Eco Complete......

[Tifta]

So just bought 4 bags of Eco complete for my 55 gallon tank. BTW they are 20 lbs bags. I know that isn't enough for a 55 gallon tank but wanted to mix the Eco with another substrate, because I couldn't afford another two bags. Does any one have any suggestions on what to mix it with, which would be semi cheap but also look good mixed with Eco

BTW, if anyone is interested they are selling Eco complete for 15.99 and 5.99 on shipping, not a bad price. My LFS was selling 20lbs for 30 dollars, what a rip off!

 

[CleverBs]

80lbs is more then enough substrate for your 55gal...why would you need any more then that? I have 4 bags of eco in my 75 gal and its just fine.

 

[Tifta]

I was going to 6 bags so I can create hills in the back of the tank. I was also lurking on a few forums and some were saying 6 bags was enough. I'll stick with 4 bags if you said it was enough for your 75 gallon tank. I really don't want to buy anymore than I have to.

 

[LyndaB]

I understand the effect you were going for. I did that with one of mine. You'd want to have plants in that high substrate with deep root systems to maintain the look.

As for substrate, I use 5 pounds substrate per 1 gallon water.

 

[Tifta]

I plan on having some plants with some deep roots. I guess I'll find out if i have enough once i get my shipment in.

 

[jetajockey]

I think you'll be totally fine with 4 bags. (I actually use about 40-60lbs in relatively same sized tanks) You may consider using some sort of filler to create the hills if you really wanted, some large rocks (covered by substrate) would work to take up a lot of the space and still give you the effect you want.

 

[mfdrookie516]

You could use flormax and mix it without being able to tell that it's mixed... it's cheaper, and you get at least twice as much in the bag since there's no liquid to make it heavier. It's literally the same stuff, but dry. You'd have to make sure that you got the same grain size though, as most floramax is larger grained than most eco, but both are available in the same sizes... or you could do what jetajockey recommended and put stuff under it. I never could get that to work, it always became uncovered... but definitely a cheaper alternative