Substrate Advice

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golfproinlexky

Know just enough to be dangerous...
Dec 31, 2007
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Its been several years since being active in these forums. Still a beginner/novice at best, but have the itch to setup a 72g bowfront that was inherited over a year ago. My current tank has Flourite Red and it has been a good substrate, but I want something more natural looking and need advice on what the best substrate for a planted tank. The potting soil option interests me, but might be a little too much work. I've been reading through the threads and don't really see any clear cut advice. Should I go with Eco Complete, Flourite Dark or is there something else that I don't even know about?

For what it is worth, there will be a 260W CF over the tank and I might setup CO2 again (undecided). I look forward to everyone's advice.


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FreshyFresh

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Jan 11, 2013
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I don't have any problem using ordinary aquarium gravel for growing/maintaining plants, but that's mainly because my plants are primarily water column feeders. Depending on your lighting, carbon and ferts, you could use what ever you want.

My 10g has dark brown FloraMax. The only rooter in that tank is an amazon sword and it's outgrowing the tank.
 

Sean W.

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Aug 8, 2013
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I am going to be starting another planted tank and what i am going to do is actually quite complex, and different from my other planted tanks. Not so much different, buy a combination of my two tanks with some experimentation mixed in...

One of my tanks, my high light, high tech tank what i did was a red florite base, 20lbs of it with a black Eco-Complete fine grade cap, about 25lbs of that in my 29 gallon tank.

In my other tank, low tech 10 gallon, what i did was a " pure Laterite first layer " base and capped with standard aquarium gravel. I have had huge success with both


With my next tank this is what i am going to do, I think, rough draft but this will give you an idea, from what ive learned with both tanks is that you can have the best lighting in the world, the best filtration and the water, but you will have limited success if you skimp on the substrate, it truly is Key!


so from the top down this is what i am going to do


1" layer of Eco-compelete Fine black
.5" layer of Red Florite
.25" layer of Organic clay kitty litter
1" layer of sifted organic miracle grow


I think this will be give the absolute best possible substrate!
 

crimsonmoon

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Aug 31, 2008
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I love eco complete, in my opinion you can't beat it for a natural look--different sized grains throughout and doesn't cloud every time you touch it. I've used it in all my planted tanks.
 

calivivarium1

Finished the fight
May 5, 2008
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I think it depends on what you want to grow, how much growth you want, and how much work you are willing to put into the soil. I have had tanks with pool filter sand, playsand, flourite, flourite sand, plain ol' gravel, and probably something else I am forgetting (though there are even more options out there than those!). For my latest tank, I chose playsand because it was a) $3 a 50lb bag and b) I liked the color. I just supplement with root tabs and call it a day. The only rooted plants in it are Hygrophila corymbosa, Cryptocoryne balansae, and Cryptocoryne retrospiralis (I think). All are growing just fine. If I was going to do another high tech tank, I would do something more along the lines of what Sean said above.
 

FreshyFresh

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....you can have the best lighting in the world, the best filtration and the water, but you will have limited success if you skimp on the substrate, it truly is Key!
I don't think that's necessarily true.

Many plants don't require a substrate at all.
 

ktrom13

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Feb 4, 2013
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I don't think that's necessarily true.

Many plants don't require a substrate at all.
I agree with freshy. I have plants that arent planted down at all and grow well.

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James0816

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Feb 14, 2007
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Safe-T-Sorb (oil dry). Great substrate for plants (especially if you go high tech) while keeping a natural look about it.
 

huapala

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Jul 25, 2013
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agreed. I have a different substrate for all my tanks: 10 gallon QT has a .75" potting soil compost mix bottom, .25" cap of small black epoxy gravel, .5" of epoxy natural look stones; 10 gallon betta has around .75" of coral sand; 20 gallon long is a mix of black cinders, epoxy gravel, coral sand, compost and coconut husk; 29 gallon is a mixture of different size epoxy stones. I would consider each tank to be moderate to heavily planted and none have had any trouble growing plants. A planting medium is not key in a submersed set up, plant roots can extract all the nutrients they need from the water surrounding them, but if there is no plant nutrients (i.e. P, N, K and the micro elements) in the water that is when you will see poor plant growth. A planting medium is more important when growing terrestrial plants which uses the medium to grow nutrients and as a buffer to extract them.

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ROYWS3

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Sean Suggested kitty litter and I would suggest ruling that out. I've done Kitty litter tanks way back in the day and although growth is good, they become quite messy. the whole lot of it turns to a mushy grey muck - even when it's capped, if it's just slightly disturbed, it makes a big cloudy mess.

As James suggested - Safe-T-Sorb (oil dry) - is a great substrate alone or mixed with other things + it's incredibly cheap. Lsst I looked it was like $5 - something for a 40 (or 50, not sure) lb bag at your local tractor Supply Co.
 
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