Tbh it’s a look and I kind of like it. I don’t think every aquarium has to look like a riverbed. As long as your parameters r stable and your flora and fauna are happy, all to the good.
I prefer the thinner grains as the shrimp love sifting around and I’ve even seen them dig for food. Don’t have much experience with this type but it seems quite unnatural
I’ve seen that substrate used quite a bit lately to the point of it becoming common and who knows, maybe it works well. However, it looks ridiculously unnatural. There’s plenty of substrates out there that look far more natural that works incredibly well for live plants. Tropica Aquarium Soil is a good place to start, and it’s reasonably priced
I had it for quite a while and it was kind of a pain. When I’d add or move anything it would roll away and plants would uproot themselves. I ended up changing substrate, but really not the worst ever.
I have that substrate. The biggest thing to realize is that it’s clay balls. So you’ll have great good bacteria retention. The bad news for planted tanks is that you have to add a ton of root tabs if you use stem plants. You’ll also potentially have to weigh your plants down bc it’s very lightweight.
Edit: I have it in one tank alone and I have it underneath aquasoil or mixed into aquasoil in other tanks bc of the planting challenges.
We use this. Our cory catfish will roll these around and seem to prefer it over the sand. My giant rabbit snail likes the sand (other snails have no preference). The shrimp like the plants more than anything so they stick to the “ball pits”. We got Aqua Soil Amazonia ver. 2 (if that means anything to anyone) and it has a lot of good micronutrients for plants. Our longer-rooted plants are doing well, but our carpeting dwarf tears are taking some more time to establish.
What we wish we knew when we were setting it up: add your rocks and substrate, cycle the tank completely first, then drain the tank, add plants, then refill slowly. We were impatient so we had some hiccups along the way, but we like how everything looks overall now.
I have this in my first tank. It’s Aqueon shrimp and plant substrate. I like it, but after setting up a tank with gravel and a tank with sand I used gravel again in my newest tank. Shrimp and snails seem to like it, but none of my plants have done well, that’s why I just added root tabs.
It’s used in aquaponics so it’s cheap for bulk. It’s not the best stuff out there but it’s 20x cheaper and it’s extremely light so people who do big tanks and lots of them can have a substrate that isn’t a pain to lift/store/purchase for cheap. I have some I put into mesh bags and place under the nutrient added substrate to bulk out my substrate/hardscape in big tanks because it’s cheap and light and it means I don’t have to spend a billion dollars on fancy dirt. The mesh bags stop the little balls popping up because they are lighter than the substrate. I would use the stuff alone in tanks I was using for a purpose other than aesthetic, like grow out tanks or breeding tanks. I dont totally hate the look of them, a goldfish tank would be a good use of them if you didn’t want to go for a zero substrate in your goldie tanks -No sharp edges for them to injure themselves on.
You’re good. It’s what you want for plants. How many gallons? Why no fish? If it’s a 3 gallon, you can still have fish. Don’t let reddit scare you. Lotta gatekeepers on here. They help balance out the plants with their poop and ammonia. For monte carlo, throw some root tabs in if you haven’t. Makes em sing.
No-Tie-587 
I’ve seen so much of it and still have no clue what it is
Tbh it’s a look and I kind of like it. I don’t think every aquarium has to look like a riverbed. As long as your parameters r stable and your flora and fauna are happy, all to the good.
I prefer the thinner grains as the shrimp love sifting around and I’ve even seen them dig for food. Don’t have much experience with this type but it seems quite unnatural
I’ve seen that substrate used quite a bit lately to the point of it becoming common and who knows, maybe it works well. However, it looks ridiculously unnatural. There’s plenty of substrates out there that look far more natural that works incredibly well for live plants. Tropica Aquarium Soil is a good place to start, and it’s reasonably priced
I had it for quite a while and it was kind of a pain. When I’d add or move anything it would roll away and plants would uproot themselves. I ended up changing substrate, but really not the worst ever.
I don’t like it. Looks super strange.
It just looks so fake, I can’t do it.
I have that substrate. The biggest thing to realize is that it’s clay balls. So you’ll have great good bacteria retention. The bad news for planted tanks is that you have to add a ton of root tabs if you use stem plants. You’ll also potentially have to weigh your plants down bc it’s very lightweight.
Edit: I have it in one tank alone and I have it underneath aquasoil or mixed into aquasoil in other tanks bc of the planting challenges.
We use this. Our cory catfish will roll these around and seem to prefer it over the sand. My giant rabbit snail likes the sand (other snails have no preference). The shrimp like the plants more than anything so they stick to the “ball pits”. We got Aqua Soil Amazonia ver. 2 (if that means anything to anyone) and it has a lot of good micronutrients for plants. Our longer-rooted plants are doing well, but our carpeting dwarf tears are taking some more time to establish.
What we wish we knew when we were setting it up: add your rocks and substrate, cycle the tank completely first, then drain the tank, add plants, then refill slowly. We were impatient so we had some hiccups along the way, but we like how everything looks overall now.
I have this in my first tank. It’s Aqueon shrimp and plant substrate. I like it, but after setting up a tank with gravel and a tank with sand I used gravel again in my newest tank. Shrimp and snails seem to like it, but none of my plants have done well, that’s why I just added root tabs.
Are these just hydroballs
It’s used in aquaponics so it’s cheap for bulk. It’s not the best stuff out there but it’s 20x cheaper and it’s extremely light so people who do big tanks and lots of them can have a substrate that isn’t a pain to lift/store/purchase for cheap. I have some I put into mesh bags and place under the nutrient added substrate to bulk out my substrate/hardscape in big tanks because it’s cheap and light and it means I don’t have to spend a billion dollars on fancy dirt. The mesh bags stop the little balls popping up because they are lighter than the substrate. I would use the stuff alone in tanks I was using for a purpose other than aesthetic, like grow out tanks or breeding tanks. I dont totally hate the look of them, a goldfish tank would be a good use of them if you didn’t want to go for a zero substrate in your goldie tanks -No sharp edges for them to injure themselves on.
You’re good. It’s what you want for plants. How many gallons? Why no fish? If it’s a 3 gallon, you can still have fish. Don’t let reddit scare you. Lotta gatekeepers on here. They help balance out the plants with their poop and ammonia. For monte carlo, throw some root tabs in if you haven’t. Makes em sing.