layer or mix substrate?

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wagz

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Aug 1, 2012
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Location
Sunny Buffalo
I have already put gravel and a few fish in my 75g.

decided I'm going to try some substrate for plants.

will probably go with eco or fluorite.

question. Should I layer it with eco on bottom and put the gravel back on top?
How deep on each?

or since it will be a ton easier. can I just mix it with the current medium size gravel?

Thank you for any input
 
I personally would take the gravel out. If you try to put it on top it will eventually all just mix in. If you are ok with how it will look all mixed together, there is nothing wrong with doing that either.
 
how much eco or fluorite

would one 20lb bag be enough mixed in or would I need more. Could I get away with just fertilizer instead. I had no idea substrate was so expensive.
 
For my 40b I used 3 bags of fluorite and it wasn't enough but couldn't afford more.
 
If you want a plant friendly substrate on the cheap you could always spend about $20 on Osmacote Plus (Amazon or some plant centers) and get pool filter sand (at most $10). Just sprinkle a light coat of the osmacote on the bottom of the tank glass then rinse and gently pour the sand on top towhatever thickness you like.

Having said that, I use 2"-6" of straight Flourite in my planted tank sloped from front to back. Eco Complete is probably a little bit better though.
 
what about mineralized topsoil?

Did some surfing and ran into mineralized topsoil which didn't seem to hard to make. anyone have any experience with this?
 
Lots of folks on the forum here do. There are pros and cons. It certainly is economical but I prefer the ease of specialty planted tank substrate like aqua soil or ecocomplete.
 
fort384 said:
Lots of folks on the forum here do. There are pros and cons. It certainly is economical but I prefer the ease of specialty planted tank substrate like aqua soil or ecocomplete.

Is that the brand name? Aqua soil? Or ecocomplete? Do you prefer that over the seachem?
 
Yes those are brand names. I am not familiar with seachem substrate.
 
What types of plants are you planning on putting in this tank? Specialty substrates, CO2 and ferts may not even be needed depending on lighting and species you decide to keep.
 
fort384 said:
Yes those are brand names. I am not familiar with seachem substrate.

I've used the Seachem Flourite substrate for years. The regular Flourite is more jagged than any other plant subs I know and it takes a ton of rinsing before you get all of the silt out of it. It grows plants very well with root tabs but my glosso uproots very easily with it. The sand type subs from Seachem are far easier for bottom feeders and rooting delicate plants. It never breaks down into mud like other brands though. I'd recommend ecocomplete or aqua soil.
 
Yeah my bad I had a brainfart there. I forgot that fluorite was made by SEAchem.
 
planned plants

typical plants and several different mosses.

varied Anubias, a couple different swords, a Cryptocoryne or two, ferns, Fissidens for floor, varieties of liverwort and Nymphaeaceae. Haven't decided on exact specimens. Do I need to be more specific?

Tank is already cycling with a dozen neons, plants and some dw. Is it near impossible to add a soil/clay diy substrate or one with peat. would it just be a disaster if I raked the gravel to one side after taking out plants/wood and added substrate and then repeated on other side. would it just be all in the water and is more mess than Its worth. could I use the eco complete that way if i spent the money.

or is my best bet to hook up my new lighting when it arrives and try fert tabs and flourish.
 
Most of the planted tank specialty substrates are somewhat messy. Aquasoil in particular would be difficult to add to an established tank as it leaches ammonia for several days or even a couple of weeks when it first gets wet.

Adding flourite or laterite would be very messy. Ecocomplete might work out ok, but it would also be messy. You could take out half the water, at the substrate slowly, and then do a couple of water changes after that to pull as much out of the water column as possible. It will eventually all settle after a day or two... but these substrates are so much easier to start a tank with rather than add later.

Most of the plants you are after would do fine with root tabs and gravel. Fissendens and some crypts would do better in specialty substrate, but will grow in gravel, especially with root tabs. When I had my 29 setup, it was just plain gravel, and I had most if not all of the plants you are after growing in it:

19738-albums313-picture3748.jpg
 
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