Eco-Complete Substrate

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

amaramw

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Jun 10, 2018
Messages
6
Location
Georgia, USA
I have recently just got a 5 gal. Marineland Portrait aquarium and I was wanted to create my first planted tank (freshwater). A friend of mine gave me half of a 20 lb. bag of Eco-Complete Planted Aquarium substrate that he had sitting inside his room, never taken out of the bag. The liquid/water/nutrients that comes in the bag has dried up and is no longer there. I was wondering if this substrate will still work in my planted aquarium or if the liquid in the bag is key to getting your plants to thrive? I was also gifted Seachem Flourish and Seachem Excel as well as API CO2 Booster, API Leaf Zone and API Stress Coat. Any beginner tips about planted aquariums, plants, and substrates would be greatly appreciated. I'm not quite sure where to begin.

What are your opinions on eco-complete substrate?
 
I have recently just got a 5 gal. Marineland Portrait aquarium and I was wanted to create my first planted tank (freshwater). A friend of mine gave me half of a 20 lb. bag of Eco-Complete Planted Aquarium substrate that he had sitting inside his room, never taken out of the bag. The liquid/water/nutrients that comes in the bag has dried up and is no longer there. I was wondering if this substrate will still work in my planted aquarium or if the liquid in the bag is key to getting your plants to thrive? I was also gifted Seachem Flourish and Seachem Excel as well as API CO2 Booster, API Leaf Zone and API Stress Coat. Any beginner tips about planted aquariums, plants, and substrates would be greatly appreciated. I'm not quite sure where to begin.

What are your opinions on eco-complete substrate?

It's not a planted substrate at all, it's crushed up lava rock with 0 available nutrients and an insignificant CEC ability.

Since it is free it's fine to use, but a 5 gallon tank = small plants and Eco-comp it very hard to plant small / delicate plants into.

I would suggest Black Diamond Brand medium grit blasting sand, Pool filter sand or play sand instead.

Flourish Comprehensive is only good for micro nutrients, no N, P or K. Excel / CO2 booster are algecides. API leaf zone is bottled water.

I would go with small, low tech plants and use Flourish Comprehensive / Excel following the directions on the bottle.
 
It's not a planted substrate at all, it's crushed up lava rock with 0 available nutrients and an insignificant CEC ability.

Since it is free it's fine to use, but a 5 gallon tank = small plants and Eco-comp it very hard to plant small / delicate plants into.

I would suggest Black Diamond Brand medium grit blasting sand, Pool filter sand or play sand instead.

Flourish Comprehensive is only good for micro nutrients, no N, P or K. Excel / CO2 booster are algecides. API leaf zone is bottled water.

I would go with small, low tech plants and use Flourish Comprehensive / Excel following the directions on the bottle.

Wouldn't the grit blasting sand be harmful to fish or anything that stays on the bottom? I'm striving to make the tank as vibrant as possible. Have you heard good things about the Flourite Black Sand by Seachem?
 
Wouldn't the grit blasting sand be harmful to fish or anything that stays on the bottom? I'm striving to make the tank as vibrant as possible. Have you heard good things about the Flourite Black Sand by Seachem?

It is completely safe (see tank below). Flourite is too expensive for plain sand. Flourite has 0 nutrients, very low CEC and the regular grit Flourite is too hard to plant delicate plants in.

5 gallons is too small for 99% of aquarium fish anyway, so no need too worry about the blasting sand hurting anything.

gNdhgij.jpg
 
Interesting. Your plants grow nicely in the blasted sand? Do you use root tabs or "flourish tabs"? Should I still use the Seachem Flourish & Flourish Excel? Did you rinse the sand? Sorry for all the questions, there's just so much to ask lol. I had no clue that the gravel in the Eco-Complete makes it harder for the smaller roots to grow.
 
