Hi
I've tried everything from sand ,cat litter ,peat,sphagnum,top soil, and african violet soil. Flourite ,laterite,all sizes of gravel with different compositions to no substrate at all. Undergravel, plenum, heavy water movement to no movement at all.heating cables
with and without reverse flow filters. Talk about trial and error lol. What else is there ??
The remarkable thing about all the experimentation is that all these methods work and have serious drawbacks in long term management.
IMO the most important thing is LIGHT. proper color,intensity and duration.Next comes water chemistry right elements at in the right amounts at the right time.
A good algae management system started as soon as you add water to the tank. You won't stop it but you can keep it in check.
Right now ,in the 150 I'm using top soil with a light coating of small gravel and sand. I'm also using natural sunlight and growing only rooted plants. An area near the filter intake is covered with fracted acrylic due to the 1200 gph water movement. So far it has been my most successful tank. I've actually got Lace plants through the dormant period and produced viable seed. No luck with seedling as yet Water changes are at 100 percent per week with rainwater. Might also mention that this tank is conected to two ponds so there is a total of 1500 gallons of water.
I could also add that I've had very long lived 10 gallon tanks using cat litter and flourescent light lol.
Bring on the contentious discussion !!!! lol gary

Please clarify the cat litter issue, since someone might try some of the clumping litters, or something with baking soda, or one of the fragrant ones.

Hi
Well, for the serious planted tank ,cat litter would not be the best choice. For a small tank that can be easily redone when necessary it is a lot of fun to play with and incredibly cheap.
Naturally you'd want to use plain old fracted clay with no additives. If they call it "cat litter" rather than "aquatic plant soil" it costs about a third as much lol
gary

Sand or natural gravel, from the local pet shop would work just fine. You just may need to anchor the plants a bit, as they tend to float if uprooted.

I have a 20 gal aquarium and I had the same question about 5 months ago. I did some research on the net and went with Eco Complete(regular, they have a few varities). Its black with minerals and stuff in it, no nitrogen! I put a bag of that in my 20g and then a thin layer of fine gravel and then a very thin layer of Profile (scotts or schwartz). Since I have done that, I have noticed my cuttings root in about half the time and the plants look very very nice. I use only distilled water and my tank has a ph of about 6.8. I use no CO2 injectors.
Back to the question, I was going off there. Go with eco complete, you can pick it up from $18 to $25 a bag. But get the regular stuff. Ill try to find the manufactures web site.
CaribSea makes Eco-Complete and
Here is a good review link.
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/reviews/showproduct.php/product/12

Well, here's what I've done so far. Everything was scrubbed out and I removed all the old gravel and 'gunk' from the undergravel filters. What I'm using right now is pulverized flower pots. No, LOL, I did'nt take a hammer to good pots. I gathered up all the bits and pieces (and that was a bunch) a few years ago when I wanted to try the crushed bits as a medium for orchids (may they rest in peace). I'm unsure how the plants will like it but it anchors them well and I like the coarse texture and color....and the fish are happy as clams (well OK as platys). We'll see how it works out. Thanks for all the input everyone. Will