# Planted tank question



## danchisum (Feb 3, 2012)

Hello,

This is my first post. I was prompted to post this by something I saw last night in a fish store. It was a black plastic box (about 8x8x2) of soil with a piece of black tarp (I'm not sure what the cover is exactly) and then another black plastic cover to hold everything in (with holes on top).

I was told that by using soil that I didn't need any other kind of filter or CO2 and that I didn't need to vacuum the gravel.

Is this all true? If so then I definitely want to try it, but I want to make sure it's not going to cause any problems first since it is a major change.


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## Fuzz (Jan 27, 2012)

after reading about planted tanks and whatnot for the past week(ish) and knowing enough about fish tanks in general, i don't think there's some kind of special soil that puts carbon in your tank. 

The only reason why people need to vacuum gravel is for excessive food, fish poop, and dead plant matter. Since you're siphoning water out of your tank to do water changes, you might as well vacuum the gravel while you're in there(doesn't take much effort/time)


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