went ahead and changed substrate out

[mikeyost12]

So I have been doing a lot of research on changing out substrate and was super nervious to do so because of BB that was established in my old substrate and not wanting to kill any fish...... Well a few days ago I thought I had crashed my tank just by trying to get some Danios which I actually didn't, my parameters of my water stayed very consistent and good.
So today, I decided to go to Petco and get some new substrate...... I did a two part system because I do have a planted tank.
Part 1 - About 1 Inch of Caribsea Eco-Complete Planted Aquarium Substrate Red
Part 2 - About 1 Inch of Coraline Marine Aquarium Gravel
The water was not to terrible as far as being cloudy but I do have some questions:
1. I did turn my fluval 406 on to clear the water, should I clean the filter in a few days? My next scheduled cleaning on the filter will be middle of December if not
2. Has anyone used the eco-complete planted substrate red? what is your feedback? did I apply each substrate right?
3. What are your overall thoughts of the posted before and after photos?

 

[Fresh2o]

IMO it is an improvement over the blue colored gravel.
Why did you select the Coraline Marina Aquarium gravel? The pH in your tank (from other threads) is around 7.8. This substrate is intended (from what I can tell) for SW, brackish, and high pH FW tanks. This may bump up the pH to 8.0-8.2. Not saying plants won’t grow at this pH (they will) but it is not ideal.
The light colored upper substrate is quite a contrast from the red EcoComplete. If you choose to vacuum your substrate, you may find that the two substrates will become mixed.
The EcoComplete substrate is fine for plants. I’ve been using it for the last five years with decent results.

 

[Owp]

So I have been doing a lot of research on changing out substrate and was super nervious to do so because of BB that was established in my old substrate and not wanting to kill any fish...... Well a few days ago I thought I had crashed my tank just by trying to get some Danios which I actually didn't, my parameters of my water stayed very consistent and good.

So today, I decided to go to Petco and get some new substrate...... I did a two part system because I do have a planted tank.

Part 1 - About 1 Inch of Caribsea Eco-Complete Planted Aquarium Substrate Red

Part 2 - About 1 Inch of Coraline Marine Aquarium Gravel

The water was not to terrible as far as being cloudy but I do have some questions:

1. I did turn my fluval 406 on to clear the water, should I clean the filter in a few days? My next scheduled cleaning on the filter will be middle of December if not

2. Has anyone used the eco-complete planted substrate red? what is your feedback? did I apply each substrate right?

3. What are your overall thoughts of the posted before and after photos?



View attachment 305240



View attachment 305241

I think it looks much nicer than the blue gravel

 

[mikeyost12]

IMO it is an improvement over the blue colored gravel.
Why did you select the Coraline Marina Aquarium gravel? The pH in your tank (from other threads) is around 7.8. This substrate is intended (from what I can tell) for SW, brackish, and high pH FW tanks. This may bump up the pH to 8.0-8.2. Not saying plants won’t grow at this pH (they will) but it is not ideal.
The light colored upper substrate is quite a contrast from the red EcoComplete. If you choose to vacuum your substrate, you may find that the two substrates will become mixed.
The EcoComplete substrate is fine for plants. I’ve been using it for the last five years with decent results.

So the deal on that was I went up to my LPS yesterday to get everything I would need for the substrate change..... I had been doing a lot of research and was thinking I was going with sand but when I got up there all they had was Live Sand..... So I purchased the black eco complete substrate and I was reading it can be used as a first layer and have a layer of substrate over top of it..... So I was looking around and I ended up buying the Coraline Aquarium Gravel which I did read over the bag before I bought it.

So I got home, spent about 3 hours cleaning the gravel, getting the old substrate out of the tank, putting in the Eco Complete and putting in the Coraline Aquarium Gravel.... I was very happy with the look, then I get online and it was then that I realized that the Gravel helps maintain a higher PH...... this information was in small print that for some reason I just read right over top of on the bag......


So now I am $95 in on both substrate and I really cant afford to just throw $95 down the drain so I am going to have to live with it and hopefully everything works out

 

[Fresh2o]

That’s unfortunate. But plants can grow in higher pH (mine is somewhere between 7.8-8.0); not optimal but doable.
You can always remove the Coraline gravel and use the EcoComplete by itself. Has worked for me for almost five years with easy to grow and not so easy to grow plants. It will change the look of the tank though. I prefer a darker substrate because light colors tend to wash out the colors of fish.

 

[mikeyost12]

That’s unfortunate. But plants can grow in higher pH (mine is somewhere between 7.8-8.0); not optimal but doable.
You can always remove the Coraline gravel and use the EcoComplete by itself. Has worked for me for almost five years with easy to grow and not so easy to grow plants. It will change the look of the tank though. I prefer a darker substrate because light colors tend to wash out the colors of fish.

I saw that most fish can adapt to higher PH as long as they are acclimated correctly which I use the drip method acclimation that usually takes about 1.5 to 2 hours to complete. Also, I guess worse case scenario, I could move towards a African Cichlid tank

 

[Potluck]

I saw that most fish can adapt to higher PH as long as they are acclimated correctly which I use the drip method acclimation that usually takes about 1.5 to 2 hours to complete. Also, I guess worse case scenario, I could move towards a African Cichlid tank

Looks much better than the blue, but was mentioned the Coraline will possibly increase pH as that's why people put crushed coral in their filters when they have really low pH from their source water,.

8.0-8.2 is okay for some fish (not all) and is okay for some plants (not all) there are things you can do to balance it out though (good news) driftwood, aquarium safe Peat in a pouch in your filter, the removal of the Coraline (but that would be throwing away money), almond leaves or mix with RO when doing a pwc, but with pH you do not want to lower it rapidly you want to do it slow as a drastic pH dip will kill your fish so you'll want to lower and have it stable it before u add fish, I honestly if it were me would take the Coraline out and chalk it up as a opposie, and add drift wood which is a natural slow process in lowering pH, if you decide to keep it at that pH a good fish would be angels if they are captive bred platies do good in higher ph, A lot of cichlids will uproot the plants.