I use white gravel that is normally used in your yard. I washed it very good before and socked it in a bucket with treated water before putting it in my tank. I love how natural it looks.
HI, I have been watching your videos for along time and find them quite informative, however I wanted to ask if you could grow plants like Anubias Nana or Java Moss on standard gravel. Secondly what are the Benefits of having plants in a goldfish tank, also, Do small fishes like Neon tetras or Guppies or Zebra Danios require planted aquariums?...Pls help.
Great video. I basically ended up adopting a betta that was in a bowl, that I kept for a friend. I stole him away..lol and bought a 5 gallon and without much thought I guess, just picked up a ton of plastic plants and fake decorations that were really cute and real looking. So after I wasted all that money I want to have a planted tank. Its only 5 gallons so just a anuba and a java fern and driftwood (Plus I may buy a 40 gallon because I went fish crazy afterwards and want a parrot fish I saw at petco staring at me with those big eyes! haha) Is it possible to use river rock? I Like the look of it.
All three of my aquariums have sand. One has pool filter sand, one white aquarium sand AND pool filter sand and the newest tank has 50lbs of black aquarium sand. All three are planted but the smallest one - the 10 gallon is a constant battle to balance between plant growth and algae. I also manged to finally hook up the CO2 on the new tank and I swear the plants grew 2 inches in two days! It's crazy! More plants are scheduled to arrive on Thursday. Which is, of course, the day we are supposed to have a snow storm.
Hey how do you choose live beginner plants for a 5 gallon tank where the substrate is sand and the tank is freshwater and also has a female Betta and a single snail any help would be appreciated and I'm so glad I found your channel and I love love love love your videos thanks for any help you can give me
Thanks again. I will try pea gravel now that I’m upgrading the size of my tank. I loved sand until it became an ammonia problem. My fish like spitting it. Cute. I wonder if they will mess with the pea gravel? How is the poop collection in dirt substrate for plants?
Hey Thomas, can I use a nutrient rich substrate like Fluval stratum or Tropica aqua soil and still have community fish like neon's, guppies, etc. My concern would be the ph.
I’m new to having an aquarium and wanted to stock live plants. I basically bought and did everything the pet store employee recommended. I mentioned to her that I wanted live plants and she said gravel would be fine, as long as I didn’t put my plants in sand. I didn’t realize that live plants needed their own substrate and so I already stocked gravel. You said live plants will “prefer” a live plant substrate. Is it a necessity? With love, Freaking out at every turn
Guys i want to aquascape a 17 gal rimless for a Betta Paradise. Money is tight and id like to get it done right or as close to right as possible. Question being; do i start a nitrogen cycle with like a store product immediately after I’ve planted and filled conditioned water. Or do i leave them alone with the conditioned water and fertilize on a regular basis? Fish out for both of these obviously.
I recently changed my 75g tank and did a complete water change because of cloudy water....did not realize that I needed to vacuum the substrate each week (like I plan to do from now on). I also bought a canister filter to go along with my HOB Marineland filte….do I need both filters for this 75g tank? It seems to be staying clear now.
Hi, I have been watching your videos and I am a fan. I am quite new to this hobby and I have a doubt. The substrates specifically available in the market for planted tanks are expensive in India. As there is a need for about 5 cm thickness of substrates in the front which gradually increases again towards the back it will become very expensive for me. I would like to know if I can have a base layer of aquatic clay or any other material (please advise) for that purpose to create the desired layout and then top it with substrate so that I can reduce the amount of substrate to be used. I will be very grateful if I can get a reply for this. I am open to all kinds of suggestions where I can use these substrates cost effectively.
Hey there! I LOVE your videos! They are so informative. I need a bit of help with my tank. I am not sure why my plants keep dying. I have a fresh water aquarium. I have fine gravel substrate and also have good amount of ADA AMAZONIA under it. My plants roots keeps getting dark brown and they keep uprooting all the time. Can you tell me what's going on?
Hi could you possibly do a video on how to clean your fish tank that has sand or dirt. I'm just curious if it's done the same way like gravel I heard it is not done the same way. I want to know if it's true and if so how do I clean an Aquarium that has sand or dirt?
Can you mix different types of substrate. Like a multitiered floor where say the center is higher with one type of substrate, and each side of the raised center/divider a different substrate?
Like the vid. However should add a text/note that one need to follow the rules and laws for each country. As in my country, we have a bunch of laws reguarding fishkeeping. Such as have to have one side covered/painted, round aquariums, bowls are forbidden for fish, tank has to be decorated simular to how they live in the wild and s on. Not that its heavily enforced. Could just be neat to mention that it may vary depending on country/state rules/laws.
