I have been using 2 to 3 inches of soil with 2 inches of sand. Heavy planted and lots of floating plants for years. My plants grow like crazy and I do not do water changes. I have had many tanks like this and never had problems. I currently have 3 set up like this. I have to remove a couple of lbs of vegetable material a month from them as the plants grow so well. The fish are healthy and happy. I use a simple sponge filter. The moment I went to sand a dirt all my problems keeping fish and plants vanished.

Thanks so much for all your videos and info. For me personally, it's like Diana Walstadt and Father Fish laid down the basics of keeping fish more naturally and mimicking ecosystems, but you really go over it all with a fine tooth comb and bring so much to the table! I love your biology focused videos like this, and the in depth fish history videos. I've never seen anyone cover aquariums so well on youtube. You're easily my favorite aquarium youtuber.

You can tell homie consumes the natural plants/fungi the planet has to offer.

Great video. Between you and father fish I'm learning so much and I've had aquariums for years. This helps a great deal.

Had to count the rummy's out of habit of counting mine every morning like a maniac to make sure nothing died. Am I the only one who counts fish all the time?

In January my first dirt/sand planted tank will be one year old. I have learned so much, and I freaked out about some things along the way, but you helped me several times. I agree about fusing different things from different fishkeepers. There were times I was really sure I knew something, but turned out I really didn't have the whole picture (I mean, I still don't, but I think I am getting better! lol). I remember thinking that my tank getting more acidic was a bad thing, because a bunch of my shrimp failed to molt, and I blamed it on the ph and not calcium depletion. I really appreciate your videos explaining all of this. You have helped make my journey less stressful and more enjoyable. I think a big part of learning to keep fish is gaining confidence, and good information helps that happen.

Thank you Alex! Im new to youtube and doing lots of research before i buy my first tank in over 20 years. I did okay back in the day but after going down the rabbit hole I have found that I know nothing. You have bridged the gap between my favorite aquascapers and hard to understand science. You are my fishy hero!

Good video Alex. I definitely agree that nature works on a different time scale to most of us lol. I know from my tanks that deep undisturbed substrates become more fertile with every year that passes. They just keep getting better and better, to the degree that I’m not sure they ever stop evolving and improving. Simply fascinating to observe :)

Thank you. I really appreciate your doing the in depth research and weighing the risks and benefits in using the various methods. Your honestly pursuing informed, experienced, and science-based knowledge really helps everyone else save the time and disappointment from having to try and navigate learning all the variables involved in good aquarium-keeping. I appreciate you 👍

Have 3 deep substrate planted tanks (FF method). I'm 3 months in and they're doing great! I truly appreciate you giving some of the science behind this. You educate deep science and history in such a relatable way. You are a treasure!!

Good morning Alexander! Your such a great teacher. Thanks for taking time out of your day to help educate us all. Much love and respect! ❤

Great video Alex I'm six months in with an inch of organic compost, and a 3 inch layer of small gravel in my planted tank. It's the first soil deep bed substrate I've ever done and the best success with plants and very low nitrates that I've ever had. No going back from a deep bed for me now !

You’re always a wealth of information, thank you! Been watching your channel for years. I got the honor to meet FF since his store was in driving distance before he moved to Maryland. Both of you are great! Stay safe

Great video Alex.. the thing i like about your channel is the amount of education. Thanks buddy 🙂

Very timely video since I was wondering what was up with all the different colors in my layered substrate. Started my first deep sand substrate in a 55, after trusting the process and letting the green water come and go I got a great looking tank.

Thanks Alex! If you've got the time and energy, could you do an in-depth video on potential ingredients to the soil lasagna, and how to tweak it for your specific circumstances?

Well done video! My water box garden never ceases to amaze me!

This was helpful. Getting ready to set up a dirted tank based on the FF method.

Im glad you pointed out how every tiny thing you do can change your tank from someone else's. You could have the 100% exact tank as someone else, but say your substrates are both 5", but one person replansts their exact stem cuttings into their substrate with super thin tweezers down about 3/4s of an inch, and the other takes that exact same trimming and plants them 3 inches deep with their ginger, you will get 2 different results over time. Well said sir!

