Foreground

[MyraVan]

65 watts is much better for growing plants! However, gravel still isn't a very appropriate substrate, as the grain size is too big to provide much surface area for plants, and it doesn't have any nutrition in it. I'd suggest changing the substrate for something more plant-friendly. You could go for a commercial substrate (Eco-complete, Flourite, etc), or laterite under sand, or (my favorite because it's the cheapest) 1" soil + 1" gravel.

I think that if you stick with your plain gravel you will still be fairly restricted in the types of plants you can grow. I had a 20 gallon tank with 1.5 WPG lighting and a gravel substrate, and I was trying to grow plants in pots of Flourite. The plants did kind of OK, but disgusting black algae eventually took over the tank. Three weeks ago I changed the substrate over to soil + gravel, rinsed off the plants (those that were still alive, anyway) and replanted them. The plants are looking better, the black algae seems to be gone, and other algaes are slowly retreating.

[Damon]

Turface MVP grey or regular is a good substrate. It basically baked clay (like the rest) but no added nutrients. I get it for $8.00 for 50 lbs. Cost me $32.00 to add to my 75 gallon tank. You can find it at some Super Walmarts and most lawn centers. (Its the same stuff they use on baseball fields to soak up extra water. May also go by the name Profile or Schultz Aquatic planting soil though it may be more expensive in these forms.

[Fishboy93]

I bought Eco Complete i think or the flourite but i had a huge mess. I took 2 days for the stuff to settle after cleaning it 7 times. Then whenever i put my hand in the gravel will shoot all the silt back up makin an enormous mess. I was thinking about the root tabs at aquariumplants.com in the substrate fert section. It costs $8 for a pack and thats 50 tablets and they last 5-8 weeks i think. So 8 dollars a year isnt bad. would that work? I got a shipment of vals and crypts comin towmorrow

[MyraVan]

Flourite sometimes does make a mess. It's basically a rock made of clay, so the dust is clay dust, which has very fine particles which take a long time to settle out of the water. I didn't have any trouble with that when I used in pots in the old setup of my tank, but that's probably because I used so little of it. I have read of other people having problems with it as thier only substrate. I hope it will eventually settle down for you.

Funny thing is that many people think of soil + gravel as being a very messy substrate, but any soil I stir up when adding or removing plants settles back down in a few hours. Sounds like, if you're unlucky, some of the commerical substrates can be worse!

I don't have any experience with root tabs. Will you really need them for vals and crypts? They aren't very demanding plants. If you get swords, this is the sort of thing that would really benefit from the root tabs, I think. But then, I've got a few varieties of smallish to medium sized swords that are growing fine in a soil + gravel substrate wihtout any added ferts (in a tank with 2.4 WPG).

[Fishboy93]

I was thinking about adding a 1" layer of soil and 1" of sand. What is the best and reasonably price type there is? How do I change them? take all my plants and stuff out lower water level then change them out? At my lfs they sell swords if i do get root tabs can i keep them?

[MyraVan]

From what I read in the "El Natural" forum that I read, where Walstad-style natural tanks are discussed, soil + sand doesn't work nearly as well as soil + gravel. Something about the sand being too dense, so no oxygen at all penetrates to the soil level.

You've already got the Flourite, right? I have heard of people having success with sand on top of Flourite, see
http://www.plantedtank.net/sandsubstrate.html

As for how to redo the substrate, you take all your fish out and put them in buckets, take all your plants and decorations out, empty tank of water, remove as much of the old substrate as you like, add new substrate, moisten it, replant plants, fill carefully, replace decorations, let it sit for awhile for particles to settle and temp to stabilze, put fish back in.