another dumb question: aqua. soil

[kaaikop]

I am planning a heavily planted tank, and plan to use sand of the kind
for the pool filters, which was recommended by a lot of folks on a
different forum. Underneath that sand I will put a layer of "aquatic soil"
like Schultz. Needless to say I will have to "wash and rinse" that sand,
but how about the soil, should I just lay in it as it is, or should I rinse it
as well? I can see a real messy job here... yuck!

 

[Guest]

Rinse. rinse, and rinse some more! Schultz is good, but very dusty. If you don't rinse it very well, your tank will cloud up eveytime you plant something, move a plant, or do anything else that disturbs the substrate.

Also, I've tried 2 layers, sand over Schultz. In my experience, eventually it all gets mixed together, so I no longer have a nice sandy substrate. Personally, I don't mind the mixed substrate look, but I don't know if that would bother you.

 

[kaaikop]

Actually I opened one of the bags I just got... it is already kinda damp...
maybe because of storage, it is cold up here, those bags might have
been under 2 tons of snow for the last 3 months. But I'm afraid if I start
washing that stuff, all I am going to make is a big mess of mud...
And then... what do I do with this mud... "pour" it in the tank?

Also I was planning on putting a screen in between the two layers...
(just regular fiberglass window screening). I don't know if that would help
at all, just saw that posted somewhere... If it mixes up, well... that is
not so bad, what I want to achieve (hopefully) is to get the whole bottom
covered with green (maybe I'm just dreaming )

Maybe this is not the best idea alltogether, here... I am just trying to
save a bit of $$$ since the equipment is so expensive (especially lighting
and CO2 setup, and all the rest of course...)
I know there is something else (read about it here) Laterite or something
like that, but again, $$$

 

[Guest]

But I'm afraid if I start
washing that stuff, all I am going to make is a big mess of mud...
And then... what do I do with this mud... "pour" it in the tank?

Best practice for cleaning any substrate larger than sand, equipment: 2 buckets, 1 pasta strainer (the kind made with mesh screening, other kinds with large holes will NOT do), large sink to work in where you won't get in trouble for rinsing!

Pour your substrate to be rinsed into bucket 1, do not fill more than 1/2 way. Fill bucket 3/4 full with water. Scoop out a few cups at a time, fill the pasta strainer most of the way up. Rinse contents of stainer under running water until it runs clear, stirring up the contents of the strainer once or twice. Dump cleaned substrate into bucket 2. Repeat many times until all substrate is rinsed!

Also I was planning on putting a screen in between the two layers...
(just regular fiberglass window screening). I don't know if that would help
at all, just saw that posted somewhere

I believe it would work to keep layers from mixing, but see some drawbacks, one huge one in particular. Once plants are established, roots will grow down through the mesh and become thouroughly entangled in it. This will make it impossible to ever move the plants without pulling up the entire screen 8O . That will pull up all your plants, the whole sand layer, and make the biggest mess you've ever seen.

If I were you, I'd take my chances with the 2 layers mixing up over time. That screen idea presents too much potential for a huge messy disaster. I'll go on record as saying I'm 100% against it.

 

[travis simonson]

I tried the two-layer sand-over-Flourite in my grow-out tank and had some success preventing them from mixing over time by pre-mixing some sand in the with Flourite before I put it in the tank. This helped fill the gaps a bit and prevented a lot of the settling that you would normally get. I still have areas of Flourite showing through the sand where the sand layer is thinnest, but it's a heck of a lot better than nothing at all. I'd be a little leary of the screen idea myself, although I haven't tried it so I can't say for sure that it won't work. If you do go with it, keep us updated. If it works it sounds like the way to go

 

[kaaikop]

Well I think I will think twice about this screen idea...
It's true, once the "roots" are starting to establish, if I ever have to pull out some
plants, oh what a mess!
But as I said on another thread, the more I read & learn on here & different links,
the more I postpone my "startup date"... It's impossible to totally avoid mistakes
since this is my first time at a big, planted tank (the CO2, heavy lighting,
fertilizing, this is all new to me), but the more you know beforehand the better.
This is a great place to read all about what mistakes not to make!
This is a totally captivating process, and I don't mind if it takes longer than I had
expected to get started, actually gives me a chance to "spread" all the expenses
on a couple of Visa monthly bills.

I do not make a move, or purchase a piece of equipment until I am 100%
convinced that it is THE way to go for my tank.

 

[Guest]

250 kudos to kaaikop! Research first, purchase second, set up last! 100% correct way to go!

Back when I got started in planted tanks, my setup date kept getting delayed also. I had so much to learn and wanted to do it right from day one (even though I had around 20 years with fish only tanks, I learned quickly that planted tanks took far more research). To this day I'm pleased I took that approach, even though my wife got quite impatient with a 90 gallon aquarium and stand sitting empty in "her" living room.

The one regret I do have ended up similar in nature to your "screen" idea. I purchased and set up an undergravel substrate heating coils system. It attached to the inside bottom of the tank with many suction cups. Then, about 8 months after first planting the tank, I wanted to redecorate. As I was pulling up my gigantic Ozelot Sword plant, up came the heating coils! !@#$%@$%&^@#$&!!!

What a disaster! It was impossible to reattach the coils to the bottom of the tank without removing ALL the substrate (Fluorite, fyi). My choices were: a) empty the tank and start over attaching the coils, or b) remove all the plants, the driftwood, and the large rocks, but not the substrate, then pull up the whole coil system and replant everything. I chose b, and it still took many hours to do. Just keep that in mind when deciding about whether or not to do the screen idea.

Oh yeah, my plants grow just as well without the substrate heating, so I wasted over $100 on the system, and who knows how many hours of work, fer nothin'.

 

[kaaikop]

Thanks for sharing your experiences! that does sound like a bad day,
I love this hobby, but if you can avoid things like that to happen, you
can spend your valuable free time doing something else. I will dump the
screen idea, that now looks to me like a very bad idea!

And yes, same here, my girl keeps asking every day when do I intend
to get fish in that big old empty glass box,

To be honest, I'm not even sure anymore about what substrate I am
going to use... again, read, read, read... until I am convinced about what
I'm doing. Sand, and mud... I'm just not sure...

And hey, THANKS for the Kudos! I can start spending again!

 

[Guest]

I haven't set up a new tank in quite a while, but just about everyone here keeps raving about EcoComplete as the best substrate out there. If I were doing a new tank, that's what I'd go with. It has a nice variety of different-sized pieces within each bag, is dark brown/almost black, and, by all reports, is great for your plants. I have different tanks with Fluorite, Tahitian Moon sand, pure Shultz Aquasoil, and the Shultz/sand mix. My best growth results are with the Fluorite, but it's pretty reddish (and this is regular Fluorite, not Fluorite Red). I think tanks with a black substrate look more natural & contrast better with the green of plants. Since the EcoComplete is black AND great for plants, if I were doing a new tank I'd go with that for sure.

 

[opiesilver]

And you don't have to rinse it first either. It's ready to go out of the bag.

 

[kaaikop]

That sure sounds like the perfect substate (must be expensive!) 8)
I'll check it out, I still have lots of time until I get all the equipment together... Thanks!

 

[kaaikop]

I've done some more reading, here & elsewhere, Eco-complete seems
to be a great product! and if I understand correct, it can probably even
shorten your cycle time since it contains water with bacteria.
Works for me, I like simple things if possible.

BTW, for Canadians, I order this through www.mops.ca
talk to Dan, and DO ask for a better price!
As far as I'm concerned, I will pick it up when I'm in Toronto, save a
lot on freight cost.