This may be too late to be of use, but perhaps for future reference or anyone surfing the forums...
I purchased some flora base recently and yes, it is VERY expensive, prohibitively so to use as an exclusive substrate. Nor would I use it exclusively simply because of how much it clouds the water (though it claims to do the opposite).
I purchased one bag of the stuff to use in my 40 gallon tank. I also use roughly 60 pounds of very fine regular gravel. I pre-rinsed the gravel, though did nothing to the flora base, as the directions tell you not to pre-rinse it. You should have seen the dust it created when I poured it in and mixed it into the gravel!!!
It may or may not be a good product. It's been about a month now since I've had it, so I don't know if the cloudiness when disturbed eventually goes away with water changes, or how it works for plants, but I will let you all know soon as I am getting my plants in the next day or so.
I would perhaps consider onyx sand an alternative to flora base as I've heard nothing but good things about it.
I purchased some flora base recently and yes, it is VERY expensive, prohibitively so to use as an exclusive substrate. Nor would I use it exclusively simply because of how much it clouds the water (though it claims to do the opposite).
I purchased one bag of the stuff to use in my 40 gallon tank. I also use roughly 60 pounds of very fine regular gravel. I pre-rinsed the gravel, though did nothing to the flora base, as the directions tell you not to pre-rinse it. You should have seen the dust it created when I poured it in and mixed it into the gravel!!!
It may or may not be a good product. It's been about a month now since I've had it, so I don't know if the cloudiness when disturbed eventually goes away with water changes, or how it works for plants, but I will let you all know soon as I am getting my plants in the next day or so.
I would perhaps consider onyx sand an alternative to flora base as I've heard nothing but good things about it.