aqua soil advice

[875mill]

Going to be setting up a new 125 gallon tank in the very near future, and having trouble settling on a substrate. I already have eco complete in my 29 gallon dont have any complaints about it, but i would like to try something different in the new tank. This leads me to aqua soil. I here it is absolutely amazing. I know that initially it will give off ammonia no big deal, that it will lower my ph. and that it breaks down after a year to year and half.
What I'm wanting to know is how do you calculate your c02 level if you ph Is already being dropped artificially by your substrate? Second people are alway kinda vague when they tell me aqua soil breaks down. Does this mean its going to turn into a mass of mud in the bottom of my tank, or does it just simply become inert? Would I have to replace all of it every couple of years, or just give it a top dressing? If you do have to completely replace it then its defiantly out. No way I could afford to replace it in a large tank every year. (nor would I want to)

 

[Purrbox]

As long as the KH and pH are both being affected, then you can calculate your CO2 as normal. You'd just need to make sure that your test kit could read low enough values. I recently picked up a pH meter which is about the same cost as one or two pH test kits, will last longer and reads a much wider range of values accurate to 0.1. Depending on how low your pH is currently this might be something to look into.

From what I understand the AquaSoil will basically disintegrate into mush. The less that you need to mess with it (moving plants, removing plants, adding new plants) the longer it will last. I would suspect that you would need to completely replace it.

EcoComplete is still an excellant runner up to AquaSoil, so since you know and like it you may be better off sticking with it for the new tank.

If you want to try something new that's less expensive, you could look into Turface MVP. It's a similar size and texture to Flourite and Onyx Sand, has and excellant CEC rating (it stores nutrients really well), and is only $10 per 50lbs. Biggest drawback is that it's a bit light and doesn't work well with fine rooted plants like HC.

 

[875mill]

thx purrbox I'm am constantly moving my plants around thats half the fun for me. Guess the aqua soil is going to be a no go then. Is there a life expectancy on the turface or will is last for many years.

 

[Purrbox]

As far as I know the Turface should last for years. It's an inert substrate that isn't nutrient rich on it's own. It will pick up nutrients from the mulm and the water column and then slowly release them to the plants. You won't find it in your LFS since it isn't marketed for aquarium use so if you decide to go this route, your best bet is to contact the manufacturer and they will let you know where there are local distributers in your area.

 

[875mill]

thx again purrbox 10 dollars for 50 lbs is pretty dang tempting. Does anyone have any pics of this in the aquariums.?

 

[Purrbox]

Check out my 10 Gallon Planted Photo Log and 2.5 Gallon Photo Log. Links are in my signature. I switched out the substrate in the 2.5 Gallon from small grade white gravel to the Turface about half way down the second page. The 10 Gallon was Turface from the very start.