Patience is sometimes hard to come by,but my FF dirted tanks are really going great now after 8 months,love how you break it all down

Finally had time to relax and watch Shisho's latest videos! And it's a doozy of literal fishstory!! Fish and history brought to you by Shisho is the best flipping way to pass a lazy Sunday!!

I like your process the best Alex. I found out about deep beds the hard way. Father Fish said "Betta fish are better in a confined space because they can't swim." Mine can, so I give them a big tank to cruise around in

I loved the growth! (Plant substrate beneath pool sand) Everything was so happy! We made a co2 unit with a juice bottle, drop counter...but I love a clean looking floor and it made the pool sand a mess...I maybe should have done more with grasses, but then I got a snail invasion...supposed to not multiply in your tank, but I didn't KNOW I wasn't getting the correct species...maybe I'll try in my new 29 tall... The more planted, the better, but they do require constant pruning:) hoping my slider will eat it as a snack:)

Great info. Although I haven't had the courage to cap soil with sand due to fear of compaction, I have used it with fine gravel and crushed lava rock cap (eco complete). The tank with the eco complete cap is doing amazing. Plant growth is awesome, roots are super healthy, and parameters are steady as you'd ever want them to be. I do have fairly hard water, which definitely helps. I set up a 2nd tank with a clay based substrate (oil dri and akadama), and can attest to the KH drop. It took the PH down to 6.5 and has held it there for over 6 months. Plant growth has been decent, since I seeded it with a good amount of Osmocote, but it'll be interesting to see how it matures. One nice benefit of the clay is that moving plants is way less messy than in a soil tank!

Absolutely love your channel. Fully agree with everything you say. I wish I could find something I disagreed with but you are just so good at our hobby as a fellow fish fam. member unlike anyone else I can just never find anything I disagree with regarding your approaches of what you encourage people to do to try to keep our fish as healthy as possible during their lives.

Thanks that make me feel better as i just set up deep bed with tropica substrate and sand on top.but some people say sand is not good.The so called science man.

Exact. In agriculture we grow in so many media. But it all about light and nutriments!

Very cool to get a more recent look at some of your tanks and see how things have changed, and others like the layers in your substrates have stayed so much the same. What you said about nature taking eons really is apt, like a river stone that's tumbled off a mountain all sharp and jagged and takes a ton of years to become that pretty rounded pebble we pick up while hiking. 🙏✌️

I am using the Aqueon Aqua soil and fine sand. The surface substrate may be compacted the plants are growing like crazy from one tank I now have 5 aquariums with cuttings from the one, I have done next to no vacuuming in this tank or water changes. My sponge filter motor just crashed I am using an airstone bubblier for the moment. The detritus just sits in the corner of the aquarium. I have fry guppies that shift through it and Nerite snails and bladder snails plus two Hill stream loaches and some shrimp in this tank. I started this tank in December 2023 it's four months in I think since the detritus isn't being absorbed as much I will have to assist in removing it my challenge is the long stem plants which will need to be pulled to catch the baby fish and their parents. I hope not to destroy the balance of the tank. Thanks for sharing your knowledge about the substrate.

Great video Alex! I am thankful that you shared the term, "brownian motion," at the end of the video. I have been trying to learn more of the principles related to how substrate moves and settles. I've made observations and hypotheses about how substrate materials settle over time in relation to one another, but I want to learn more about the physics behind it. If I keep substrate materials layered in a clearly defined way, they usually stay that way. When materials are mixed together or loosely layered, I have rocks and aquatic soil pellets eventually float above my sand layer, especially if there is a current in the water from a filter. I am guessing that movement of particles from the current (and perhaps brownian motion) cause more buoyant materials to float to the top, while heavier ones sink, but I can't help but wonder if there is more to it than that. Maybe the size of the particles/materials matters in determining where it will eventually settle too? I would love to learn more about the laws of physics that govern how substrate materials settle in relation to one another. Thanks for all that you do!

