Gravel for fishtank

Question
I have a 28 gallon Euro tank ,i have live plants but they are not doing well and i have problems keeping them alive i think i need to start over but i already have fish in the tank and i only have this one tank so what do i do when i empty the tank out and start all over ,i was going to go and get a plastic tub and move the water and fish in that wile i am redoing my tank .
what kind of gravel should i use i was thinking about just using sand ,but i don't know if that is enough .
i think my current problem is that my gravel is to big and i also know that i need better light, my light now is 15 watt T8 8000 k .
hopefully you can help
Ole

Answer
Hi Ole,
Perhaps you don't have enough lighting for the types of plants you wish to keep. Either you can increase your lighting (keep in mind increasing your lighting also means you may have to supply supplemental co2) or switch to low-light plants that do well even in poor lighting conditions.

If you completely change over your tank and the gravel, you most likely will have a terrible ammonia spike due to the complete wipeout of the beneficial bacteria. I don't there is a need to start over but if you want to change you can.

For a basic planted tank, plain gravel of a fine grain size (not too chunky) mixed with about 50% of "flourite" which is a planted tank substrate works really well in most cases. Making substrate about 3 inches deep is best. In general 1.5-2 pounds of substrate per gallon of water works. Keep in mind that half of this will be flourite underneath the plain aquarium gravel. By following this rule you will have about 4 inches of gravel in your aquarium. Which will provide a good base for your plants.

Most plants do well with about 2 watts of lighting per gallon of water. If you have higher lighting such as 3-4 watts per gallon then co2 will need to be added. Java Fern and Java moss will do well under 1-1.5 watts of light per gallon.

You shouldn't have to completely tear down your aquarium and remove the fish to improve it. Just make little changes little by little. You can also replace the gravel with the fish still in the aquarium. Just imagine the substrate bed divided into about 4 equal sections. Then take out one section per 2 weeks or so and replace with your new substrate. Expect a little cloudiness but water changes will help clear it. A fish net is a great tool to scoop of gravel as well as lay it out.

Best of luck, I hope this helps!
~Karen