one trick I've learned is that you can freeze mud into ice cube rays, then plant them like root tabs, slowly so as not to get your tank too cold. If you started with just inert fish store gravel or something, you can plant mud cubes, and then pour in sand on top to make it a proper deep cap substrate, very easily.
I have a lot of tanks with inert substrate and the plants are thriving. We dose the water column and use root tabs. This is a great vid with a lot of info!
What i do is buy 50% aqua soil 50% regular black sand. Aqua soil on the bottom, topped with black sand. After all the roots are below the surface. Half the cost, still gain the benefits. Then just add some root tabs here and there when you feel there needed.
Very good and informative video. Thanks for putting this video together and sharing it. I've always had good luck with course gravel and dosing the water column with Easy Green or similar. Gravel is fine for simple root feeders if the tank is well established and has some mulm in the gravel. Just my experience. I only keep simple low/medium light plants. Thanks again for putting out a high quality video. It helps promote the hobby. Cheers.
Just pool filter sand, DIY osmocote, no CO2, and weekly fert dosing and my Jungle val have taken over. I seriously have to do some major bush trimming so my fish can have some swimming room. I've removed a lot, cause at this point its getting to the point of invasive, and seeing how heavily the roots have grown in is amazing.
Lol true words... Every time I do maintenance i use my tweezers to pick the small eroded aquasoil and put em back to the higher area to maintain my scape... It's hard at first tho my tank is nano, yall wouldnt want to pick beads of aquasoil weekly. Welp my plants appreciated my hardwork and grow onto the slope of the scape and hold the soil so they won't erode anymore. Love my montecarlos
I figured out why I'm here and I believe you're the one that can help me! I need this thing that you call 🤔🤣😁"finesse" I'm also excited that you covered undergravel filters! I watched a wonderful video by Colin Barsby that talked about using a powerhead to make a reverse trickle and it allows warm water that is slowly pumped beneath the substrate! I have a 33 gallon long that I am going to set up and it has an undergravel filter installed in it and I would really like to try it out! I want to do a deep sand bed. I've seen two ways of doing it.. putting down a layer of gravel, then soil capped with sand. The other way I saw it done was putting a fine-mesh down first and then dirting the tank and capping it! Or one that I thought of was using a thick layer of stratum and then capping it with sand! Probably by my comment you know I have no idea what I'm doing!🤣 Everyone I've talked to says "no do not use an undergravel filter in a planted tank" because of bacterial problems! But the power head method makes sense to me because it pushes the water underneath the substrate instead of using a air stone that would draw through the substrate! Did that make any sense? 🤣 I am old senile, a girl, kind of blond and still a noob 😁🤣 I would appreciate any help on this subject to properly set this up or should I scratch the whole project and just put in sponge filters! Any which way I do it, I really appreciate your videos! You are a wonderful teacher and very inspirational.. not to mention you are hilarious 😂 I appreciate that! I hope you had a wonderful weekend and I hope you have a blessed week! Thank you for sharing! I'm re-reading this comment and wondering if I should post it 🤣 what the heck, there's nothing to lose and a lot to gain🤔😁🌿🐟🌱🙏
Nice! So what you are talking about is making a form of a plenum which is a great way to filter abet a but of a set up. Make sure to use a MESH between the UGF and the bottom layer of the substrate. You need to space between the bottom of the glass so you don't want dirt to accumulate there. If you are using the UFG method to push warm water into it, it HAS to be a trickle, like really really low low flow... Or you can just go without using an UGF and just use bio balls, make the plenum without the need to hook up a powerhead.
Also if you're using soil or sand, make sure to use a cloth mesh, the stuff you use for gardening instead of a mesh type of think like a window screen. The holes would be too big. And I would also nix the reverse pump and just use a air pump and create a very very very slow flow in the empty area.
