Aquasoil or LPFS for 210gal?

[mistahoo]

I have a 210gal that I want to make planted, but I'm not sure if I want to get LPFS or ADA Aquasoil. Fish will be Exodon Paradoxus (red, silver, black, with tint of yellow). Plants will be an assortment of low/med light plants. Which would you think would look better? I'm stuck between the two...

[eklikewhoa]

the lighter colored pool filter sand

stick to ferns for plants so they can be attached to driftwood, Vallisneria nana or Tanganyikan val in the background behind the wood scapes. Just pot the vals or do a narrow section of aquasoil capped with the PFS just where you plan to plan the vals.

[eklikewhoa]

I've seen your planted tanks... for the 210 that would be a lot of aquasoil... a lot of wasted aquasoil.

[mistahoo]

So which bag is the lighter color PFS?

[eklikewhoa]

Think it was the blue bag...

[mnemenoi]

+1, I think the aquasoil would be super nice, but insanely expensive to grow low/medium light stuff. LPFS does a decent job for us with the addition of root tabs and dosing. If you added a CO2 system you'd be even better off.

[troy tucker]

I like the PFS but I voted Aquasoil. The plants will like it more. But what ever you use. I look forward to seeing it all come together.

[KhmerStyle]

I think the aquasoil would look better for planted tank if price is not an issue . Congrats on big tank

[KhmerStyle]

You could also put sand under soil and leave about 2 inches on edge of tank for soil only

[mistahoo]

You could also put sand under soil and leave about 2 inches on edge of tank for soil only

No thanks. I'm not a fan of capping off. Looks tacky.

[mistahoo]

+1, I think the aquasoil would be super nice, but insanely expensive to grow low/medium light stuff. LPFS does a decent job for us with the addition of root tabs and dosing. If you added a CO2 system you'd be even better off.

I haven't decided if I was going to use CO2 or not. I don't know if I want to chance it and possibly kill some livestock. I've never used a CO2 system and I'd feel much safer if I were to try it on another setup before trying it on a larger tank.

[mistahoo]

After reading some more and checking out some more pics, the fish seem to have better coloration under darker substrate.

[New_Cichlid11]

if you got pockets go with the ADA

[eklikewhoa]

There's a lot of cons with the ADA, it's not a long term substrate or at least left as it is, long term. Also it doesn't like being tossed around a lot since it is a baked substrate.

There's a lot of cons with the ADA especially if you won't be having anything spectacular to utilize the benefits of the substrate.


If you want darker substrate why not go with dark sand or something that's cheap and easier to work with.

[mistahoo]

Haven't decided on anything yet. I might go with the darker sand, but I want something a bit more coarse than what I had (which was the coarsest they stock). The sand compacted and gasses were trapped in there.