KZbin has got me hooked on fish keeping again. 😊

I love your podcast!!! In my 20’s I had an aquarium and got out of it. Now at 66 I’m getting back into it.

Walstad method is an amazing gateway to naturalistic planted tanks imo. There are enough step-by-step tutorials out there to help you avoid the worst of the pitfalls.

Sooooo the three of us are bald with beards?? Love it. 🐟 🐠

I don’t quarantine since I only have two clownfish not expecting to have anything else😂

I definitely 100% vacuum my sand I use a clothes peg on the vacuum hose and it regulates the suction and I tell you what you should see the browness comming out of it

I love that john is the only guy on the Internet that wants to argue about what to call the father fish method. It sounds like you're trying to tell me that Coke and Pepsi are the same thing. Similar sure, but not the same

My channel has nothing to do with freshwater tropical aquariums but there is a lot of misinformation here I would love to start another channel and have a debate with one of these guys got to get started on a new KZbin channel I've been using an underground filter for years now they work extremely well and yes you can grow plants in them and they are certainly not nitrate factories my nitrates are under five parts per million literally

Most are very hard to prime back

I use pool filter sand, I don't rinse it, and it does not cloud the water. Before I fill the tank with water, I cover the sand with aluminum foil. When I pour the water in, the foil completely stops any clouding.

I'm a big Father Fish follower and I follow both of your channels. I generally think your teachings are congruent, you just have chosen different techniques to utilize based on your preferences and fish choices. I would be missing something if I chose one of you and stopped watching the other two.

I have a tidal 110 and a 75 tidal and disappointment how much bypass on these units 🤷🏼‍♂️✌️🇨🇦

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For me 2 is perfect. Find the types of fish you want to keep. The ones you won't and haven't ever gotten bored of. Im happy with just my 55 gallon with fancy goldfish. But I could see myself adding one more tank of them. Maybe a 75 or another 55 gallon. That's it.

Just as a general comment, I think the important question for substrate can be preceded with "how many ecological niches do you include". I think that not using soil is a shame because it can promote the growth of way more different types of microorganisms than simple substrates (biodiversity). Might I note that dirt can go in mesh bags or in terracotta pots and capped with sand/gravel. Substrate is just another way of including a high surface area region for bioactivity. Thus conceptually setting up a fish tank with substrate is inherently different from crafting a stable biodiverse ecosystem that integrates substrate as an important component of the system.

I have oscars in my tank with pool filter sand. It is very fine. It is a nightmare to clean. What is the exact product you are using in your 360 gallon aquarium?

I enjoy my crushed coral for my live bearers in Los Angeles

I've always used gravel for the last 10 years, but recently I'm considering switching to sand. I also have an undergravel filter that I really want to take out of a 7+ year old tank but... yeahhh lol.

"Chinese products" says the guy who buys Apple products made in su1c1de Chinese sweat shops and have problems Apple cover up like loostening graphics chips. 👌 Personally I'm on cheap superstore heaters, SunSun cannisters and hygger lights. Shots fired! 🤣 Love both you guys content. You're both right!

My favorite substrate hands down is caribsea. I usually don’t even have to rinse it. More expensive but totally worth it. I’ve used play sand once and blue gravel once…. never ever again. Hated it lol.

What if you put your small plants in pots and you regular potting soil in the pots.and use regular gravel in your tank

Another GREAT podcast! As I've said before, the Seachem Fluorite Black was a game-changer for me. But, I only keep nano tanks that are heavily planted. It's not economically reasonable for much larger than a 29 gallon. I've spend more $ for the substrate than the tanks and lights; but it's worth it to me. I can't NOT grow plants!

I use black diamond blasting sand in my 75 gallon Jack Dempsey tank. He digs around in it. He’s not scratched up. It looks great. I love it.

John just dropping names and rambling on.🫤🤷‍♂️

Shout out to Father Fish, yes it’s true his method is the Walstad method but nobody was looking for her dusty book at the library the world is digital now and because of Father Fish more people know of the Diana Walstad method and are using it successfully.

When I use my siphon in my sanded tank, I put the drain hose in a small pan so that the heavier sand will settle, and the overflow water goin into drain is sand free. Then easy to pour water out of pan very carefully

Gravel: Versatile and easy to clean, suitable for most freshwater tanks. Sand: Great for species like cichlids or bottom dwellers; it allows for burrowing. Plant substrate: Rich in nutrients, ideal for heavily planted tanks. Crushed coral: Increases pH and hardness, suitable for marine or brackish tanks. Bare bottom: Easy to clean, often used in breeding tanks or for specific setups.

Gravel comes from old river beds.

Great podcast as always guys. I have just one question though. Last week's podcast while discussing live plants, you mentioned flourite and then again this week you mentioned flourite as being good for plants. I've never heard of this product. Exactly what is it and where can I buy it?

UNS has good planted substrate, it will not change your water parameters.