@@TheWaterBox thank you for the feedback!! I believe I will go for it! I'm working now to gather materials. I have ordered soil additives from @Father Fish that I need to add to the organic potting soil.. for my layer of dirt! It looks a lot like the bag of additives you had in a video! I've been watching everything I can find! We have a great live stream every morning where we discuss all things on the subject of dirting a tank. Maybe you've seen it, if you haven't we can always use incredible people like yourself to join in!! He is definitely old school and is a great addition to the RU-vid community! You guys have so much great information. I feel fairly confident I can pull this off even as a noob!! I want you to know how much I truly appreciate you!! This is definitely one of the best channels out there, I've already decided I'm going to get me one of your shirts, because I like to support great channels like yours!!! Thank you again! 🙏🌱🐟🌿
Really helpful info my local aquarium actually delivered an Amazon sword accidently with my Java fern and Java moss I called them up and they said I could keep it as I am a repeat customer but I had no setup for rootfeeders this videos taught me how to at least hopfully keep them alive in my planted gravel tank
Getting my research on! Been attending to my 75 gallon for many years but it's time for something different. I think I'm going to get me a 15 gallon and try my hand at live plants. When I figure it out, then it's onto the 75!
@zeb Didn't go well for me. Ended up getting a 10g and used bdbs substrate with root tabs. Also used co2. I really struggled with diatoms to the point where the plants were dying. I ended up tearing it down a couple months ago and put in some fake plants.
Great vid and excellent tips ! I find dosing my water causes an algae heaven I even use 50:50 RO as the fertilisers left over in the tap water where I’m from are enough diluted to feed my plants. Always use root tabs in my sand substrate though and might even give your home made ones a go 👍
Great! If you're getting algae blooms, then it just might mean you need to dial back on the dosing. Or plant more plants. Basically the intake of nutrients are less than the the amount you need to dose. The plants can't take it all with either not enough "populations" to "eat" eat or/and it's just now growing fast enough to need all of that. Usually, you can just dial back on dosing. The DIY root tabs works pretty well for me so hopefully it'll do you justice! :)
The Water Box yea my tanks pretty low tech, I lower the light intensity and dose with liquid carbon, lots of plants but medium growth, like you say you have to gauge it for your own tank 😬
@@TheWaterBox That's why I don't dose that much cause the last time I got into growing plant's they got algae or dying & I got rid of the algae & most of them died so I just gave what was left away & didn't mess with it for 2 years& just getting back in it again. After 2 years of no plant's & study doing research on certain plant's I now have a NICE slew of plant's in a 75 gal aquarium a yr after setting up the tank.
I've had crazy good success with regular black sand and so much so that my tank is overflowing with plants less than a year later. Only thing I added was a root tab towards my melon plant and a jungle val. Hardly use ferts, so would recommend just regular old sand for beginners instead of dumping money on some expensive substrate specifically made for planted aquariums.
I've been using construction sand because those sand came from river quarries, the technique is not to wash the sand till crystal clear just wash the sand two times enough for bigger debris to rinse off, you don't want to loose those soil along the sand because those soil gives nutrients.
Hey man I remember watching your videos last year when I was getting back into the hobby and setting up a new tank. Now a year has passed and my lowtech 15 gallon has really grown in and is lush! I really owe my success to you, thanks!
Great video, I'm about to reset my dirted 40g breeder with inert substrate and diy tabs + liquid ferts. Had lots of success with dirt but it's really messy.
thank you so much for all this information. I will have to replay it over and over again because I can't retain new information the first time too well but that 's why I can come back and watch it again and again and maybe again, to get it, but then binge watching is always good. :D
Great video as always. I really appreciate and enjoy your channel. Your videos are always both entertaining and informative. I use play sand in all my tanks. I use Thrive from NilocG and diy osmacote root tabs. Thanks for sharing and keep doing what you do if it works for you.
AMAZING VIDEO!!!! I love the idea of making my own...less bottles to buy, less packaging...save $$$. 4:47 though...LOL!!! I totally subscribed. :) Thanks for sharing you knowledge!