Interesting. Your plants grow nicely in the blasted sand? Do you use root tabs or "flourish tabs"? Should I still use the Seachem Flourish & Flourish Excel? Did you rinse the sand? Sorry for all the questions, there's just so much to ask lol. I had no clue that the gravel in the Eco-Complete makes it harder for the smaller roots to grow.

The roots will grow just fine, no issues there. It's physically planting into the Eco-complete or regular Flourite that is very hard on smaller plants (suitable for 5 gallon tanks).

Yes, rinse the blasting sand very well.

I use root tabs on occasion, but they are completely not needed. Water column fertilizing is all that is required. Here is a tank that only receives water column fertilizers, no tabs at all:

SR8p3na.jpg



Flourish only provides micro nutrients, no NO3, PO4 or K. Flourish tabs are also incomplete fertilizers. DIY root tabs such as Osmocote+ into gel capsules are far Superior.

ALL - IN - ONE ferts such as EasyGreen or Thrive are better options than Flourish Comprehensive. Use Flourish Excel at the "after water change" rate.

If you want to save money long term, you can use:

KNO3
KH2PO4
K2SO4
CSM+B

These are dry fertilizers that you either 1) mix into a solution and dose via volume or 2) leave dry and dose via weight.

Or, you can simply use root tabs (this may be limiting to certain plants though) .

You can also start with a nutrient rich substrate such as potting soil. But this is very messy and eventually it "runs" out of nutrients.
 
What is "water column fertilizing"?

Would you recommend the Thrive or EasyGreen, is there one you're particularly impressed with other the other or are they about the same?

I will probably just do the Thrive or EasyGreen (whatever you prefer) other than doing DIY fertilizers or trying to make it myself since I'm just now getting into this. I don't want to overwhelm myself lol!
 
I use Thrive. It works well but I would assume easy green is just as good. If Z says it works then it works. Lol
 
Ive used EcoComplete with decent success in both low tech and high tech setups but it can be a pain to set plants in (half of the smaller plants floating on the surface the next morning). I supplemented it with root pellets. Water column ferts and CO2 in the high tech tank. Once established the plants did well in both setups.
I tried blasting sand once but you REALLY need to rinse it well. I kept on seeing oil slicks when setting up a shrimp tank so I switched to a black sand from PetCo (TBH, I dont think it is naturally black). Have never tried blasting sand in a Planted tank.
Heard good things about Thrive.
 
What is "water column fertilizing"?

Would you recommend the Thrive or EasyGreen, is there one you're particularly impressed with other the other or are they about the same?

I will probably just do the Thrive or EasyGreen (whatever you prefer) other than doing DIY fertilizers or trying to make it myself since I'm just now getting into this. I don't want to overwhelm myself lol!

Water column fertilizing means you only fertilize the water, nothing in the substrate. I have never used Thrive or EasyGreen, I'm just going by other people successes.

I use Thrive. It works well but I would assume easy green is just as good. If Z says it works then it works. Lol

Don't just assume ;) I've never used either, I like the look of Thrive because it's EI based dosing, which I use for the most part.

Ive used EcoComplete with decent success in both low tech and high tech setups but it can be a pain to set plants in (half of the smaller plants floating on the surface the next morning). I supplemented it with root pellets. Water column ferts and CO2 in the high tech tank. Once established the plants did well in both setups.
I tried blasting sand once but you REALLY need to rinse it well. I kept on seeing oil slicks when setting up a shrimp tank so I switched to a black sand from PetCo (TBH, I dont think it is naturally black). Have never tried blasting sand in a Planted tank.
Heard good things about Thrive.

Yep, I agree 100%. Eco-Complete is a good substrate, I just found it tough to grow smaller plants in -- mostly because it's tough to initially plant into and keep newly planted plants in the substrate and not floating the next morning.

My blasting sand had no oil at all, I think it's luck of the draw really. The SDS sheets have nothing stick out as bad, as coal slag is 100% inert.