I have pea gravel in my 55 and it looks just like a creek bed. More natural in Tennessee than sand! 😊

There are three stages for every fishkeeper when debating substrates... 1.) "Why are these rocks so expensive? I'll just get the cheap one." 2.) "I need to buy the expensive rocks for 5x the price otherwise my fish will EXPLODE upon contact!" 3.) "Why are these rocks so expensive? I'll just get the cheap one."

Your bichir needs a diaper 😅

What kind of sand did they say that has large grain size so you can gravel vac it easier?

I am with Jason on barefoot bottom tanks. I am not a fan. My dad and I did a tank using gravel from a home improvement store, but it was so dirty and were bigger stones than typical gravel. Cleaning it was tough.

❤ CaribSea sand is worth the $ for me. You can start with what you can afford and then add more as you go.

I like MD's method of using pond soil with gravel & the capping it with sand. His tanks are gorgeous, but he breaks them down in a year or less.

I lost my beautiful flowerhorn to choking on gravel. So sad it was my fault.

Im a gravel guy, however I have a few tanks with black diamond blasting sand made of coal slag and really like it.

Can't wait for Mondays and the Tank Talk Podcast! So much to learn from you gentlemen! Keep it up! All the way from South Africa.

It's sand for me. For whatever reason, I've had far better luck with sand (especially if it's built up a bit) compared to gravel over the years, and also I just really like the look of it. Over the past four or so years I've taken to having a nutrient layer under the sand...it's been a blessing for me with my liquid-rock water and has allowed me to have better luck with plants. I don't go with the rigid "one inch of potting soil, two inches of sand" though, or anything crazy nutrient-rich like Father Fish. I usually mix aquatic pond soil with crushed lava rock and some crushed root tabs, eyeball how much I want, and cap it with sand, which I also just eyeball until it feels right...basically that's close to MD's method. I've also sometimes used MD's mesh bag idea to hold the pond soil and lava rock, which really cuts down on the setup potentially getting "dirty," as Jason said. Or it's good if you only want nutrients in one part of tank, like if it's mostly epiphytes but you have a big ol' sword in one corner. But if you like the look of sand and want dirt-like nutrients, but are really scared of getting dirt in the water column, you could just use aquasoil and cap that with sand. It's certainly pricier than dirt, but no major harm if some gets in the water column down the road when you decide you want to move a couple of things.

I do barebottom in my fishroom out of necessity. I have these non-biting midges that have taken over my fishroom in the past (it's what bloodworms eventually mature into) and once they take root in substrate they swarm in my fishroom and it's been a pain to remove them.

I went bare-bottom on my 55g angelfish tank. I love it.

My mother always used marbles and large gravel in a community tank with small mouthed fish. Plants grew fine. We also used sponge filters and airstone.

Personally, I like the look of glofish. My main concerns are: 1. Is the glow gene causing the fish to be unhealthy? I do not want to own a living thing if it’s suffering just because it “looks cool”. 2. I hate that there is a patent for these fish. One of the joys of this hobby (for some people)is the ability to breed and sell your own fish. Also, if my tank starts to become over crowded because they are breeding, why shouldn’t I be able to sell them?

I tried the "No substrate" method. I can NOT keep it clean. There's always detritus floating around, and the algae turns the bottoom panel of glass a nasty brown. 🤮

The Walstad method is the original idea, yes. Lou has taken that and changed it up quite a bit in order to suit his purposes. He also claims that his method will last indefinitely, whereas the Walstad method only lasts a few years. *Note I have no anecdotal experience in either, so this information is based on what other people have experienced, so take it for nothing more than that.

Fluval Stratum CaribSea Eco-Complete Seachem Flourite Tropica Aquarium Soil Brightwell Aquatics FlorinVolcanit Rio Escuro-F

Question: Would it be ideal to use net bags for plant soil/substrate and then cap it with sand?

I’m a gravel guy, sand, pure rock or bare bottom never worked for me. This being said I’m so impartial to the colours just because I have always started out with 1 colour, but as things move and changed I added more substrate that I had already. So in one tank there is both blue and red, another blue and black, another is sand bottom, working up into blue, black, and pink. I’m a bigger fan of natural colours so natural browns and hues of yellow and black again. This being said I added more because as the tank grew so did the demand for beneficial bacteria for the health of the tank and fish, and I have Cory Dora, loaches yo-yo and weather on gravel with zero issues. So gravel holds a lot of good things, if you have fish or animals that eat gravel avoid it. I have 2 axolotl tanks and the best for them is sand, bare works but sand gives a place to rest instead of being irritated by the bare glass on their skin, they also have a horrible habit of eating gravel and glass beads that fit in their mouth but will not pass through the G I tract. My geophagus would take to sand better but they ultimately pick up the gravel and swish it the same to eat anyways. Sand does look the best though I do agree. Great episode and I might just buy a dump load of gravel 😂. Stay happy and healthy my friends!!! 😊❤️