Another great video man, keep up with the good work, you been helping me a lot know that I'm getting into planted tank. Just one question tho, I'm wondering how many root tabs should I use? I have a 38 gallon tank and it is not fully planted, any advice? Cheers
are dwarf hairgrass root feeder?Can i grow dwarf hairgrass on gravel? if i can, will it's growth gets slow and if it gets slow,how much slow will it get? i will be dosing some co2 in the tank with liquid ferts. PS-is liquid fertilizer bad for shrimps? i have heard shrimp are sensitive to heavy metal substance.
Yes but make sure you're dosing at least. Some ferts can be bad for shrimp if they have heavy metals. I can suggest getting Nilcog Thrive S for planted shrimp tanks. Mix is made for planted tanks with shrimp.
This was a great video! I loved the edit and the information flows very nicely. I can definetly tell you put a lot of work into your videos and I may have to take you up on that colab video invite soon... ;)
This might sound dumb but could you inject nutrients in the substrate with like an a big turkey injectors? That way you could give only areas that look like there not doing well ? Just a thought !
We use what's call root tabs to do that. I'm not sure what kind of "nutrients" you're talking about using a turkey baster. Either dry or liquid it wouldn't make sense since the "nutrients" would just leave the are after you inject it into the substrate.
@@TheWaterBox I know this is a month old, but I was thinking of doing the same but with osmocote granules. Just sucking them up in a turkey baster and injecting them into the substrate. I assume since the only thing different about this from diy root tabs would be a turkey baster insteAd of gel capsules instead
@@TheBrockinater It'll work. Just make sure you get the granular into the substrate. I don't have this problem but people say that the granular kill fish. I think it might be something different for them that's doing it but yeh, they just get distributed into the substrate after the gel melts.
That's dumb.. just use root tabs lol. Injecting fertz in the soil will last maybe a few hours, then it will just enter into the water colum. Root tabs works great if you don't have any invertebrates. Most contain copper.. copper is death for shrimp, snails, ect. Hope this helps!
I haven't grown too many different plants, but the two "planted tanks" I've done used different inert substrates. I found that soil particle size to be a bit more important than nutrient density. The one tank had fine sand, and the other had larger particles, that were about the consistency of crushed terra cotta. I planted dwarf hairgrass in both and both had fish. The sand one had a pest snail and one female betta. The terra cotta like substrate was in a bigger tank and had a small school of white clouds and a ghost shrimp. At first I did not fertilize either of them. The grass in the betta tank grew very slowly, but it was healthy. The grass in the white cloud tank slowly started to die. I tried plant tabs but it didn't help, so I pulled them out and put them in a shohin size bonsai pot filled with sand and put it back in the same tank. They started to grow normally again after the transplant, and did not need more fertilizer to come back. I think the problem was that the hairgrass in the terracotta substrate wasn't stimulated to grow roots because it couldn't "sense" that it was in a substrate since there was too much if a distance between the particles. Similarly to how a vine uses its sense of touch to regulate its growth, I think something similar can assist rooted plants to create more roots. Most of my plants seem to get plenty of nutrients from the fish waste, as they would in nature. I do add plant food but only when I notice deficiencies, which is not often.
I saw a really densely planted tank on one of George Farmer's aquascape tour videos that contained sand only as a substrate (I asked to confirm it was only sand), and I asked about fertilization and he said they only dosed liquid fertilizer in the water column. So does that basically mean that the need for a nutrient rich substrate like potting soil/aqua soil is overhyped and not always necessary as long as you're fertilizing regularly with a liquid fert?
My aquarium plants were growing just fine but when the aquarium broke in May and I switched my substrate from gravel to sand they started fine but now they are diatoms every where and the plants aren't growing what should I do
Give it time, most aquariums go thru this. Clean with a sponge & scrub, water changes & time. Just need to let your tank go thru the process. Month or 2 & it should resolve itself.
