Plant Substrate

I've tried the ecco complete

It's nice, just put it in the aquarium, no rinsing and it's black. They say it already has bacteria in it but I wonder, how can the bacteria live in a closed bag out in who knows what type of temperatures the bag was subjected to? The substrate is wet (has liquid in it). I had an established tank that I just put pockets of the stuff in the back of the tank and my normal gravel in the front. mine is around a 50 gallon and after filling a pot for my grow out tank and putting a good amount in my 50 I still had about a 1/4 of a bag left. I think you should be fine with 2 bags. It isn't cheap though, I got mine at the lfs for about $25 a bag. Check with bigalsonline they have good prices. I was going to buy one of the other substrates you mentioned but you have to rinse (like crazy) and it was only $5 cheaper than the ecco complete.

Oh, forgot to mention

My plants turned dark green when I planted them in the ecco complete, so they must be happy .

I just setup a 20g long with Flourite AND Onyx Sand. The Flourite is on the bottom with a thick layer of Onyx sand on top. Both of them required lots and lots and lots and lots of rinsing, and even then it didn't seem to matter. Oynx Sand is a SERIOUS pain about dust in the water With a 20g long, a bag of Onyx sand, and a 250gph HOT Magnum filter, alternating between the regular cartridge and the "polishing" cartridge... it took about 36 hours to clear up. But, the plants seem to grow well in it, even with the poor lighting that's on it now.... and it looks nice. It's not really black, more of a dark grey... but I prefer that personally.

Having it to do over again, I would go with the Eco Complete. Save yourself the headaches and time of rinsing that stuff, and remember that whatever you've heard about Flourite..... Onyx Sand is worse!

Wow you make me glad I didn't go with the Onyx sand now

I liked the "no rinsing" feature of the ecco complete, and it truely is no rinsing. I scooped it straight from the bag to my tank, no problems.

I believe so

I also think it has other trace minerals like sulfur and such too (don't have the bag in front of me) I just know that my plants looked really happy, and I have just regular stock hood lights and no co2 either

20# potting soil $5
25# gravel $4
Shipping & handling $0
Enough substrate for a heck of a lot of tanks... $9
Me when I realized this was possible and I didn't have to use Onyx sand or Flourite... :thud:

We didn't have the problems mentioned with rinsing Onyx Sand. It does take some rinsing, but it wasn't that big of a problem. We used a 5 gallon bucket to rinse it and then let it set for awhile in the aquarium. The left over powder was easily filtered out. We chose Onyx Sand over Flourite since we wanted the look of Onyx Sand. Flourite is more of a brownish color and also looks good and realistic for a natural looking substrate. The best thing about the two products is they are great for live plants and there's no messy laterite to cover up with gravel that can potentially be disturbed from vacuuming and causing a cloudy water column. Flourite and/or Onyx Sand, after much reseach, proved the best way to go for us.....

Check out the 2 produsct at SeaChem.com

Joe: do you have problems with yours "turning over" and getting the flourite on top when you're planting or cleaning? It seems like every time I disturb the bottom for planting or whatever, I end up with chunks of orange flourite on top. It also kicks up a whole new round of dust every time I do it

But you're right... it DOES look nice