@amaramw ,

Here is an old tank of mine with eco-complete, root tabs and water column fertilizers, no CO2 but high light:

dj41zcq.jpg


And then a rescaped version:

YWwYgTw.jpg
 
Is flourite black and black sand REALLY that bad for your tanks? I was thinking about using eco-complete as a bottom layer, then using florite black sand and fluval shrimp substrate as top layers. But should i not do this anymore? If aquarium subrstates claim to be made for planted tanks but have essentially ZERO nutrients, they why are they so highly rated with reviews? Does blasting sand have any nutriants? Or just use root tabs and water colum ferts?
 
Is flourite black and black sand REALLY that bad for your tanks? I was thinking about using eco-complete as a bottom layer, then using florite black sand and fluval shrimp substrate as top layers. But should i not do this anymore? If aquarium subrstates claim to be made for planted tanks but have essentially ZERO nutrients, they why are they so highly rated with reviews? Does blasting sand have any nutriants? Or just use root tabs and water colum ferts?

They claim they are for planted tank because they can be used for planted tanks. They contain 0 nutrients, all of them.

Blasting sand has 0 nutrients, but its 10x cheaper (exaggerating) .

Fertilizer is needed in all planted tanks (even dirted tanks) so why buy expensive substrate, when you can save money and buy cheaper substrate or spend that money elsewhere.

Water column ferts is all that is needed for any planted tank (unless you have a specific goal or are following an ADA style approach).
 
They claim they are for planted tank because they can be used for planted tanks. They contain 0 nutrients, all of them.

Blasting sand has 0 nutrients, but its 10x cheaper (exaggerating) .

Fertilizer is needed in all planted tanks (even dirted tanks) so why buy expensive substrate, when you can save money and buy cheaper substrate or spend that money elsewhere.

Water column ferts is all that is needed for any planted tank (unless you have a specific goal or are following an ADA style approach).
Wow. Ok well if i used blasting sand, should i also do some root tabs when i first place the plants in the substrate? Also would you reccomend something on the bottom layer to help add depth? Or just blasting sand all the way?
Also, just to make sure, blasting sand is that stuff you can get on Amazon that is originally intended to be placed in fire pits correct?
 
Wow. Ok well if i used blasting sand, should i also do some root tabs when i first place the plants in the substrate? Also would you reccomend something on the bottom layer to help add depth? Or just blasting sand all the way?
Also, just to make sure, blasting sand is that stuff you can get on Amazon that is originally intended to be placed in fire pits correct?

Black Diamond Blasting Sand from Tractor Supply is the most used in the aquarium hobby. Or any pool filter sand.

You can use root tabs, or not, it doesn't matter. It can help but is not needed, user discretion.

I use 100% blasting sand, no bottom layer. I use DIY root tabs and DIY liquid fertilizers:

gNdhgij.jpg


1Y81QZy.jpg


8jaixP8.jpg


I also use Flourite (tons of left over stuff I had available) with only liquid DIY fertilizers:

rrxiiXs.jpg
 
Wow!!! [emoji54][emoji54][emoji50]
Very pretty tanks Z! I hope mine can be like that some day. Well im happy to hear that there is a way i can save money. I haven't bought anything yet. And still researching.
Do you have CO2 injected into any of your tanks pictured? Or just liquid carbon? If you do use CO2, would an inline defuser work ok?
I am planning on setting up a 75gal as a planted and worried about a typical disc difuser to not be enough to get the CO2 distributed evenly.

Do you have a link for the DIY ferts your use? I was planning on using thrive+ but would like to know options. Thanks so much for your help Z!
 
Wow!!! [emoji54][emoji54][emoji50]
Very pretty tanks Z! I hope mine can be like that some day. Well im happy to hear that there is a way i can save money. I haven't bought anything yet. And still researching.
Do you have CO2 injected into any of your tanks pictured? Or just liquid carbon? If you do use CO2, would an inline defuser work ok?
I am planning on setting up a 75gal as a planted and worried about a typical disc difuser to not be enough to get the CO2 distributed evenly.