True inert substance is...most likely not possible (each elements is reactive to one another to some extent, everything is volatile) but mostly inert...loosely said, yeah sure! Maybe the least reactive or took a loooong time to react (probably outlived the aquarist), anyways to think of all the chemicals and reactions, I'd say learn some basic chemistry (if dihydrogen monoxide/natrium chloride means something nasty...then well...) but living things tends to take turns unexpected (heck...some chem reactions is not rock solid) those what got me interested in this aquarium-scape stuff, closed system, but mimics and beautify...bonsai is boring...bonsai paludarium on the other hand, is cool (with myst and all)...in essence, I'd say this is the 21st century, progress is made, GMO is the way to go (maybe hassle free aquarium scapes?) maybe magic soil that release all the plant need to survive on a closed system? Who knows...
Yes you can. If you feed the aquarium and the fish eat it. The poop there is the nutrients for the plants. I have never had problems with plants in inert sand och substrate
I bought and opened the aquarium co-op root tabs and noticed it is a powder form. Would it be okay to grind the osmocote plus into powder form for it to dissolve faster because i did an experiment putting osmocote in a cup of water and noticed it took weeks for it to dissolve. Additionally, I also plan to grind the Mr. Iron pill. So what ratio in powder form would you recommend for both the Osmocote plus and Dr. Iron powder form?
Great vid as always, would you pls make a detailed vid on where to buy etc? I'm into diy tabs and ferts Tk you once again and do pls keep up the gd info
I use flourish root tabs and fluval liquid fertilizer. 20-30 gallon tank. 9 small fish 2 4inch fish. No co2 systems yet (thinking about it though). Gravel. Any tips?
How's your plants doing? It sounds like a solid start. If you want to try supplementing the plants with carbon, you can always dose liquid carbon like Seachem Excel.
A very informative video but a quick question: Would dosing and adding root tabs into the soil work for organic soil because I recall you saying in your video for the top 5 substrates that organic soil will have to be replaced. I'm new to this hobby so I don't know much.
Yes it will work just fine. Only two reasons to swap soil. It runs out of nutrient which can take a couple or years or so OR when something breaks down with it. I don't know what would break down soil as I've never gotten there or heard on the internet but a lot of people keep soil going long after it's lost it's nutrient charge. 🙂
I normally wait a couple of months before dosing macros to the water column as most soil will leech it's nutrients form the soil. I will still dose Micro nutrients (Basically trace elements, like Seachem Trace)
Unless you overdo it, they should be fine but anything can happen. Just be careful not to over fert the plants. Are your Oranda not chewing up or uprooting your plants? That can be a problem if they uproot plants and shift the tablets to the surface of the substrate and they try to eat the pellets or something.
@@TheWaterBox I bought the Mr. Iron pellets and noticed it doesn't dissolve in water. I'm planning to grind it and put in the capsule along with the osmocote. What are your thoughts?
@@Socalshortybulls No, it's not suppose to dissolve right away. It'll take a long ass forever time for it to do that. It'll give off iron when need for the roots just being there.
i hate those osmocote pellets , the half shells work their way up and look ugly ! i use jobs sticks . or you can freeze fertilizer cubes and push them under the substrate before they melt ,...........you have to be quick !
Hi, congratulations your channel is great, very informative. I got a question. How do you do to edit your videos. I got a you tube channel but the edit option is not available anymore. Thanks
Are all aquarium plants compatible with each other? In other words, are there aquatic plants that might have a negative affect on others close to them?
There are some plants that may grow faster than others and over take their root systems but other than that, it's rare there's incompatibility in which it'll kill other plants outright.
Hey! I'm a beginner to aquariums and I'm cycling my fluval spec 16 right now. I'm rocking a regular black sand substrate, with no added nutrients. The plants I plan on adding are Pearl weed, Hornwort, and Green Cryptocoryne. Do you think I can manage to grow these all without co2? And can I use the Pearl Weed as carpet fairly easily or is there something I need to do? And last question, should I use the liquid all in one fertilizer + root tabs or just root tabs?
