Plant Base Layer Under Sand/grave?

I do not recommend anything that is not aquarium approved
john Innis compost is not aquarium approved and could possibly
poison your tank    

I've got to agree with Richard on this. JI no 1 should be fine. So too, should 'Pond compost' (btw, NOT for aquariums, but ponds!)

The shops are full of nice bright shiny things that cost lots and lots.

I have to sat rhough that a lot of it CAN be useful, or make your tank look the way you think you might like it.

I've looked at supa-dupa aquariums full of expensive and rare plants, on substrates that have probably cost hundreds of pounds, all very nice, but where do you stop? I shall probably use the cheap Pond Compost from B&Q. I think it was about £4.50 for 20l. I may buy some nice red/brown sand from Maidenhead, but that is because I like the look of it, not the fact that it has been prepared in a negative karma free environment by some foreign Johnny in a lab coat who was humming a Zen lullaby to the sand as he packed it!

I'm going to do some meditation now, as I'm all cross...

Ommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

No it will not! What "poison" could it contain? "Aquarium approved" is usually just a rip off, like "aquarium sand" all dug up from the same hole in the ground as other sand. Not quite as expensive as RO water, instead of rainwater, but equally pointless. Fish shops are packed with nonsense substrates, additives, treatments and god knows what else, 99% of which are just there to relieve gullible people of more cash.

i am speaking from experience not out the back of my neck aquarium approved
means its been selected cleaned and washed when it comes to aquarium sand
and rain water is nowhere near RO water RO water is totally stripped of all it minerals
and contaminates sure i made mistakes in the past with using non approved aquarium
products and paid the price but i learned by my mistakes 43 years i have been fish keeping
and i have made cock ups and i have seen people make and i am still seeing people making
them like asking my advice i give them sound advice then went against because some one had told
them it was ok to use normal every day tree wood and normal every day river sand and did they listen
no and it cost them a lot of money in upside down discus and angels and neons yeah but like
i said thats only my opinion i got an email a few days ago saying quote(i wish i had gone with your advice
instead of trying to cut corners and cost i am selling up and quitting the hobby due to this bad experience)unquote             

pond soil is ideal its aquatic approved soil
for pond baskets and marginal planting
of ponds very similar to j Arthur bowers
aquatic compost good selection aquamaid