Big comprehensive explanation of the variables.. these little things make a big difference… always learning lots here.. thanks for the science and history ..

lately i've been using just sand, liquid ferts for the first month with a high initial plant load. i add root tabs in time if i notice nutrient deficiencies in plants. i also do high filtration and high stocking. my 20 long full of crypts, swords, and vallisneria is a jungle now after 6 months, i've had some algae battles but it is balancing now. i have corys and assassin snails to stir the surface layer constantly, which helps work the nutrients down deeper as well as into the sponge filters.

Highly informative and well delivered video. I've been driving myself nuts before setting up another planted tank and this gave me clarity.

Great video, thanks. Most of my tanks are 3 inch dirted substrates now, capped with 1 mm grain size sand. I find that after it settles (a month or two) the nitrates keep going down. I only do water changes now every 6 weeks (and that is not because of nitrate that stays well under 10ppm, usually around 5) just to replenish whatever untested for stuff might get depleted or build up. I have found the same thing with aquasoil and I have one tank running a slow moving plenum, same thing there as well, the nitrates stay almost undetectable once the system is mature.

Great video! On the point of pool filtration sand: Inert capping substrate is more important than it may seem. Many tanks set along the lines of FF method have the issue with increasing water hardness, esp. if they don't follow the method to a T. Something in my deep substrate tanks is increasing hardness and pH (up to 8). In one of those tanks I have a layer of aqua soil and it truly pushes pH down, but the water is even harder than in older tank with no aqua soil. I didn't add any aragonit, crushed coral... but I reused older sand-gravel and soft gravel substrates as part of it. So I suspect old snail shells, overlooked limestone pebbles and I also used cheap crushed lava rock. Not every lava rock is truly inert. Quick test strip show the hardness should be well above 300 ppm, sometimes even 375 ppm (limit), TDS meter would go crazy (1000+ ppm), yet fish don't seem to care.

I loved every word of this video. Most of the stuff I now do automatically. I keep my aquariums exactly the way you do recently I had a terrible tank crash. I only put maximum 1 inch formula, soil father fish style with 2 inch sand cap, but I’ve had to put another half inch of sand on top of that. The problem is they are all nano tanks not even 10 gallons so I don’t have enough space to just keep filling up the aquarium to be half substrate. Plants are extremely expensive for me because I’m a permanent property level extreme low income but I would never ever give up no matter what so I’m just making things work. Tonight, I just got the idea that even though it took three years to build up the pots with the bottoms, cut off on my balcony because my daughters and my place is the type of a skyscraper 🏙️ instead what I’m going to do is slowly remove all of those pots which is extremely difficult & get into the fish tubs on the tiny balcony so there is some configuration of tubs, even though the balcony is extremely tiny, so I am extremely limited to see the least like maybe one tub or maybe 2 tubs maybe even 4 small ones but the problem is the smaller they get the shorter they go because they don’t really make “tall tubs” because the size would buckle & crack & break. I’m so excited about this. My life is truly enriched displays the extreme financial & time burden my childhood Hobby & rekindled spirits are pure joy is causing. Should I do a dirted formulated father fish method for my tiny balcony tubs because eventually I want to not have to change any water. How’s the systems stabilise & only do Justin top off’s? This is so exciting. Imagine a couple tubs on a tiny balcony at the top of a skyscraper with some cold water white cloud minnows with goldfish or whatever just some cold water fish with plants bursting out of the tops of the buckets like maybe I can put some potted plants, even just like one pot on top of my buckets and the roots can grow through the bottom into the highly nutritious tubs. How does all this sound Alex? I’m so honoured whenever you respond, I love your knowledge & you’re a passion for life. I share your passions my friend. The fish make me forget my problems too (even if for just a moment, it is a joy I can not begin to describe). Yes I eat fish that are only wildcat in the open ocean sustainably so they have a good life First, but I also have the pet fish. We have carnivorous teeth for a reason to eat both plants & animals. I’m basically almost a Pescatarian. Once every few months I’ll have some chicken & once every several months or basically just once or twice a year, maximum I’ll have some lean red meat. I’m getting back into my organics to like all my Foods Organic.