How much inches do you usually spread out the DIY root tabs? I have a 75 gallon tank that have swords and Vals in the background that are usually 3 inches apart from each other.
For branded tabs, you have to follow their instructions. Each brand is different and has different nutrient make ups. For my DIY ones, I tend to jam a couple of capsules under a amazon sword about 10-12 inches tall.
Great video! Lots of helpful information. I just have a couple of questions: If you still have nutrients in your substrate, is it still okay to use root tabs or is that overkill? Also, what do you use to dose the Macro Micro nutrient? On the website it says to use a graduated dispenser bottle, but I don’t really know what that is. I googled it and a bunch of different things popped up. Anyways, thanks for reading!
You can add root tabs to a nutrient rich substrate (ADA, Soil) but yeh it would be overkill as it's not needed. For substrates like EcoComplete, Strum, Florite... etc... it will help TREMENDOUSLY if you use root tabs as it's not charged with the Macro Nutrients for plants. It depends on what you are using to dose. If you're mixing from dry ferts, a Graduated Dispenser works great. Otherwise, if it's premixed fert, just does from the bottle as instructed. A graduated dispenser looks like this one: amzn.to/2Ivejbi You'd mix or put the fert liquid in the large section and then squeeze the liquid into the small compartment to measure but you don't need something like that. It just makes things easy. Just get a bottle to mix the fert and then use a syringe (amzn.to/2tZlOEe) to measure out the fert and squirt into your tank. Or use measuring spoons.
I have live plants, and live fish, no fertilization.....they grow incredibly huge and lush..... I have some swords that that are 40 cm tall and 10x10 cm wide.....that in only 3-4 months....Have to trim them a bit. You can grow plants if you have heavy feeders that produce a lot of detritus and .....don't gravel vac your substrate, and only dose what is missing. I gravel vaccuumed my substrate after a couple of months and haven't gotten anything out of it, probably was discomposed and used by plants, without any detrimental effects on the fish ( i do test my water 3-4 times a week to see if things are fine). Root tabs would be an option for me if I remove some fish, but then I would need to buy 100 at a time :p. Fish are better at producing nutrients for plants.
Based on your experience, is Dr. Iron safe for aquariums? Will it effect invertebrates or fish's health? Also is there any other cases of its usage from other people or similar brands?
It never affected my fish. But I didn't have invertebrates in the tank. But it should affect them. You can always use potting clay. just roll them into tiny balls and let dry.
Well, plants propagate so there will always be new plants that can grow from old. Old leaves will die out and new leaves replaced.... etc. It's a living thing so it depends on the plant
I need you help. Im doing my biggest planted discus tank ever. A 220. It has been set up for about a month. Potting soil substrate with gravel cap, clay balls in substate, flourish root tabs, pressurized co2, kessil lighting, and i dose twice a week of. Flourish, iron, potassium, and flourish trace. But some how some of my plants just wont grow. They wont melt or yellow or die. But they just wont root and grow. Water temp is at 84 since it is a discus tank. Thank you and love your channel
It's most likely the temperature. Discus needs to be warm. Plants handle and grow faster in cooler temps (74-78). That's the only think I can think of form what you've posted here. What plants are we talking about here?
I know this is a very old video. But k loved when you said get a little fiber with bubbles coming out of his Mask. Speaking of I had a little diver guy that has bubbles coming out of his ass. It’s called the farting diver. Lmfao. I just thought of that when you said that.
Hello again ! Great video. I have a simple question, about the active substrates like amazonia, tropica and so on. I am aware they are charged for around 1, 2 years max. But you have to ruin the tank because all the substrate is empty or for what reason? For me there is no reason to ruin it, if u after 1 year add nutrion tabs and use liquid ferts and fishes of course. Or you mean the soil becomes dirt and it's hard to maintain? I started using active substrate 2-3 months ago and have too many questions in long term.
