Substrate Opinions

[jddeal]

So I'm about a week or two out from revamping my 10g into a planted tank and I'm all sorts of hung up on a substrate. I'm a little tight on cash so I want to just get this right the first time.

Right now I have the standard aquarium gravel. I find its too large for my clown pleco and adf so I'd like to change to a size closer to sand. I just want to buy one 20lb bag of some type of sand and call it good. I've gotten stuck on what to do.

Because I want plants, I'm told I should get Eco complete or similar, but then its suggested to get something to cap it and at this point were talking $35+ for substrate. I would rather keep it to $20 or less.

What are the options for around that price and type for a single bag to use as substrate? Also, do you prefer the black sand look or tan?

Thanks for the input!

 

[jetajockey]

you don't have to cap ecocomplete, just go with it.

 

[Jacca]

For a planted tank I used cat litter/oil dry and topped it with medium sand from lowes. The litter was $2.00 for 20lbs and the sand was $3.00 for 60lbs. I have read on other sites that the litter which 100% clay absorbs the nutrients from the water for the plants. The litter takes alot of rinsing but it is black and gray colored.

 

[jddeal]

I'm shooting for the black substrate look so just using Eco complete would be great. Two questions about it:

Ive never understood its size, is it closer to a sand or gravel?

Down the line when the Eco has its nutrients depleted, can I just rinse it out, reuse it, and then toss in some sort of supplement to reseed it with nutrients?

 

[jeffp]

eco complete does not have a lot of available nutrients in it. it's main draw is that it can easily soak up nutrients from the water column, getting the ferts into the substrate.