New Substrate choice

[Zezmo]

I just came accross this stuff, and thought I would share. I am ordering one bucket, and so should be able to report on it after a while.

http://www.aquariumplants.com/product_p/ss-1.htm

AquariumPlants.com's own: Freshwater Plant Substrate

AQUARIUMPLANTS.COM's own Exclusive: Freshwater Planted Aquarium Substrate (more information coming soon)
All natural. No artificial coloring.

Contains minerals and nutrients and rich in iron. Very condusive to optimum fresh water aquatic plant growth.

Used with our exclusive "Aquariumplants.com's own Substrate Fertilizer Tablets" we GUARANTEE success.

Black in color

Will not break down or dissolve or turn to mud like others do.

Does not cloud water
How do I calculate how much I need for my aquarium?
5 gallon bucket will cover:

4 sq ft at a depth of 3"

(a 55 gallon aquarium measures 48" by 12" or 4 sq ft.)
In comparison to "Eco-complete": Eco-complete takes 120 lbs (6 bags) to cover the same area, at a cost of over $144.00 !

Shipped in a FREE 5 gallon bucket...great to keep around for water changes etc.

 

[Jchillin]

$35 for a 5 gal bucket of "pseudo" eco-complete? Order me two Z!

 

[JustOneMore20]

I saw that on Plantedtank.net. I'm seriously thinking about getting a bucket of it for my new 38g and current 29g. I think one bucket would be enough for both, since it says its enough for a 55g. It looks very much like Eco. I wonder how well it grows plants?? Guess I'll find out!

Zezmo, let us know how it is...

 

[WaterPond]

wow, how much is shipping though???

 

[Woody83]

wow, how much is shipping though???

Calc'd out to be $22+ shipping to me, while Eco ships for free from them currently.

 

[JustOneMore20]

It would be about $18 for shipping for me...so a total of about $53....while would be enough for a 29g and 38g....and Eco would be 5 bags times $24....for $120....so the new stuff is definitely worth it if you have multiple tanks or large tanks. I'd save over $50 with the new stuff.

 

[fish_4_all]

I looked at it and was leary because it seems more "fluffy" than eco and therefore you need less and it is lighter than eco. I have heard some say that eco is light enough and sometimes it can be a pain to hold some plants down. Lighter and fluffier, might have a real hard time keeping stems and especially things like HC and other ground covers down. I guess we will see how well it works when Zezmo guinea pigs this stuff for us.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

How does this sound for an idea if you are wanting smaller foreground cover....
Buy just 1 bag of Eco with the order and spread it over the top where the ground cover will be. By the time the smaller Eco particles make it's way towards the bottom through the larger gravel, the foreground plants should already be taking hold and spreading. But if that plant gravel is fairly small, planting foreground shouldn't be much of a problem.

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

I was talking to a guy at AP and he mentioned the new stuff (shipping for 2 pails to me is 79$) so the total price is 150$, still 8 bags of eco is 240 up here.

They have tanks set up to test the different substrate and apparently their yeilds 1.5" more growth over ECO in I think it was 2 months.

They are also going to be putting out tailored tabs for each type of plant (beside each plant it will tell you which tab to get).. some nice things coming out of there. just wish I had have read that they only make shipments to Canada once a month.

 

[Zezmo]

The new substrate from Aquarium Plants arrived earlier this week, and this weekend I have had the opportunity to try it out.
It arrived, as advertised, in a big red bucket. Now, another member of the SFBAAPS had also bought this stuff, his also arrived this week. He had also used Turface Pro League, and reported that this stuff is identical to that. He has a photo of the two side by side, and they are certainly the same thing. His belief is that the AP.com stuff has just been sifted to remove the smaller particles.
That said, Turface is a fine substrate for aquarium plants, it is reported to have a very high CEC, and is composed of Montmorillonite (aka arcillite)
Chemistry: (Na, Ca)(Al, Mg)6(Si4O10)3(OH)6 - nH2O, Hydrated Sodium Calcium Aluminum Magnesium Silicate Hydroxide.

I had a 20 gallon that has been running for about a month now with filters and snails. My intention was to convert it for use with my breeding pair of Angelfish. This is the tank that I am trying this stuff in first.

Here is what it looks like out of the bucket:

It stirred up some dust during filling, in the future I will rinse it before use.