OK. Soil does not equal Aqua Soil. Both runs out. But soil will always be soil. Once the nutrients runs out, it's just basically mud with no nutrient. I can't think of any reasons why soil will break down and be bad that I know of but I'm not a scientist. Gotta ask someone smarter for that. But in my experience, soil is just soil. You can "recharge" it if you want by taking it out and composite it but that takes time. Again, not needed, just use tablets. Aquasoil substrates like amazonia, tropica, ect... are clay or volcanic based substrates. When they lose nutrients, you can use tabs. They do break down over time and become mush. I think seachem flourite doesn't but I've heard a few people mention theirs did break down. When it breaks down, it's messy so it become "soil without a cap" basically. So it's just an aquarium with mud as the substrate. I guess you can add a cap if you want but that'll be a pain in a tank full of water and decorations... etc. So unless there's any other reason other than you wanting to change everything out to have a "charge" substrate, just leave the whatever you have in there and start using root tabs. That's basically what this video is about. I when say "after a year or two, aqua soil/soil loses nustrient and people redo their tanks", that's just an option MOST hardcore planted tank people do. If there's nothing wrong with the soil/aquasoil you're using other than running out of nutrients, then you can leave it in your tank. As long as it's not crashing your tank, you are fine. I think I'm explaining that right and more clearly? Hope that helps :)
My aquarium used ADA AMazonia for 2 months, then something happen I don't know what. The balance was gone and the water turned foggy. I tried stabilizing it for 2-3 weeks but no result, the mist was always there. So I removed the ADA and restarted the aquarium. However the ADA wasn't cheap so i dry it and put in bags. So my question is, is it okay at some point (new restart or new aquarium) to use this soil and should I use something like cap/hat on it to be sure there won't be fog again?
Really good channel, watch all your videos! I’ve had a fluval flex 57l with soil and gravel cap, and filled it with jungle val bacopa and dwarf sag, and also some floating water lettuce. Without buying testers etc how long would you say it would be until safe for fish, (I’m doing 25% water changes every other day) and had it set up running for 2 weeks now. Many thanks and keep up all your good work 🏴christian🏴
Christian Dowling no clue. I'd be guessing. I don't know what soil you use and how much ammonia it leeches at first. Buy test kits, otherwise, to be completely safe, assuming all goes well, 8 to 10 weeks just to leave some breathing room.
Miracle gro potting mix, thanks for the reply. I’ll wait that long and just focus on the plants until then. Keep up the good work your videos are great
Thanks I’ll buy a kit today. Also you say about two types of plant growth juice. I can’t get either in uk with ease. What is the best stuff that’s easy to get in Europe please! Thanks
Oh crap, I keep forgetting about my euro friends. Try TNC. I hear good things about it and it's made in the UK I believe. So you don't have to buy expensive commercial brands: www.amazon.co.uk/TNC-Complete-Aquarium-Aquatic-fertiliser/dp/B009S4IGOG
Hey so i recently bought some root tabs from aquarium co-op and buried the capsule in my small tank. only to find the next day that it had floated to the surface and when i tried to push it back down the capsule burst open and sprinkled its contents into my water column. This just happened so i'm not sure if anything bad will come of it. Anyone else experience this? Is this harmful to my tank?
I've read that sand is low CEC so it doesn't retain the nutrients from root tabs. What's your take on that? BTW, I'm using black river sand on my planted and plants are growing decently.
@@TheWaterBox Since sand has low CEC, does that mean I have to dose my water column less because the sand isn't trapping much of the nutrients from my root tabs? I'm using the DIY osmocote capsules, btw.
@@jigokutsuushin You dose as per the instructions. You don't does less or more, regardless of the CEC value of whatever you're using for your substrate or what tabs you're putting in your substrate.
@@TheWaterBox how about growing montecarlo on organic soil in my aquarium? I can't efford aquarium soil as it is too costly in my place. I'm obsessed whit those carpeted aquariums from your channel.
You can grow them in f marbles if you want! Ever heard of aquaponics? If they can grow tomatoes in water and gravel, I'm pretty sure I can do that with a f aquatic plant!