Hi I have a 55 gallon fish tank and I want to put a koi fish inside but I do not know absolutely nothing can you make a video talking about what kind of things that we can put in to the Fishtank far is rock plant and other fish talk about how to clean the fish tank And how to keep it clean
Hi Thomas! I was hoping you could answer a question I have, I couldn't seem to the support e-mail anywhere! I read that bettas need low flow filters... I have a Silent Top Fin ® Silenstream 10 Power Filter and I was wondering if this filter would be okay for a betta in a 10 gallon tank or if I need to get a different one. If I need a new one, I could use a few suggestions! Thank you!!
Having only goldfish, I learned years ago to have sand in my aquarium. I have had one too many get gravel stuck in their mouth. Can't remember how I got it out but it was scary.😭
Jacqueline Kariuki oh no! I have goldfish, have sand and for months I was doing daily water changes, they almost died. It was coming from the sand. My Goldie’s love spitting the sand around. So cute. I was thinking pea gravel but the horror if one of them chokes on the stuff!!! Thanks for that consideration.
my planted substrate has gone dry. I use root tabs and ferts. Problem I have is the the substrate destroyed my Cory's barbels when it went dry. I feed them over a bed of almond leaf and hand feed them black worms by guessing where to drop the worm where they can smell them. My tank is established, 3 yrs. old and I don't want to rip it apart. What can I do with this now sharp edged soil. Thank you in advance
I'm wondering (I know this has nothing to do with substrate) but I want to start a planted tank I'm wondering though if I could keep angel fish and blood parrot cichlids together?
If I use a substrate with nutrients for plants, do I still need to use the nutrition tablet thingies from time to time? Or do i only meed those when I use a substrate without nutrients, like sand or normal gravel?
I want to try and switch from gravel to a plant substrate, but I don’t want to stress my fish out too much with the change (I don’t have too many but I just recovered from an ammonia spike), but I also don’t want to just pour it. Any tips?
Jose Karlo Rebleza I want to know this too. I know plants help with ridding ammonia but the can rot and cause ammonia. Another living thing to care for 🤷♀️
Im going to be starting a saltwater nano reef tank in the next couple months, I’m leaning towards live plants and until i watched this video i was leaning towards sand for the aesthetic - but now I’m not really sure what kind of substrate to use for my tank
I'd love to find some flat gravel like that shown at 2:35. Anyone know if it's something I can order? That looks great, IMO, but the only pea gravel I can find locally looks like... peas. I've even hit up some gravel companies, but haven't found anything good. I'm just putting together a 20 gallon tank, so if I can't find that, I'll probably go with Flourite.
Late comment but my roommate put a small one in her 10gal with gravel less that a year ago and it's huge now. With plain tiny LEDs and no co2 or anything special. 1 small beta and 2 med snails. If that helps. :)
Hey Thomas is it possible to use a undergravel filter in conjunction with a canister filter when having a planted tank. I sent yall an email today with my current setup and my future plans. I would love to see a video on this filter combo idea if yall can.
It's almost 2 months after this was posted so I hope someone will still see this, cause I'm a little worried. I want to have sand on the bottom of my aquarium (because I intend to get a betta fish, -the tank will be about 30 liters don't worry- and I am really careful about him not cutting his fins, which I think could happen with gravel, correct me if I'm wrong), but when trying to research how to clean sand (I can use one of the aquarium vacuums right?) I kept seeing people say that because of sand there was rotting on the bottom of the aquarium, and then algae formed? This appearantly due to them using the nutrition layer for plants under it, and there not being enough airflow. Are there ways to prevent this from happening? Do plants need that nutritional layer or not-some say they get their nutrients from the water and that that is enough-?
EMI V I caution you. I had a terrible time with waste in the sand spiking the ammonia levels. I was thinking pea gravel but someone said they can choke on it!
Are you Jesus? Edit: great video I go to the big als store in Mississauga and never am disappointed they always have great live stock,decorations and tanks like my brother got and not to mention the variety of live plants.
How do I convince my parents for a fish? I have done all my research, figured out how much of my money I will spend,I would feed them and clean their tanks but they still won't let me
I would politely ask them what their consers about you having a tank is. Take their worrys into consideration and tell them how you can fix ,improve or avoid what they are worried about
I use white gravel that is normally used in your yard. I washed it very good before and socked it in a bucket with treated water before putting it in my tank. I love how natural it looks.
This was super helpful! Thanks as always, Thomas!
It's really hard to clean the sand tank. Gravels are good.
Suggest some cleaning videos for sand substrates..
