Substrate Info

Karnaaj said:
Illiswiller, I have heard of people using the schultz' product but not as the sole substrate but layered underneath some sort of gravel.
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That was the EXACT question I was going to ask. I haven't put together my aquarium cabinet for my 55 gal. tank yet. It's going to be a community tank and moderately planted with live plants. I'm going to do a retrofit with AH Supply dual 55 watt. kits which will give me 2 WPG.

I was contemplating layering the base substrate with Schultz's aquatic soil and then laying over that with a natural colored aquarium gravel. I've read about Shultz's being fairly light, but I thought if I covered it with gravel it would stay put. I'd like to give my plants a something a little more nourishing and I thought this way might work.

Any comments or suggestions?

P.S. I've found that with only 1 WPG in my 12 gal. I've been able to grow anubias, ludweigia repens, and anacharis without any problems. The fact that I have a Eclipse bio-wheel going doesn't seem to faze them at all. Better lucky than good. ;)
 
Um, I use Schultz aquatic soil.. aka Profile. Its a gravel version of it and it's not light as far as weight.. its light as far as color. When people says its lighter than flourite I had thought they meant colorwise. I have it in the tank here http://home.comcast.net/~slardizabal/krib2.html. The plants are doing very well in this, though the Lilaeopsis hasnt really rooted well in it yet (only one week in so I dont know if this is a light or a substrate issue actually). Swords do well in it in another tank I have, Vals loved it and rooted into individual peices of it and the wisteria, well, you can see how it liked the subtrate in the photos. Lots of huge root systems. I'm trying Ludwigia repens.. I imagine that will do well also.

>Sarah
 
Karnaaj said:
Rebgen, the bio-wheel really only comes into play if you are injecting CO2 or your tank is heavily planted.
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Thanks for the info. Now I have another question. I'm guessing 2 WPG is still on the moderate side of intensity....if I decide to use a substrate like Profile, am I going to have to add supplemental CO2? I'd like to avoid it for now if possible. My plan is to use low to moderate light plants like anubias, ludweigia repens, and a few swords. I've read about the need for extra CO2 in tanks with 3 WPG and above.

If I look at Harlock's aquarium picture in his profile any more, I'm gonna just make it easy and use pool filter sand like he did and call it a day....looks very nice, LOL.
 
You don't have to inject CO2 with 2wpg. CO2 is beneficial at any light level if you have a moderate/high plant density. It is the amount of light used as a necessity for CO2, not the type of substrate.
Shultz Aquatic Soil is lighter in color and wieght (at least under water ;) ) than flourite. I have a 10g set up with it and don't mind it. Leopardess uses it with great success. Others use reg. gravel to hold it down.
With all due respect to Harlock, the tank in the link is IMO sparsely planted. I think it's a great looking set-up, but I wonder how it would do if it was heavily planted. Maybe it would be fine, I don't know, never tried sand.
 
Thanks for the excellent feedback. I just wanted to make sure I didn't tip over a domino with using a richer substrate and having to add a lot of other things too. I'm thinking of using Profile because it's inexpensive and it'll already be there if I decide to add more demanding plants i the future. One thing I don't want to do is have to tear down the tank because I did something stupid. Hopefully all of the questions I've asked, combined with reading posts here, will save me some aggravation in the future.

It'll be fun to post some pics when I get it up and running. :dance
 
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