The BEST substrate!!

I have been hearing the best is ADA Amazonia, I have not tried it myself bcause I invested too much in flouite and Eco, but If I was going to do it again this would be what I would get...

I picked sand because thats what I have. The roots can grow nicely through the sand.

I use flourite with small gravel on top of the flourite..I want to find some ecocomplete but it's hard to find locally. I fins the flourite seems to hold the plants down well.and they seem develop the roots well in it too. but it is being compared to gravel alone.

there is no best substrate, it all depends on the fish and what kind of plants you have, but i like to use sand and aquasoil, not mixing them but putting it separately. underneath the aquasoil, i put something close to perlite

do you plant your plants on a bare tank bottom? I think you'd have to have them in pots or attached to logs or rocks. Maybe you could train your fish to carry them around.

OK, I was recently very confused by this, because of the questions that arose and the following replies in this thread:http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=83551

I had also heard that ADA Aqua Soil was about the best there was, and I was planning on using that for the tank I am planning. However, some of the opinions at that thread state that expensive substrate is not necessary and that you can actually do better with sand. So, I posted the question at APC, to see what those involved in elaborate aquascaped tanks think. Here is a copy of their replies:

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/science-of-substrates/33051-substrate-advice.html

I guess in summary their opinions were that substrate type depends on the other parameters in the tank. In many "high maintenance fast growing" situations, plants will do best in some of the expensive substrates. However, in low-light, slower-growth tanks, all of the nutrient in the soil may not be needed.

I guess it depends on what you are looking for in results. I guess I did a tank cheaply the first time around, and have spent 7 years regretting it. I am in the planning stages for an upgrade, and I am going to make sure that I start out with stuff that I am not going to have to change in a few years. I am planning on using ADA soil. (www.adgshop.com)

To gain the thick growth right off the bat with little fuss, the ADA aquasoil system is the best plug and play product out there.

You "can" do just as well with sand, but how easy it will be to do that is not compairable.

for those that want to tinker and learn the mechanics of fertilizeing and all that there are substrates that have small advantages over others. In order of least usefull to most

Epoxyied aquarium gravel

Sand or 4-6mm inert natural gravel.

Turface, Soilmaster, Soilmaster select (charcoal), nonscented non clumping plain kitty litter, Schults aquatic soil "profile"...

Flourite (contains an iron source usable by plants which makes it marginally better than the previous selections), <I do not personally know the recomendations for the next few> eco complete, flora base,

Note: all of the above choices perform better initially in a new set up with a couple ounces of peat under them, and Laterite is an amendment that could help all but the flourite by provideing an iron source but is powdery and very messy if disturbed.


ADA aquasoil


ADA aquasoil with the rest of the system of power sand and ferts designed for how the aquasoil behaves.

Jeez I must be an antique- I lover laterite mixed with gravel or sand. I am not a fan of exporbitantly expensive substrates- they simply are not worth the money and are a lot of hype IMO. I have yet to find a plant I cant grow in my substrate choice.

I have fluorite in one tank simply because it came with the tank.