Replacing stock light. Replace substrate too?

[scarf]

Hi,

I recently bought a 96W Coralife light fixture for my 20g to replace the stock fixture. The tank was originally for low light plants so I only bought pea gravel/epoxy gravel.

Now that I've upgraded, should I also be looking at replacing the gravel to a medium/high light substrate mentioned in the sticky? Or would I be able to survive with continual root tab'bing?

Thanks.

 

[greenmaji]

that kind of light you will need a good substrate, CO2 and fertilizers..

 

[crazycat]

you can easily add eco-complete without causing too much dust and aggravation. as many have already posted, it's a great substrate for planted tanks. flourite is very dusty and i personally wouldn't recommend it--i had a bad go of it in the past -- JMO.

 

[scarf]

Thanks for the replies.

For ferts, I have at the moment, Seachem Iron, Excel, and Flourish. Are there more I should buy? Phosphates? etc...

I'm going to be constructing my DIY CO2 soon. I wonder how it's gonna turn out 8O

And for my substrate, the base of my tank measures approximately 19" x 13". I have around 2" of my existing pea/epoxy gravel. Should I be looking at removing some of the existing substrate (mini cycle?), topping up on eco-complete, or total exchange?

 

[malkore]

You can in fact get by on root tabs and pea gravel, even with sword plants. It'll be most economical to make your own root tabs though, as teh good ones by Seachem run about $5 for a box of 10.

Here's a place you can buy a tab making kit from, or order the basic supplies and roll out your own.
http://plantguild.com/html/spot_fertilization.html

I don't recommend mixing good plant substrates with pea gravel, but if you do, make sure its at least 50% eco complete, or you'll have too little to make it worth changing.

You could wait on changing it out until you want to move the the tank, or when those gold fish out grow it and have to be moved.

 

[greenmaji]

You could wait on changing it out until you want to move the the tank, or when those gold fish out grow it and have to be moved.

How big a tank would be good for those 2.. maybe a 40 or 55? that sounds good to me..
I would look into doing this earlier then when it needs to be done if it were me.. HTH

 

[scarf]

Would replacing a significant proportion of my substrate with eco complete eliminate the need for me to apply root tabs to my plants for those that don't rely heavily on nutrients at their roots?

And I'm generally on the 10-20 bandwagon when it comes to goldfish, depending on PWC's. They are still young atm so it should be ok. It's just that buying things here is significantly more expensive than the US. For example, the eco complete costs me AUD$60, which works out to approximately US$45.

 

[scarf]

And malkore, I had a look at that site. Would the "SUBSTRATE RETROFITTER SYSTEM" be ok? It seems to be a bigger version of the "SPOT FERTILIZING SYSTEM" you referred me to and would cover a greater surface area. Unless there is a problem such as over-concentration of nutrients or something like that.

 

[Jchillin]

Would replacing a significant proportion of my substrate with eco complete eliminate the need for me to apply root tabs to my plants for those that don't rely heavily on nutrients at their roots?

Only if you use 50% or more.

 

[urville]

This is just IMO, but it is shared by a rather large community.
Unless your growing heavily root based pants like swords, and even then, if you dose the water column well enough you dont need to worry about the substrate that much. it wont be alife or death descision for your plants. the heavy root feeders may grow a tad slower. I've seen tanks with no substrate additives, fertilizing, or special rock and they get the same growth as people i know with laterite and eco.

the real question i think for you is:
do you wan to do that work? you could easily add something like laterite and probably be fine. anything with high CEC. taking out an old substrate completely though will be hard on the bacteria balance you already have