Eco Complete with Carbonate (Aragonite) Topper

I was planning on doing a 2" eco complete substrate with about 1/2 to 1" of crushed coral/aragonite on top to lighten it up a bit. I know the two would get mixed eventually but I thought the salt and pepper look would be OK. I just took delivery of the bags of eco complete though and the instructions say "Do not top with carbonate gravels such as marble chips, aragonite, coral, etc." Why is this? At first I thought maybe the eco-complete was designed to buffer PH but all my searching has shown that if anything it tends to raise PH and KH, at least initially. Then I thought maybe the carbonate substrate would be bad for most plants or something (I'll admit quite a bit of ignorance when it comes to plant husbandry). Does anyone have insight on this? I'd really rather not ruin 200+ pounds of expensive substrate with a "try and see".

Tank will be a newly set up 185 gal tall plywood job I built a number of years ago and recently refinished. Looking to fill it with small community fish like clown loaches, zebra danios, some small tetras, etc. Maybe a big fat pleco and a couple tinfoil barbs or something.

ROYWS3 said:

Clown loach won't stay small and "a big fat pleco and a couple tinfoil barbs" will eat most of the plants you put in there

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Thanks for a useless pontification that does nothing to address my question.

Glabe said:

Attention, everyone: to avoid a good scolding, offer no additional advice. Also, yes or no questions should probably be answered with a simple yes or no. Any elaboration may have negative side effects.

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Glabe, I'm sorry if my snark offends you, however it was the tone more than the content that annoyed me. Feel free to experience it your way however.

Thanks for the kind words My rear end becomes quite vocal at times too.

The 185 has actually been set up and torn down a couple of times, including a complete refinishing of the inside and outside with fiber reinforced epoxy instead of the original plain epoxy coating. I'm trying to sell it if I can get the right price, as I'm moving across the country (again) and I've already dragged this beast through a couple of long range moves.