Please do a "How to choose your lighting" video 😭
YESS!!!
Yaass
Hey thomas i have a request vedio
Can you make a vedio on how to transport and bag fish
Like for thomas to see
I think I'm in Love with Thomas......always fixes for my aquarium issues and my go to guy with precise answers.....My fish also love Thomas
You do me chuckle with your personality, even on a bad day.
All the best. Aengus
I just made my first planted aquarium I posted it on my channel I posted for the 1st time today because of watching your channel
I subbed
Very interesting. I learned something new, thanks!
Its late man , I've already got my substrate and my fish are happy pooping on it..😂👍
I got sand with Plattys
Always helps me thomas
Love the vedios
Love your videos man keep doing them do not stop
HI, I have been watching your videos for along time and find them quite informative, however I wanted to ask if you could grow plants like Anubias Nana or Java Moss on standard gravel. Secondly what are the Benefits of having plants in a goldfish tank, also, Do small fishes like Neon tetras or Guppies or Zebra Danios require planted aquariums?...Pls help.
Hey Thomas, can you please make a video on how to properly cycle your tank, with and without the bacteria booster...pleeeeease.
ive often seen people layering their tanks with different typs of substrate. can you make a video on that?
Great video. I basically ended up adopting a betta that was in a bowl, that I kept for a friend. I stole him away..lol and bought a 5 gallon and without much thought I guess, just picked up a ton of plastic plants and fake decorations that were really cute and real looking. So after I wasted all that money I want to have a planted tank. Its only 5 gallons so just a anuba and a java fern and driftwood (Plus I may buy a 40 gallon because I went fish crazy afterwards and want a parrot fish I saw at petco staring at me with those big eyes! haha) Is it possible to use river rock? I Like the look of it.
Can I put pea gravel over a plant substrate?
I enjoy your videos a lot. Thanks
Super cool 👍
All three of my aquariums have sand. One has pool filter sand, one white aquarium sand AND pool filter sand and the newest tank has 50lbs of black aquarium sand. All three are planted but the smallest one - the 10 gallon is a constant battle to balance between plant growth and algae. I also manged to finally hook up the CO2 on the new tank and I swear the plants grew 2 inches in two days! It's crazy! More plants are scheduled to arrive on Thursday. Which is, of course, the day we are supposed to have a snow storm.
Thanks, keep the good work please.
Btw i missed when you do some creepy motion with your face😂👍
Have been asking this question for awhile, thank you!
just adopted a blood parrot cichlid from pet smart, he’s currently in an old five gallon bowl but over the week i’m going to set it up :))
I've been waiting for this one.
Hey how do you choose live beginner plants for a 5 gallon tank where the substrate is sand and the tank is freshwater and also has a female Betta and a single snail any help would be appreciated and I'm so glad I found your channel and I love love love love your videos thanks for any help you can give me
Thank you for sharing this informative video. I enjoyed watching!
Thanks again. I will try pea gravel now that I’m upgrading the size of my tank. I loved sand until it became an ammonia problem. My fish like spitting it. Cute. I wonder if they will mess with the pea gravel? How is the poop collection in dirt substrate for plants?
Hey Thomas, can I use a nutrient rich substrate like Fluval stratum or Tropica aqua soil and still have community fish like neon's, guppies, etc.
My concern would be the ph.
The amount of likes in this comment says how cool thomas is
pink is best for a betta in a 0.5 gall bowl without heater and with extreme flow
2:58 I have that same cave! The left side one. All my fish love sleeping under it and swimming through it!
would a gravel substrate work in a peacock cichlid tank?
I’m new to having an aquarium and wanted to stock live plants. I basically bought and did everything the pet store employee recommended.
I mentioned to her that I wanted live plants and she said gravel would be fine, as long as I didn’t put my plants in sand.
I didn’t realize that live plants needed their own substrate and so I already stocked gravel. You said live plants will “prefer” a live plant substrate. Is it a necessity?
With love,
Freaking out at every turn
Hi if I am using live plants in my tropical aquarium (just starting the hobby) with fish can I use the soil substrate with fish
My 7year old daughter loves the color pink. Is pink gravel substrate ok for fish I would think the imitation color would be toxic to the fish?
Can we get a viddy on just planted substrates that go a little more in depth?
What is the best substrate for fancy goldfish?
Guys i want to aquascape a 17 gal rimless for a Betta Paradise. Money is tight and id like to get it done right or as close to right as possible. Question being; do i start a nitrogen cycle with like a store product immediately after I’ve planted and filled conditioned water. Or do i leave them alone with the conditioned water and fertilize on a regular basis? Fish out for both of these obviously.
