planted substrate

[fLshgear]

are you talking 3 - 6mm of the size of the gravel? if so that would be fine. if you put it about 2" deep

i have 10 or so planted tanks submersed and 2 emersed tanks.

i have some with fluorite and most with just regular gravel. after a while, once the fish waste and dead plant stuff gets into the gravel the plain gravel is just as good as the fluorite.

i almost never clean the gravel in the planted tanks, like less than once a year.

lately i have been changing my gravel over from regular to a 1 - 2 mm sand colored gravel called sil 9 i get it from a sand blasting wholesaler place. it is $20 for 40kg

with the larger sized gravel it is just a little bit harder to get the plants to stay when initially placing them. but once they grow in it will be fine.