A couple hours later the water was clear. This stuff looks pretty good.

Here area few shots of the whole tank, and of my Angels. These two breed like crazy, producing fry every month. They are way to aggressive to share their tank with any other fish. This seems to go along with them being such good parents. They will typically raise their young well past being free swimming, only losing interest in the current young when the next set is getting ready to hatch.
The plants were just floating on top of my clipping tank, and are not doing so well. I am hoping they pick up in their new tank. Once the tank is growing, I will add ranalisma rostratum as the foreground.

This tank is out in the garage with my clipping and breeding tanks:

And finally, a shot of the fine red bucket. It took about half of it to do the 20 gallon tank. As they say on the website, I suspect 1 bucket is the right amount for a 55gallon (48x13)

All in all I am happy with my purchase. It cost $57 after shipping to get this stuff to my house. I could have probably bought Turface locally, sifted it myself, and came out at about half the price. But then, I would not have gotten the cool red bucket.

 

[fish_4_all]

Looks like the black or green turface all right. I really thought it was a less compact version of Eco but oh well. Maybe they treated it with ferts and then dried it again but who knows. Is good they sifted it and looks like they might have actually rinsed it really well to cut down on the clouding of the tank. Maybe the rinse was with mineral water or something.

Keep us up to date, at least will be another experience with Turface so we can get some good info on how well it can work.

 

[JustOneMore20]

I have also seen it compared to Turface or Soilmaster (mostly to Turface though). I was going to try to get Soilmaster locally, but I'd rather click and order the AP stuff online and have it arrive at my house instead of calling Lesco, waiting for them to get it (charcoal isn't as common), and then go pick it up. What can I say, I'm lazy and I like online shopping. And I could use a cool red bucket.

I have heard many good things about Turface and Soilmaster, so hopefully the AP is just as good or better (if they added some ferts or something and dried it out, like said above...). We will see I guess.

 

[Zezmo]

I wanted to give small update now that I have been usign this stuff for a month. It works well, and looks good.
One important note though is that it eats up the Kh of your tank. My tap water runs about 8Kh. The tanks with the aquariumplants.com substrate all have a Kh of 0, even a week after a water change. This is not a big deal, now that I know this is going on I will just add some Calcium Carbonate to the fert schedule. None of the tanks are CO2 injected so that is not the source of Kh loss, it is certainly the substrate.
Being as Turface is not known to do this, I no longer think that this is just repackaged turface.

 

[rkilling1]

I would be worried about shocking the fish every time you do a water change.

If you do a 50% water change, that is going to change the tank KH from 0 to 4 degrees in a very short time. Not good for the fish. (if you do water changes on that tank)

 

[SparKy697]

Here is another thread on this stuff and it also references you to a thread on another site too. I still hear as much good as bad on the stuff.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=92626&highlight=substrate

 

[Glenc]

Thanks for all the info, I'm setting up a 75 very soon and the verdict is still out on what substrate to use. The KH drop does concern me as my 75 will be high light, C02 injected and will be subject to large water changes. Please keep us posted Zezmo.

 

[JustOneMore20]

The KH drop is worrying me now. I can't decide if I want this substrate or Eco for my 38g. My tap KH is only about 4...and this tank is going to have CO2. Now I have some thinking to do...

 

[frostby]

I just got the stuff too, seems like the same rocky stuff they put on shingles to give them their color.

 

[Zezmo]

I would be worried about shocking the fish every time you do a water change.

I agree. For me, these are low/no water change tanks. I also have an RO/DI system that I use for the water on some of my tanks. I envision doing water changes with RO/DI and maintaining Kh with Calcium Carbonate. I will also be interested to see if the effect peters out after a bit. That would suggest that you could saturate the substrate during a break in period. I should mention, that as alarming as all this may sound. This is the same effect that ADA aquasoil has. And of course that is seen as the holy grail of substrates.

 

[Jchillin]

I just finished reading about it in the link(s) provided (boy did that thread get a bit heated). The thread was terminated before it was confirmed that it is or is not Turface. Based on the photographic evidence, I'd say it is Turface that has been sifted.

I'm glad you mentioned the kh drop is common with Aquasoil since I have a tremendously low kh to begin with. I would definitely use some boost if I used either one.

BTW, the tank looks great with it. Now to see what the plants do.