Best substrate for plants?

7itanium

7itanium

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Jan 31, 2009
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Spokane, WA
so I have 2 planted tanks right now.. and they are both with gravel substrate... it works fine

but I am doing another 55g planted tank.. and I want to do everything perfect on this one

I have 108w of T5 lights... working on DIY CO2... but for the substrate?

I would like something either sandy, or black.... and im on a budget as well


what should I use?
 
Veloth said:
I've used pool sand (cheap). Flourite Black Sand, Ecco Complete and SMS(semi cheap). The only one I disliked is the Ecco complete
Click to expand...


why is that exactly?? I have heard good things...
 
Since you're on a budget, the best substrate is Turface/SMS. Cheaper than Flourite and Eco-Complete and has a higher CEC ratio so it holds nutrients better.

Save up for a pressurized CO2 system. A DIY yeast system doesn't work well for a 55g tank, especially if your lights are T5HO.
 
I use SMS in a 55 and a 150 planted and it works well, gets good results. The only thing about SMS is that it pulls nutriants from the water column so plants that aren't rooted in it when you first put it in will struggle.
 
That's not a bad suggestion from BK. I was hoping to get eco-complete, but couldn't afford it. Since then, I've read the nutrient benefit diminishes over time and is mostly depleted after a couple of years. So it's not a long-term thing anyway.

I ended up going to Lowe's looking for play sand or pool filter sand. (The black tahitian moon sand I like best costs as much as eco per bag.) Both the play sand and pool filter sand looked awful fine and powdery when I looked at them. So I kept looking.. decided to get 16 grit silica sand in a 100 lb. bag for $6.00. I couldn't be happier the way that turned out (well, I would be if it came in black.. but it doesn't). It's a heavy sand that anchors plants down real well, the grains are just heavy enough they don't go up the python tube, there was no dust at all, and the grains don't have rough edges to hurt cories or loaches. It's really having the benefit of sand visually with the simpleness of gravel.
 
not to hijack your thread...

but thanks for the tip on the silica. we just got a bunch of loaches and were pondering substrate for a 100 gallon tank. silica sand might just be perfect (and cost effective)
 
Hey, Kashta, where did you end up getting the silica? At Lowe's? I had looked for silica sand when I was getting ready to set up my 75g, but all I could find was play sand (ended up going with gravel). Unfortunately, we don't have Lowe's around here, just Menards and local Mom & Pop type stores.

Oh, and for my opinion, go with a layer of laterite (rinse it really good or you'll get a real red dust cloud everytime you to a gravel cleaning) and cover with a medium gravel or sand. Or go with fluorite (spelling?) in black. That's probably what I'd like to get next time, but budget...y'know.
 
i have 60 lbs of fluorite in my planted and as far as im concerned, it was worth every penny of the $100 we dropped on it ($25 a 15 lb bag). my plants grow like mad with the most minimal efforts
 
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