Mixing Eco-complete and Moon Sand

[AtariST]

I'm about ready to go with a 75 gallon planted tank with fish. I'll be asking for a lot of advice on this one since my only other experience is with a 26G and plastic plants.

This time I'm thinking about the look. It will probably be low-medium light with tons of natural ambient light (can't be helped). It seems that Eco-Complete is a good way to go for substrate but it really doesn't look very good to me as it seems to turn brown and almost muddy looking from what I've seen in the pet stores. So, can I use Eco-Complete as a base for my plants and then put Tahitian Moon Sand on top for looks or would that negate some of the beneficial properties of the Eco-Complete?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Rivercats]

The issue with that is I'm pretty sure the sand has smaller grain size then the Eco so as time goes on the sand is going to tend to fall lower into the Eco making the Eco the top substrate. I have Eco in all my tanks and it doesn't look muddy unless I pull up dirt from my lower dirt substrate and it settles on it. In tanks that I just have Eco it's still black after 2+ years. Are you sure the fish store even cleans the tank or do they use the red Eco which looks clay colored to me.

 

[AtariST]

Are you sure the fish store even cleans the tank or do they use the red Eco which looks clay colored to me.

It's possible they don't keep it as clean as they could or that they cycle through so many plants that it looks worse than it would in my tank. I've only seen it live once, so it's not a very good sample, I admit.

Thanks for the info. I'll stick with just eco for my base.