I so appreciate you showing us the different substrates youve tried yet another video i needed 😅❤ much love speaking of caps my corys and sand sifters keep eposing my new crypt roots those dastardly jerks 😅❤

I have a deep sand substrate with dirt in the bottom and aquasoil on its top. I also use a massive fluval fx 6. I have a massive planted tank with malawa shrimps and alot of nanofish. I rarely do water changes. My system is in equilibrium with no fish deaths for a looong loong time. Btw, I also inject CO2. I only feed ny tank once in every 2 days. I aint got time for more maintenance. Sometimes I trim the tank, but normally I let it grow every 2 months. I love ny system. Is a fusion between you and father fish and aome other guys. Since I changed my filter to the fluval fx, I noticed a massive growth in all my plants. They grow even faster. Oh and my light is a chihiros wrgb pro. In my tank, water flow is the most important for plant growth, after that lights and nutrition. Water flow is key 😊 Thanks! PS. I rarely use ferts. Only once in a month maybe. I have so many fish I dont need more ferts than that XD PS2. I never had an algae issue.

I watched this movie once, and then again and again.. you are right. most people do not understand what father fish wants to tell us. Unfortunately, your movie does not make it easier for them, it introduces even more confusion. By the way, I like your aquarium with the "mud" over the layer of sand ......

In one of my tanks I have to use deep sand. I have a soft shell turtle (an Indian Flapshell) and he likes to burry himself in the sand with with only his eyes and nose sticking out. I can't have plants with him though, and because he's so messy, I have to run a Fluval FX6 filled to the max with different filters, and running at the max in order to keep his water and sand reasonably clean. One thing to note is that the sand isn't capped. He'd just mix it all up when he digs and buries himself. Further, he might confuse anything larger than sand with food, and swallowing gravel will kill turtles. Sand with a larger grain than fine river sand will abrade him and cause sores and problems with his shell. Even play sand is too coarse. One of the things he eats is fish, and I usually have some feeder fish in his tank. Some of them have not only managed to avoid being eaten, but have also lived in the tank's water for a very long time. The only plant I have in his tank is (horrors!) duckweed. He eats a little of that, as he wold in the wild, and it gives the fish a place to hang out if they don't want to be in the light of his basking stone or the tank light. I am using extremely fine river sand in his tank, and only that sand. My other thank is a whole other story. I only recently discovered father fish, and my fish tank is kind of a cross between what he's doing and what Fish Shop Matt and MD Fish Tanks is doing. Matt and MD don't put the wild biologicals in that Father Fish does. I do put them in and I use Father Fish's products in that aquarium. I just don't put in quite as thick a layer of substrate as he does. I agree with Alex that there is no right or wrong way, though I might add, except for what kills your fish. I also have a thin layer of ADA Aqua Soil, Amazon version 2 substrate in the second tank, then some of Father Fish's product which he harvests from ponds, capped with a thin layer of sand. My plants grow like crazy, and the filter on that tank is not at all overworked. I don't have to do tons of water changes, and my fish are healthy, and reproducing even though I'd just as soon they not. I don't have room for the extras, and we don't have a locally owned pet store where I live, so there's nothing to do with them except add them to the turtle tank. That really hurts when it's a CPD or a fish that would bring in a decent sum of money in a fish store. I have only one rather rare species, and it's not all that in demand. It's my cryptic corys which I just can't bring myself to feed to the turtle. The cardinal tetras, rummy nose tetras, clown loaches, hillstream loaches, cherry barbs, hatchet fish, whiptail plecos, otocynclus, blue shrimp, micro crabs, and bamboo shrimp just aren't that special. You can find those at any PetSmart. Only the cryptic cory is a bit hard to come by, and they're really not all that hard to get if you're willing to wait. Nitrous Oxide?!!! I'm gonna stick my head in my fish tank and laugh myself silly, since Nitrous Oxide is also known as Laughing Gas. I wonder... how much of what do our fish tanks off-gas, and is that possibly a problem? For the most part, it can't be much, but if you're adding CO2 to a fish tank, any of that which isn't used will go directly into the room, and could give you CO2 poisoning if the room is not well ventilated. It would be a huge and expensive thing if we had to start adding hood fans which vent to the outdoors to our tanks. It would be interesting to do a study to see how much of what is coming from a tank. I don't know where you'd get the instruments from to determine that though, and I bet it would be very expensive to do it with any precision. If any of my aquariums are off-gassing anything bad (other than turtle farts) I'll just live (and die) with it. But I'll still wonder out of curiosity. Good video again! Lots of good information packed in it, and also many things which get us curious about what happens in our fish tanks. Keep up the great work! You have a core of people here who love your deep dives, including me.

