Substrate

[mr.sam]

I'm thinking about starting another plant tank. I have a 55gal tank that I'm not doing anything with right now so why not. I'm thinking about using Eco complete planted aquarium substrate. Is that a good brand or is there something else I should be looking into. Help please

 

[Ursi]

I think I use something similar to you, it's called flora base though. I've used to for a while now and it's ok, I wish I'd opted for gravel but mainly because I don't like the brown colour of it and it's hard to clean, though I was advised by my lfs to not clean it at all but my plants do well in it

 

[Rivercats]

I've got Eco-complete in most all my tanks and some are dirted tanks with Eco caps. I like Eco, some don't. There are alot of different types of substrates out there.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

I have one tank with Flourite and one with Eco Complete. I much prefer the look of Eco (black). All plant substrates grow plants with the help of tabs or something similar. I'm actually contemplating switching my Flourite tank over to Eco Complete just for the beauty of it.

 

[mr.sam]

That's why I was looking at Eco complete (black) the beauty of it. I was just hoping I wasn't letting the beauty of it cloud my judgement. I already have a plant tank and the substrate I'm using is working fine but I'm looking for more. I'm not sure what that more is yet but I am looking

 

[jetajockey]

Ecocomplete is a good substrate, good choice.

 

[rkilling1]

I am one of the ones that does NOT like Eco. I had it in two tanks for years and never saw any benefits. When I first put it in, all of my soft water species killed off. I was not very happy and was never able to grow them again with Eco in the tank.

 

[Rivercats]

I am one of the ones that does NOT like Eco. I had it in two tanks for years and never saw any benefits. When I first put it in, all of my soft water species killed off. I was not very happy and was never able to grow them again with Eco in the tank.

I've found I can grow just about anything in the Eco. The only plant that is really being a challange is Nesaea pedicellata 'Golden'. But I don't believe it has anything to do with the substrate, more so trying to go from it's emmersed form to it's immersed form.

 

[jetajockey]

I am curious what you think that eco did to kill off the plants exactly? From what I've read and experienced it just seems to be a type of calcined clay with a minor addition of nutrients.