Do I need all eco complete?

[FWFishTanks]

I don't have much money, so instead of filling my 75 with all eco, could I have a 1.5 inch gravel bed on bottom and 1.5 inches of eco complete on top? Does the eco on the bottom really have any significant benefits? It just seems that the bottom eco would be out of the water column, out of reach of nutrients. All I get is allowances so my money is scarce. Any suggestions or advice is appreciated!

 

[clarkm]

I think most people put eco on bottom and cap it with gravel.

 

[Dallascowboys16]

I did all eco but I'm sure expert gravel would be fine. Just make sure to get all the same color or you'll end up with both colors mixed pretty quickly.

 

[Mebbid]

You don't "need" eco complete. Especially if you are short on cash. It's expensive and while it does help, you can do just fine without it. Even if you do use all eco complete you will still need root tabs for your rooting plants. Imho save the money and invest in a better light and some ferts.

You can do a perfectly healthy planted tank with an inert substrate such as sand or if you want to go the extra mile put down a 1" layer of miracle grow organic soil and cap it with 2" of sand.

FWIW This is a picture of my tank when it was just straight inert sand and root tabs.

 

[aqua_chem]

You don't "need" eco complete. Especially if you are short on cash. It's expensive and while it does help, you can do just fine without it. Even if you do use all eco complete you will still need root tabs for your rooting plants. Imho save the money and invest in a better light and some ferts.

You can do a perfectly healthy planted tank with an inert substrate such as sand or if you want to go the extra mile put down a 1" layer of miracle grow organic soil and cap it with 2" of sand.

FWIW This is a picture of my tank when it was just straight inert sand and root tabs.

I agree with this. If money is tight, there are much better things to spend money on than substrate, eg glut, ferts, etc.

 

[LetsGoFishin]

It's a fairly big decision because once it's in there and established it would ofcourse be an ordeal to change out for something else.

I decided a long time on substrate trying to research the pros and cons of each type. Went back and forth between ecocomplete and pool filter sand. Finally went with five 20 pound bags of ecocomplete in my 50 gal. This gave me about 3" of depth and I absolutely love it, well worth the money to me. It is somewhat nutrient rich at first but will deplete over time. Along with daily EI dosing I'm using the Ru-tabs from Peabody's paradise, very cheap with more nutrients and half the price of other name brand tabs.

 

[FWFishTanks]

Thanks! I think ill get pfs and focus more money on ferts and lighting.