I'm considering a dirt tank but not decided yet. It's a 20L and is sitting there with just a plenum, covered by landscape fabric anchored with gravel, until I make up my mind. As for aesthetics, I've built my first 3 tanks with a "wall" of nice gravel all around the glass edge with whatever substrate I use being layered behind it and capped with a layer of the gravel. That way it has a clean uniform look along the glass. I like gravel caps for ease of vacuuming when it's needed. My latest, most successful tank, has now gone for 9 months with heavy bioload of poopy Platys, but only needed vacuuming twice and water changes 3 times. The water chemistry has been perfect the whole time and I've only scraped algae off the glass 4 times! I used Novak's system of a plenum with the Walmart clay cat litter, layer of iron, one inch of an aqua soil, and half inch of a nice gravel. I seeded the tank with Dr. Tim's bacteria system to get it going with a strong start, and used lava rocks as the central hardscape decor to house them and the kuhli loach. This time I'm thinking of trying a mashup of Novak and FF's systems. I want a lake look of just large rocks, a piece of driftwood, and a variety of grasses/vals for the fish to swim in and out of.

It seems like I'm too deep into watching this video, because I've just picked up this hobby. So I don't really understand it yet, but this is great for those who are already in this community.

Thanks for great videos. You are my favorite fish guy!

Me over here just appreciating how nice sand looks and how cories nuzzle into it

Father fish style tank is the best way to go!

Boosting for the algorithm 🙌 Love your work, keep it up! 🌻🐝

You and father fish make a great team lol FF is great at getting the idea out there ( it works ..trust me ) And you are amazing at breaking down the Why ? 👍✅ Wow I was wondering what that 'no oxygen' layer was in my 55g , thanks

Good, practical knowledge. Great looking dwarf hairgrass, too!

Thanks for sharing! I have been missing the deep dive informational videos/live streams 😊

I use FF method in all my tanks (4 tanks so far) and I have noticed that even the "easy" plants don't grow as good as I'd expect them to (as compared to my control tank, where there is no sand, only a built up mulm on top of the soil). Some thrive, some don't. I suspect that the sand is too dense, limiting the amount of oxygen to the roots. If I was to re-do the tank, I'd probably do a dirt layer, then a gravel layer, then cap it all with a sand layer. The gravel would probably allow the substrate to be more open and aerated. Just my hypothesis though. I could be completely wrong lol.

I play the long game and let the sand substrate stratify over time. In my blackwater tanks it starts to hit the sweet spot at about 9 months, I think the breakdown of the botanicals helps a lot.

I learn that sand is really effective to make some fast-growing plant slows down its growth rate significantly, so you don't have to do any trimming etc. if I need to fill up some empty spot, just root tabs there and they'll spread there. drawback is nutrient. I've successfully make a rotala blood red singapore green which is not easy from what I know since they are always red at almost all conditions.

Thanks for continuing to educate! Much appreciated!

I think that seeing people grow plants in simple kitty-litter (Dr Novak) which is just pure-clay (no nutrients at all) has really made me think about how plants grow. Seems to prove that a substrate is simply a medium for plant roots to enable them to process nutrients (ie a home for bacteria). And that is what all these succesful methods have in common - Walstad, Father Fish, Novak. Great video and explanations here. The pure clay (no nutrients) substrate works - that was the most shocking part for me. I have not personally done it, but I have seen enough videos to believe it. Makes you start to think where plant nutrients come from.

I did the dirt and sand substrate and i love it!

If you are doing sand only, i have had some success with using corys to get organic material down into it. I just plop in a seemingly appropriate amount and feed them lots. After a few months, plants will start growing.