Is it possibly to put a soil type substrate in and then a gravel on top?
Ye
How to u clean a fluval or ada style substrate. Do u clean it or do u kinda just hover ur vac over it to try and pic up big things
I recently changed my 75g tank and did a complete water change because of cloudy water....did not realize that I needed to vacuum the substrate each week (like I plan to do from now on). I also bought a canister filter to go along with my HOB Marineland filte….do I need both filters for this 75g tank? It seems to be staying clear now.
Wonderful video. Is it safe to mix both pea substrate and plant substrate?
Which subbstrigh would you recommend for Dojo Loaches?
Can you do a video on what to do with common Parasite or diseases fish get (ick). The natural way
What kind of fish is at 3:45 ? Picture by Andrew W
axolotl. it isnt exactly a fish, its closer to an amphibian i think...
@@alanfisher3393 Thanks. Just looked up. Thought it would be cool addition to my cichlid tank. After reading up on them. Definitely NOT.
haha ;D cichlids are semi aggressive and will attack the gentle axolotl :O
Just asking senpai. Shall I put substrate on my goldfish tank? Suggestions please. Thanks
Hi, I have been watching your videos and I am a fan. I am quite new to this hobby and I have a doubt. The substrates specifically available in the market for planted tanks are expensive in India. As there is a need for about 5 cm thickness of substrates in the front which gradually increases again towards the back it will become very expensive for me. I would like to know if I can have a base layer of aquatic clay or any other material (please advise) for that purpose to create the desired layout and then top it with substrate so that I can reduce the amount of substrate to be used. I will be very grateful if I can get a reply for this. I am open to all kinds of suggestions where I can use these substrates cost effectively.
Hey there! I LOVE your videos! They are so informative. I need a bit of help with my tank. I am not sure why my plants keep dying. I have a fresh water aquarium. I have fine gravel substrate and also have good amount of ADA AMAZONIA under it. My plants roots keeps getting dark brown and they keep uprooting all the time. Can you tell me what's going on?
Vampire crab care video soon please
Yeeeeessssss
Hi could you possibly do a video on how to clean your fish tank that has sand or dirt. I'm just curious if it's done the same way like gravel I heard it is not done the same way. I want to know if it's true and if so how do I clean an Aquarium that has sand or dirt?
The I needed this video.
Can you mix different types of substrate. Like a multitiered floor where say the center is higher with one type of substrate, and each side of the raised center/divider a different substrate?
Like the vid.
However should add a text/note that one need to follow the rules and laws for each country.
As in my country, we have a bunch of laws reguarding fishkeeping. Such as have to have one side covered/painted, round aquariums, bowls are forbidden for fish, tank has to be decorated simular to how they live in the wild and s on. Not that its heavily enforced. Could just be neat to mention that it may vary depending on country/state rules/laws.
Going to do a nano tank for a betta on my desk, was going to try sand but wondering if its really worth it.
Any views on pool filter sand?
Hi I have a 55 gallon fish tank and I want to put a koi fish inside but I do not know absolutely nothing can you make a video talking about what kind of things that we can put in to the Fishtank far is rock plant and other fish talk about how to clean the fish tank And how to keep it clean
Hi Thomas! I was hoping you could answer a question I have, I couldn't seem to the support e-mail anywhere! I read that bettas need low flow filters... I have a Silent Top Fin ® Silenstream 10 Power Filter and I was wondering if this filter would be okay for a betta in a 10 gallon tank or if I need to get a different one. If I need a new one, I could use a few suggestions! Thank you!!
Having only goldfish, I learned years ago to have sand in my aquarium. I have had one too many get gravel stuck in their mouth. Can't remember how I got it out but it was scary.😭
Jacqueline Kariuki oh no! I have goldfish, have sand and for months I was doing daily water changes, they almost died. It was coming from the sand. My Goldie’s love spitting the sand around. So cute. I was thinking pea gravel but the horror if one of them chokes on the stuff!!! Thanks for that consideration.
What’s the best for a shrimp tank?
Best substrate for carpet plant. something that holds plants.
my planted substrate has gone dry. I use root tabs and ferts. Problem I have is the the substrate destroyed my Cory's barbels when it went dry. I feed them over a bed of almond leaf and hand feed them black worms by guessing where to drop the worm where they can smell them. My tank is established, 3 yrs. old and I don't want to rip it apart. What can I do with this now sharp edged soil. Thank you in advance
I'm wondering (I know this has nothing to do with substrate) but I want to start a planted tank I'm wondering though if I could keep angel fish and blood parrot cichlids together?
