Depth of fertilizer and sand

[Mickey]

Recently bought a 2ft x 1.5ft x 1.5 ft tank. New to planting and friend gave me 40kg of lapis lustre sand to start off.

Wat's the recommended depth of fertilizer and sand ? Should I have first and third layer of sand, then in the middle put the fertilizer ? Any comments on lapis lustre sand ?

[Nanami]

what plants do you intend to plant? If you're going to have nanas,java ferns and mosses then base fert is not required but if you intend to have root(?) plants or plants tat absorb nutrients mainly from roots then base fert is a better option

base fert i'd recommend about 1inch then topped up by 1 or 2 inches of gravel, a pretty economical and good one to try would be jbl, 1 pack would be more than enough for your tank

lapis is a rather good gravel in the sense that it doesn't affect the water chemistry. did your friend give you new gravels or used ones? if new, there's no need to wash it . are you intending to pump in co2? personally i'd add a few pieces of coral chips in the filter or somewhere else to buffer the ph when co2 is pumped in to prevent ph from nosediving which might affect livestock.

[Mickey]

not sure on what plants but likely to put the base fert. just in case I change my mind

the lapis given to me are new. will shop around for plants once setup base fert and gravel.