I don't have deep sand substrate, only 4 inches at the highest point. I don't use aquasoil, and chose to 'stir fry' my compost for ~5minutes then layered it with sand. I do try to step up and simplify my filter. I found that a 'minimalist' set of black foam plus k1 MBBR filter works in long run much better than any other filtration apparatuses I've ever tried (bioring, ceramic block, carbon, etc). You only need to squeeze and rub the foam like once or (at most) twice a week with your tank's water, siphon the filtration chamber for any debris left on the bottom, then refill the tank for the water loss (which also accounts as a small water change, probably 10-15%). Deep substrate take years to develops the ecosystem properly, just like what you implied here. That's why we need good biological filter to helps nurture it until it get fully matured. It takes months or even years to achieve the balance, and even then, people tend to disturb it by over-adding chemical ferts. Deep substrate is rich in nutrition, so better focus on adding trace elements instead of macronutrients fertilizer. I've been maintaining my tank for almost two years that way, with barely any fish died (except for that time when my brother unknowingly put an African Leaf Fish and it ate some as snack) 😅 It's a 30 gallons tank with 50+ tetra and platy. A bit tint-ish colored from adding too much botanicals I procured from area near my home. I found that if you have good filtration, you can add some small fruits (~1inch) without fouling the water. It even serves as a good snack for your fish and shrimp when they decompose. Just be prepared to stock some photosynthesis bacteria-PSB in case the water start to get cloudy. It's pretty easy to make, just some starter, water, egg, and sunlight.

Super good in depth look at this. Very nice, thanks!

I use house plants and good old regular gravel. I secure the plants outside my aquarium and let the roots dangle in. I have beautiful, healthy plants and fish. I do water changes, and that water goes in my garden. Nothing goes to waste around my place.

Very good information I wish I knew whilst working in pet shops from 10 years old

I really like that Florida river sand

Thanks Alex, Ive been feeling pretty low, as I had a massive die off because of acidic water caused by a large piece of mopani wood, along with not enough water changes. Been trying father fish, and I thought I was doing so well until I went away for a week. Onward we go….

I have deep sand covered by aquasoil. I covered the bottom of the tank with craft foam on the outside to block out light to prevent cyanobacteria.

Thanks for your informative channel. I love your style!

Nice to see a video on tank substrates as I just setup a 20gal and have a 29gal to setup this week lol. Atm I'm going with a fairly thin layer of organic soil then about an inch to two of sand, though for these since ik some plants can struggle to dig through sand and, quite frankly, I was getting bored of my plain sand caps from last year, these two are being setup with a mix of sand and gravel on top and I'm going with if it reorganizes itself to separate out into different respective layers then however it chooses to, that's the new look I'm going with. Smaller gravel does give it a bit better look imo so first one setup (the 20gal) is white sand and standard size gravel that I rinsed and reused from the 29gal, the 29gal is going with sunset color sand that's kinda light brown/orange-ish and fine gravel that's pretty small and blends into the fine sand a bit better. Hopefully this will solve my issues with getting vallisneria to root and thrive with a nutrient layer and more uneven substrate to hopefully give rooting plants some easier path options around the larger substrate pieces so they don't have to wait as long on the feast I hid for them. Also hoping to get back into fish breeding with these new setups and try a couple new species now that I've experimented a bit and think this is currently my best option for only a smaller amount of algae and more viable plant options then water column feeders and wood/decor clingers like my java ferns- of which I have both the standard and windlove(?) that has stayed small for me for the past three years so I see the latter as a nice nano tank option

great video as always! I'm so glad i found your channel I'm learning so much!

I personally believe there are no rules to nature, so there can't be one specific rule set to setting up a natural tank. For example, my substrate is just 1 inch of river rock, 2 inches of crushed granite, then a half inch land moss/dirt cover, making 3.5 inches total with NO supplements whatsoever. The plants in there have been thriving for months now, and i'm even getting some extra large water plants to grow, like those purple/pink lavender or lilac looking ones you'd normally see at the side of rivers or lakes... It's still early to say for certain, but i think as long as the substrate is deep and has some dirt in it, nature will do its thing!