Do you have a link for the DIY ferts your use? I was planning on using thrive+ but would like to know options. Thanks so much for your help Z!

I use CO2 in the last photo above. I inject it into a DIY Griggs reactor at around 4.75 bubbles per second - 25 gallon tank. No CO2 in the first few photos - 90 gallon tank. I achieve a 1.2 peak drop in pH from using CO2. I dose Metricide 14 on both tanks. 20mL's into 90 gallon tank and 8mL's into 25 gallon tank (algae outbreak caused me to increase amount used in the 25 gallon tank).

I use a variety of ingredients to make my fertilizers, each ingredient is used to target a certain ppm of a select element. But, these products can work:

KNO3 - For Nitrogen / Potassium - Macro nutrients
KH2PO4 - For Phosphorous and Potassium - Macro nutrients
CaSO4 - For Calcium and Sulfur - Secondary nutrients
MgSO4 - For Magnesium and Sulfur - Secondary nutrients
CSM+B - For trace elements - Micro nutrients

I target a certain levels of Macro and Secondary nutrients in my incoming new water during a weekly 50% water change. For Micro nutrients I dose 3x per week on alternating days and 1 "rest" day - 7 days total.
 
I use CO2 in the last photo above. I inject it into a DIY Griggs reactor at around 4.75 bubbles per second - 25 gallon tank. No CO2 in the first few photos - 90 gallon tank. I achieve a 1.2 peak drop in pH from using CO2. I dose Metricide 14 on both tanks. 20mL's into 90 gallon tank and 8mL's into 25 gallon tank (algae outbreak caused me to increase amount used in the 25 gallon tank).

I use a variety of ingredients to make my fertilizers, each ingredient is used to target a certain ppm of a select element. But, these products can work:

KNO3 - For Nitrogen / Potassium - Macro nutrients
KH2PO4 - For Phosphorous and Potassium - Macro nutrients
CaSO4 - For Calcium and Sulfur - Secondary nutrients
MgSO4 - For Magnesium and Sulfur - Secondary nutrients
CSM+B - For trace elements - Micro nutrients

I target a certain levels of Macro and Secondary nutrients in my incoming new water during a weekly 50% water change. For Micro nutrients I dose 3x per week on alternating days and 1 "rest" day - 7 days total.
That's a really good system you have. And it obviously works. I was under the impressions that CO2 was good for keeping ph2 down so you can keep more acidic fish. I am asking because I was hoping to have german blue rams as well as shrimp and rummy nose tetras in the tank. I understand they are acidic dwellers so using 75% RO and 25% tap will get a relatively low kH and gH allowing the pH to remain relatively low.
I will have to do more research into the dry fertz field and find out how to dose accordingly. I was going to start with Thrive+ for now until i learn more about dry ferts.

Also I was reading your last message Z and you mentioned doseimg metricide 14. Well i had no idea what that was so i looked into it. And im sure glad i did! I never knew there was something way better out there then excel! I put that on my list of things to buy for my tank for sure!
So about that, you mentioned a small bit about what your dose amount is for your tanks. What would you say a good starting ratio is for metricide, 5mls/10 gallons? Then tweek it from there? I have a 75gal tank. Also, would using this alone help keep the pH low for the rams? Could i use this product as well as infuse CO2?
Sorry for all the questions but this opened up a whole new world for me.

P.s. ill definitly be getting blasting sand for my aquarium after reading up on it. Way better then the name brand stuff and looks great!
 
Sorry but I disagree with this. I do dirted tanks and never use ferts. My plants are growing just fine.



Eventually your dirt will be exhausted and you will have to replace, unless you replace regularly.

I’ll be honest, I don’t don’t do dirted tanks, never have done one, but I want to try one eventually. Everything I’ve seen is eventually, could be a year - could be 2 years, you will have to start fertilizing as the dirt will be exhausted.

Good thing about dirt though is that it is 100% organic matter, so it will have a higher CEC and be capable of “storing” fertilizer you dose.
 
Back
Top Bottom