gravel and mulm plus Jobes as the substrate fert.
i-m5DPBrp.jpg


This is how it looked before it was planted.
i-XNtwh5B.jpg

That gravel is Estes Bits of Walnut.

This is one of my lower light tanks from Feb. 2013. It also uses the Bits of Walnut gravel and laterite.
i-WnG3xdm-S.jpg


At my peak I had over a dozen planted tanks, I have reduced the number to 6 until two weeks ago when I set a new 28 up for Q. I have dumbed them down a lot to make the upkeep easier.
 
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I know when I'm out of my league....
 
That anubias was an example of what one can grow low tech. Right now I have in various tanks at least a dozen anubias 1+ to 2+ ft. tall. I still uses water column ferts in tanks with them. This was my high light, terraced tank in one of its early iterations. Small gravel and mulm plus Jobes as the substrate fert.
i-m5DPBrp.jpg

Very nice indeed ! A great example of what you can do with low tech. Most folks would think this to be CO2 injected and all. I'd be interested to see your other tanks as well, but I think it would deserve its own topic, it would be a great example to beginning aquarists of a low tech planted tank.
Anubias can grow quickly under the right conditions even with low tech... I have one that has about a 5 ft long rhizome, and is 2ft high. The leaves are ± 8"x6".
it does take me quite some work pruning it I keep cutting off a 2x1 ft tall piece every month... I put them in smaller tanks but they just take over the other plants. Barteri isn't really suited for that.
 
I wouldn’t spend big money on a planted tank here’s all you really need, at least 1-2 watt of led per gallon light preferably full spectrum, a generic top soil, pool filter sand to cap and of course, plants
Watts per gallon is not true for LED lighting
 
Thanks all for your kind comments. I posted the pics to show one can do plants both simple and easy or else complex and hard work. But there is one truth about either of the tanks in those pictures. The best filter one can have is a well planted tank with about 3 inches of substrate. I am a split personality fish keeper. Of my current 20 tanks, 6 are planted and 14 are not. The 14 are all for breeding and growing out plecos (some are even bare bottom) the planted tanks are all community tanks. Some of these have the next best filter after live plants- a Hamburg Mattenfilter.

I am not a fan of a lot of what I consider to be way over-priced substrate or fancy equipment for CO2. I ran mine 24/7 with no controller. I pushed my pressurized CO2 directly into the Eheim canister and used a few power compact lights. I fertilized once a week in he water column after weekly water changes and used the Jobe's in the substrate. I used inexpensive substrate. This worked great for me. But it is my way and not the only or even the best way. One has to learn what works for them and then go with it.

I do plants because they benefit the fish. They keep the water healthy, they provide cover for the fish and they look nice. But I am first and foremost a fish keeper not a plant keeper. If the plants provided no benefits for the fish, I would probably not have live plants. However, I kept both flower and vegetable gardens for many years before getting my first tank. This helped a lot when I decided to keep plants in glass boxes instead of in an outdoor garden.

One more thing. Planted tanks are like anything else in life. You start off with little knowledge and no experience. Then you work your way up the learning curve. In this case you start simple and learn by experience so you can increase the complexity and difficulty of what plants you keep as you do. I would no more suggest one have a high tech, pressurized CO2 added setup for their 1st planted tank than I would suggest one learn how to drive by starting out in an Indy 500 race car. First you crawl, then you walk, then you run. Try to cut short the learning curve for anything and you will most likely fall on your face.

@ the loach that pic you quoted was a pressurized CO2 added tank. The second, less colorful tank pic in my post was a low light with no CO2 added. However, all my planted tanks, except for the CO2 added one, have gotten Flourish Excel added weekly since day one.
 
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