I am trying to do more a Walstad method. I have 5 tanks now, and I’ve only been into the hobby a little over 9 months. But I think I’m all over the board… I’m so new to this fish hobby. Lol I go into the Freaking Fish stores and buy everything, Usually stuff I don’t need!! Lol But I just bought Seachem fluorite clay. I was going to put it as a 2nd layer on top sand only where the my rocks are, to fill in surface areas. I wasn’t gonna do the whole tank. This is for a new 20 gallon African dwarf frog tank. Have lots of plants to include. But this tank is 100% empty now. What are your thoughts here?! Thanks for any information. I sure appreciate your channel. Hugs to all.❤️🌱

Hardness is an overlooked factor. Many people want to run soft water tanks, then you need to be mre careful about the nitrogen processing...

I’ve noticed that with my aquarium with white sand, i’m getting a TON of mulm on the bottom. I think the majority of it is a mix of dead leaves, pleco poop, and dead moss. I don’t do water changes because of nitrates, I do water changes to get rid of mulm. I think a big part is because the surface is covered in water lettuce.

Fantastic video very knowledgable, but I got to the end not really knowing what to do. I've just put a layer of sand from pets at home. I've not got any soil, but have a few plants in the sand. Should I use layers of sand and soil or not, I still don't know.

So I have a question for you. What if you use an undergravel filter with a weed barrier covering play the soil mixture down and then the sand layer on top of it. That would make it completely aerobic and non anaerobic. What would be better. I know that in septic systems that have an aeration tool in it the waist breaks down quicker

Every tank is different, the setup you choose is related to the tank size. Light, type of fish you want plus how many. Heated or non heated. The list goes on

I will follow your advice. I still have questions about the lighting. Do you have a post on this subject? What type of lighting do you recommend? how many hours per day? Should you avoid sunlight?

Fantastic info!

I'm not interested in plants. I used to do hi-tech planted tanks with CO2 and the whole nine yards. I had to trim, prune, and re-scape plants continuously. It was too much work and too much mess. I want to focus on FISH. I've been watching your videos as well as a few other YT channels that advocate "nature/ecosystem/Walstad method" tanks. Every video begins with a discussion of substrate, but inevitably turns into a video about plants and plant care and how to grow the fanciest, most challenging plants. I'm not even slightly interested in plants, except inasmuch as they are able to reduce the need for water changes. Is there a way to set up substrate/plants in such a way as to eliminate the need for water changes, but without plant care becoming the overwhelming focus of the hobby and requiring more labor and attention than the water changes that I'm trying to eliminate? If so, please make a video that explains clearly how to do so, and please keep the discussion about plants to a minimum. In other words, I don't care about fancy, difficult-to-grow plants. Just tell me how to set up the substrate and which plants are the easiest/most effective for reducing the need for water changes.

Great video. I also found the helpful. Thanks!

Brilliant video, Alex 🎉❤🎉

Couldn't click fast enough, I need inspiration today. (Ftr, my most perfect deep substrate tank is the one my fool beginner ass started 4 years ago before I knew anything: no water changes, it tastes sweet like spring water. I wish I could recreate that again, I say as I get ready to mulm vac the others lol)

Great video. We have alot of topics for discussion here.

On septic tanks, it is called a leach field. Septic tanks have to be handled with care too.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience with us. Keep up the great work! I have some questions about using root tabs vs. Father Fish supplement. What are your thoughts about freezing the Father Fish dirt mix and inserting it under the sand vs. using root tabs? I've seen a few videos about it and would love to read your thoughts.

2 Fishtory in one week!?! AND STREAMS!?!

Always enjoy your videos as I feel like I am always learning something. Do you have a video on plants that adjust well to underwater life that were grown emersed? Man, melt is so disheartening. Yeah, things come back eventually but it is a slow process. Unless it is Val., that stuff melts back and regrows in 2-3 weeks even in a low-tech tank. I can't wait to get to the point where I can pull plants from one tank to add to another but that is going to be a slow process, lol.

