Plant Substrate

[Mopedman]

I am looking for a decent substrate the will benefit my future plants. What are your suggestions? I am looking at AquariumPlants.com's own: Freshwater Plant Substrate
I just fear that fish waste will show easily with black gravel, as this happens with my friends normal black gravel, and he has to vacuum his tank every 3 days. It doesn't get covered with the brown waste you can just see it. Please let me know suggestions. Thanks

[neilanh]

There are lots of options, depending on how deeply into planted tanks you want to get. The darker colored substrates are typically preferred, because they help to make the colors of the plants really stand out. These substrates, under water, aren't jet black like your friends black gravel probably is, so waste sitting on them doesn't show up so bad - I actually never even notice it in my tanks.

There are lots of options for planted substrates, like I said, depending on how much you want to spend. You can go for nutrient enriched substrates, like Aquasoil, Eco-Complete, etc, which are a bit pricier but are packed with nutrients that will help your plants flourish.

You can go with completely inert substrates, like sand or 3Ms color quartz.

or, the "in-between" as I call it, which is what you're looking at, but also includes schultz aquatic soil, soilmaster select, and turface. These are fired clays that will actually absorb nutrients that you feed the aquarium and help provide a good source for the roots.

Any of these are viable options that work well, but each come with their own requirements. For instance, Aquasoil, IME, is so nutrient rich that it can provide your plants with everything they need (except CO2) for many, many months, without needing to dose any ferts at all.

It really comes down to what kind of tank you want to have. low-light, low maintenance, or the all out high tech planted tank.

[pitt420dude]

Heads up mopedman: I've heard that Turface ProLeague, Soilmaster Select, and the substrate you're looking at from Aquariumplants are the EXACT SAME THING.

I forget where, but on some other forums somebody did a side by side comparison, and not only could you tell that they looked and appeared precisely the same, but he ran tests using each substrate and the growth was exactly the same.

So what is the difference? The difference is that Aquariumplants took something that cost me $11.18 for 50lbs, slapped "for aquarium plants" on it and put it in a shiny bucket, and added another $40 bucks.

I hate to cite to other forums but there is some really valuable discussion, and photo comparisons here: A new Black Substrate by Aquariumplants.com - Page 4 - The Planted Tank Forum. It seems most conclude that it is just repackaged Soilmaster Select or Turface (both the same thing). Some people are willing to pay extra for the peace of mind and the 5 gal bucket, but just FYI, IMO they're the same exact thing only marked up like 400%.

[Mopedman]

Thanks for the info. Reading some other forums I found this First Layer Pure Laterite
First Laye Pure Laterite. What is it? Is it recommend to use as a first layer and put soilmaster or the aquariumplants.com bucket over? Thanks

[pitt420dude]

Yeah I wouldn't worry about laterite. It is basically a nutrient rich material that is meant to be mixed in with other substrates. Laterite and eco complete, like Neil was saying IIRC, come w/ nutreints already in them. They're good if your not plannign on adding fertilizers or root tabs.

Other than that, the overwhelming advice I got on these forums was to just sqeeze out a layer of mulm (fish poo) or peat on the bottom of your tank, and just put your substrate over that. Doing this will help your substrate jumpstart it's nutrient uptake. So basically you can use mulm or peat instead of the more expensive and VERY cloudy laterite.

[Mopedman]

Originally Posted by pitt420dude

Heads up mopedman: I've heard that Turface ProLeague, Soilmaster Select, and the substrate you're looking at from Aquariumplants are the EXACT SAME THING.

I forget where, but on some other forums somebody did a side by side comparison, and not only could you tell that they looked and appeared precisely the same, but he ran tests using each substrate and the growth was exactly the same.

So what is the difference? The difference is that Aquariumplants took something that cost me $11.18 for 50lbs, slapped "for aquarium plants" on it and put it in a shiny bucket, and added another $40 bucks.

I hate to cite to other forums but there is some really valuable discussion, and photo comparisons here: A new Black Substrate by Aquariumplants.com - Page 4 - The Planted Tank Forum. It seems most conclude that it is just repackaged Soilmaster Select or Turface (both the same thing). Some people are willing to pay extra for the peace of mind and the 5 gal bucket, but just FYI, IMO they're the same exact thing only marked up like 400%.

Where did you buy the stuff that is so much cheaper but just as effective? Anyone know where I might be able to get it online?

[neilanh]

Welcome to LESCO.com

Also, the schultz aquatic soil is sold by Home depot/lowes type places in the pond/garden center

[Mopedman]

Does the aquatic soil still provide nutrients for the plants?

[neilanh]

The aquatic soil falls into the "in-between" category I mentioned above. Nothing wrong with it, I use and grow plants with it well.

[Mopedman]

I went onto LESCO.com and I guess you have to be a contractor to get the Turface pro league from them. I will look into the Soil and Home Depot as I am just starting out so I need to get the hang of it anyhow. Since I am putting this into an established tank would it be ok to just take the old gravel out with everything in it and put the new stuff in since the bacteria is in my filters or should I do a half and half thing?