Thanks 💖💞🥰🐠🐠🐠☯️🎶😄
If I use a substrate with nutrients for plants, do I still need to use the nutrition tablet thingies from time to time? Or do i only meed those when I use a substrate without nutrients, like sand or normal gravel?
Your funny and kinda weird lol but very good info source and I thank you for making learning easy for me,as a new aquarium owner.
I want to try and switch from gravel to a plant substrate, but I don’t want to stress my fish out too much with the change (I don’t have too many but I just recovered from an ammonia spike), but I also don’t want to just pour it. Any tips?
How do you clean a planted tanks substrate without uprooting the plants?
can you please tell me the name of the hand vacuum thing you use to clean the substrate, and where you got it, thank you!!
It's a python siphon. Check out Amazon
Hello sir! Which is better aquarium setup a planted aquarium or just an artificial plant?
Jose Karlo Rebleza I want to know this too. I know plants help with ridding ammonia but the can rot and cause ammonia. Another living thing to care for 🤷♀️
Wish I had gotten something a little more corse when I started my tank.
what substrate fits in Mollies?
I'm really loving your videos sir. I would really appreciate if you released them a bit more often though.
Is better to have a planted aquarium?
A good substrait is bio home from pond guru she knows it out
Biohome is filter media not substrate
Can you use soil and then put color substrate on top of the soil?
Yeah it's possible but isn't always easy
Im going to be starting a saltwater nano reef tank in the next couple months, I’m leaning towards live plants and until i watched this video i was leaning towards sand for the aesthetic - but now I’m not really sure what kind of substrate to use for my tank
I'd love to find some flat gravel like that shown at 2:35. Anyone know if it's something I can order? That looks great, IMO, but the only pea gravel I can find locally looks like... peas. I've even hit up some gravel companies, but haven't found anything good. I'm just putting together a 20 gallon tank, so if I can't find that, I'll probably go with Flourite.
I use pea pebbles which i bought from home depot
I want to get a betta fish and i dont know what to choose for the substrate i also have a catfish there
great vid. i hate rainbow gravel
How well will my amazon swords grow in regular gravel?
I have had some success, granted my tank prior to adding them had been established for like 9 months so I had a lot of detridus under my under gravel
Late comment but my roommate put a small one in her 10gal with gravel less that a year ago and it's huge now. With plain tiny LEDs and no co2 or anything special. 1 small beta and 2 med snails. If that helps. :)
Make long video on African cichlid breeding , fry to adult
Hey Thomas is it possible to use a undergravel filter in conjunction with a canister filter when having a planted tank. I sent yall an email today with my current setup and my future plans. I would love to see a video on this filter combo idea if yall can.
It's almost 2 months after this was posted so I hope someone will still see this, cause I'm a little worried.
I want to have sand on the bottom of my aquarium (because I intend to get a betta fish, -the tank will be about 30 liters don't worry- and I am really careful about him not cutting his fins, which I think could happen with gravel, correct me if I'm wrong), but when trying to research how to clean sand (I can use one of the aquarium vacuums right?) I kept seeing people say that because of sand there was rotting on the bottom of the aquarium, and then algae formed?
This appearantly due to them using the nutrition layer for plants under it, and there not being enough airflow. Are there ways to prevent this from happening?
Do plants need that nutritional layer or not-some say they get their nutrients from the water and that that is enough-?
EMI V I caution you. I had a terrible time with waste in the sand spiking the ammonia levels.
I was thinking pea gravel but someone said they can choke on it!
It's better to use substrate it helps with filtration
Glub glub glub
Are you Jesus?
Edit: great video I go to the big als store in Mississauga and never am disappointed they always have great live stock,decorations and tanks like my brother got and not to mention the variety of live plants.
Bro I'm havin a question MMM k.. where am I? Haha
I could listen to this guy forever but who cares about what I think ? I am just a pickle after all!!
How do I convince my parents for a fish?
I have done all my research, figured out how much of my money I will spend,I would feed them and clean their tanks but they still won't let me
I would politely ask them what their consers about you having a tank is. Take their worrys into consideration and tell them how you can fix ,improve or avoid what they are worried about
I have sand in my tanks, I'll nvr go back to gravel. Lol
Same here. In my current tank I have valisneria planted in the sand and they grow fast.
First :)
It’s too late 😂 I chose this ugly kiddie substrate because that was all there was.. I want a different kind so I can also put live plants in there
I think you could've showed the entire scape in 1 video... its been taking way too long.
corydoras with no substrate🚫
gravel lives matter 😂😩🤔
You talk too fast man