Great channel man. I've been watching quite a few videos of yours, father fish, etc and your intro perfectly captured what I'm going through. I'm wanting to redo my 29gal tank for good plant growth and leaning towards something like the Fourite Black or Fluval Bio stratum 2" deep with a 1" layer of Caribsea torpedo beach sand on top. I already have the sand and had originally bought it to put on top of the AquaNatural gold pearl gravel substrate I've been using already but when I started researching substrates, I fell down this wild rabbit hole. Would you recommend Stratum or Flourite Black or another product for the 2" base layer? Or could I maybe save some money and mix half and half stratum and flourite black and then top with sand?

Great video

Great Video, its really nice to See this Hobby Develop over time :) Your Tanks are so beautiful! How do you get rid of the Calcium rim on the water surface? I Always gotta use a Lid to hide it.

Dr Novak is the best

Thanks for the video Alex

I’ve had my deep sand substrate for 8 months and all my plants just die. 75 gallon tank. 2 inches of sand 1 inch substrate. And I plant the plants about 1.5 inches into the sand and idk man they just die. I’m so over my tank at the moment idk what I gotta do to get these plants thriving.

POV: Bam DiCaprio wants to talk about fishtory.

Have two tanks with organic potting soil topped with sand they both are great ra re ely have to change water and two tanks with just plant substrate that require more water changes but heavily planted but love them all and improving each tank about to set up new tank and move fish from substrand redo tanks.

lava rock and sand combo work well 4 me. since it make my substrate into a Hugh filter

Can you comment on using fine sand and lava rock in the refugium compartment of a freshwater sump? I have recently added fine CaribSea sand (very dense-not argonite- but dense much like a river) in my refugium. I topped it with some eco complete that was in there previously (cycled) and then large lava rock. It’s on a 120 gallon that has larger plant eating fish so I can’t plant the tank, but I have a mix of houseplants growing crazy in two aquaclear 110s on the back and pathos and monstera in the sump refugium. I am hoping the refugium will eventually one day develop anaerobic bacteria under this sand. Thoughts?

Great video, thanks Question. I've tried half a dozen Dirted tanks using organic potting soil & called with playsand. Thanks 4 the Tip of not fixing roots all the way down into dirt but instead plant into the sand layer only. My problem is after 2-3 weeks I notice black areas in substrate in front of glass I can visually see. I see surface of substrate areas that turn black. I move a rock and under that is now black & noonher white sand. I noticed many rooted plants aren't growing & are wilting away. I pulled one out and noticed all roots are black & smells like rotten eggs. How does one prevent this in next tank? How does Father fish get 4-6" deep substrate and not have roots turn black upon planting? A y suggestions would be great.

Few points which are running in my mind since some time, and would be really helpful to get your viewpoints on the same. My tank is a heavily planted tank with a deep substrate (soil capped by sand) tank and I am trying to understand its behavior over time. Now penning down the points: 1) Is a heavily planted tank really a "natural" tank ? We do not see heavy "underwater/immersive" plant growth in most of the ecosystems. Where do we find such a natural setup where there is heavy growth of under water plants ? 2) A heavily planted tank mimics a pond in its behavior (with Phytoplankton doing the same role in a pond as under water plants in the tank) ? 3) The natural substrates are mostly inert substrates in nature. What we see is mostly totally composted bio matter slowly accumulating and covering the bottom of the lake/pond/slow moving water areas. The only place where I see sand in the substrate is fast flowing waters like a river, where you can actually put your hand down, and you will get sand in your hand, without much of the biomatter. I have not yet come across a place where I can find sand covering some kind of soil. So , I am wondering , if there can be only two types of natural setups ? Blackwater setup, where tank is having slow composting items, with non immersive plant growth, with an inert substrate. This low pH, acidic setup will be most suitable to most of the tropical fishes except the fishes which like fast, fresh flowing water. And the other will be , fast moving river water kind of setup. This setup will be suitable for most of the fishes which inhabit areas like waterfalls , fast flowing water etc. Thank you !!

Thanks for the great explanation

very clearly explained, dare I say even better than FF :) Got a sub as well.

How do I request for a conversation or something we've learned? I started a channel because of you and what I learned.

my two combo plant african onion and jungle val