substrate question

[johnnymisty]

Gonna be starting up my tank soon and was wondering what substrate everyone likes to use.....

I've tried fluval stratum in my daughter's small planted tank and worked good but the stuff fell apart and kinda clouded the water during water changes

[mnemenoi]

Eco Complete is a great alternative and stays a bit cleaner IMO, we might even have some extra

[Chester]

honestly the cleanest route imo is sand with root tabs

[mr big87]

I have eco complete in my nano, and it didn't cloud at all (rinsed before hand). I have flourite in my 40B and I hate it. I rinsed, and rinsed and rinsed. Still clouded really bad. It's cleared up now, but I think I'll stick to eco complete or sand for the future.

[johnnymisty]

honestly the cleanest route imo is sand with root tabs

I heard with sand it builds gas pockets that cause problems

[johnnymisty]

I have eco complete in my nano, and it didn't cloud at all (rinsed before hand). I have flourite in my 40B and I hate it. I rinsed, and rinsed and rinsed. Still clouded really bad. It's cleared up now, but I think I'll stick to eco complete or sand for the future.

Ya I rinsed the fluval stratum but it was breaking down and causing the clouding

[johnnymisty]

Eco Complete is a great alternative and stays a bit cleaner IMO, we might even have some extra

Ecco complete is what I've been thinking of using for sometime now

[Dien16]

I heard with sand it builds gas pockets that cause problems

That's why some people get snails to help with that.

If you decide to get eco complete you can look for it on the petco website or amazon. It's around $20-23 for a bag.

[johnnymisty]

That's why some people get snails to help with that.

If you decide to get eco complete you can look for it on the petco website or amazon. It's around $20-23 for a bag.

I thinks it's $20 a bag at city pets last time I looked

[morpheus]

i read about all three and each seemed to do well, just depended on your preference. i just kept mine with gravel since it was already gravel. dont know if it will cause me more work later, but its a learning process for me

[BrAin]

I used the aquadurt. http://www.aquariumplants.com/Freshw...trate_p/ss.htm

I mixed half and half gravel. I think there may be an alternate that's cheaper.

[mnemenoi]

How much of it are you needing? I think we have 15-20 gallons of dry eco-complete at the house

[mistahoo]

Stratum tends to break down quicker. Eco complete is a nice substrate. It won't leech ammonia into the tank either. Do not rinse it. With dirt, you want to put it in the tank when it's dry and fill it up. Sand is nice and definitely the cleanest. It won't break down on you like dirt does.

Gas pockets will only form if your plants don't have a good/large root system. I had a red tiger lotus with a huge root system that kept my amazonia from forming gas pockets. Since I removed it, I've been getting gas pockets, but my nerites help aerate the substrate. You could use assassins to do the same thing. That way if you do manage to get pest snails, they'll wipe them out.

Sent from my spaceship using Tapatalk 2.

[johnnymisty]

Stratum tends to break down quicker. Eco complete is a nice substrate. It won't leech ammonia into the tank either. Do not rinse it. With dirt, you want to put it in the tank when it's dry and fill it up. Sand is nice and definitely the cleanest. It won't break down on you like dirt does.

Gas pockets will only form if your plants don't have a good/large root system. I had a red tiger lotus with a huge root system that kept my amazonia from forming gas pockets. Since I removed it, I've been getting gas pockets, but my nerites help aerate the substrate. You could use assassins to do the same thing. That way if you do manage to get pest snails, they'll wipe them out.

Sent from my spaceship using Tapatalk 2.

Might go this way have a lot of pfs right now especially since I do want to have a colony of assassin snails or those zebra nerites

[johnnymisty]

How much of it are you needing? I think we have 15-20 gallons of dry eco-complete at the house

May hit you up after I get the filters for enough to do a 20l id like to have some in at least one tank