wat is the best plant substrate?
- Thread starter Lucas9919
- Start date
echoofformless
Peat Advocate & Defender Of Snails
My opinion is that the best substrate for planting is something that is easy to use as far as anchoring the plants down. And in truth I find Flourite and Eco Complete to be very poor in that regard. And the cheaper alternatives like Soilmaster and Turface are much worse being as though they are so light in weight.
Sand is the best for ease of use. And though I've never scientifically studied one substrate vs another, my experience has shown that the best growth comes from plain old five dollar per fifty pound play sand or medium sand with the addition of Flourish root tabs. I will never waste my hard earned money on so-called "plant" substrates again. What benefit they give (if any at all!) doesn't go anywhere near to comparison with their high cost. And in my opinion they don't look very natural either. Fired clay isn't exactly the substrate you're likely to find in a natural body of water.
When I switched my 55g Amazon from Eco/Soilmaster to sand and root tabs, I saw dramatically increased growth in my swords and vals. It prompted me to add root tabs to my Asian tank where Flourite is the substrate. And my blyxa aubertii took off as a result. Thus in the end it was the root tabs and not the Flourite that seemed to have the magic. Conclusion: I wasted my money on that substrate! So the final answer in my mind is to skip the overpriced substrates and just use what works best.
Sand is the best for ease of use. And though I've never scientifically studied one substrate vs another, my experience has shown that the best growth comes from plain old five dollar per fifty pound play sand or medium sand with the addition of Flourish root tabs. I will never waste my hard earned money on so-called "plant" substrates again. What benefit they give (if any at all!) doesn't go anywhere near to comparison with their high cost. And in my opinion they don't look very natural either. Fired clay isn't exactly the substrate you're likely to find in a natural body of water.
When I switched my 55g Amazon from Eco/Soilmaster to sand and root tabs, I saw dramatically increased growth in my swords and vals. It prompted me to add root tabs to my Asian tank where Flourite is the substrate. And my blyxa aubertii took off as a result. Thus in the end it was the root tabs and not the Flourite that seemed to have the magic. Conclusion: I wasted my money on that substrate! So the final answer in my mind is to skip the overpriced substrates and just use what works best.
mellowvision
Seafood Lover
I've used eco complete, flourite, regular gravel, and tried an experiment with sand, and found that the eco complete did the best job of holding, and promoted the best root growth. the flourite is too light, like flaked stone. the eco complete is like dritty big soil almost. smaller than regular gravel... I set up a tank for a friend with filter sand, and it seemed like a nice material. it was heavy and large compared to most sand I've handled. I could see sand working with some things, but being a pain for others. I think it depends what you want to grow.
I also noticed bags and bags of a new aquatic garden soil at lowes. I believe it was made by scott. it was cheap. I didn't get any though.
I also noticed bags and bags of a new aquatic garden soil at lowes. I believe it was made by scott. it was cheap. I didn't get any though.
echoofformless
Peat Advocate & Defender Of Snails
The aquatic soil is the same fired clay as Flourite, Eco Complete and Soilmaster. It's about as light as the Soilmaster and I wouldn't recommend it for that exact reason.
