Seachem Fluorite Black Sand

[ellena]

Or will this remove some of the nutrients?
This is my absolutely last attempt at a low maintenance planted tank. If this doesn't work, it's fake all the way for me.
I've tried cat litter under sand with TPN+ and easycarbo. OK, but not fab enough to merit the work involved.
I've tried pond compost under sand-dying plants and hideous hair algae issues.
I do have a betta tank at work with amazon swords planted in just sand and that's doing OK, strangely enough!
So this time, I'm going seachem fluorite with amazon sword and maybe aponogenton ulvaceus as the only 'planted' plants, with some big java ferns, anubias and moss balls.
Wish me luck!

 

[Sayuri]

Yes! A lot of washing, it's very dirty stuff! Mine took me about 2 hours for 4 bags.

As far as I know there are no nutrients in it at first, it's clay and absorbs them from the water to feed the plant roots.

 

[lljdma06]

Yes! A lot of washing, it's very dirty stuff! Mine took me about 2 hours for 4 bags.

As far as I know there are no nutrients in it at first, it's clay and absorbs them from the water to feed the plant roots.

It is aweful, I could never get it clean. If you're dosing through the water column you should be fine and I wouldn't worry much about your substrate. I use sand.

What type of lighting do you plan on having?

 

[ellena]

Hmmm, I understood there was some nutritional content to the substrate?
I wasn't planning on dosing through the water column at all. I just wanted some nutrition in the substrate so undemanding plants could, well, not die essentially
The lighting is 24w T5. It is a double tube, looks like it would all have to be replaced together, so not sure if that's 2x24=48w, or just 24 for the both together. I was planning on replacing it anyway as it's very pink and I don't like that.
The tank is horizon 60 and will have a tetratec ex700 running on it.

 

[waterdrop]

I use Flourite Black (not the more ground up version that's Flourite Black Sand) and my understanding is that the type of nutrients bound up with the substrate granules will not be washed away by rinsing. They will be given off for a long time. I agree with lljdma that special high-tech plant substrates like this are often misunderstood to be providing more plant nutrients than they actually do in practice. They should only be seen as providing a small bit of "bridging help" in the event that you are unable to column-dose for a few days or something. I still use Excel and a full set of reduced EI column dosing in conjunction with Flourite. For my amazon sword I've found that it still responds quite well to a plant-tab under to roots also. (It pushes up another new leaf towards the water surface about every third day and I find I'm happy for these new leaves as there's often an "oldest one" that needs pruning off, lol.) I'm convinced that those of us that try to live in the non-pressurized-CO2 world, especially those of us with hardly any mineral content just have a significantly harder time finding the right balance of things. Are you sure it wasn't just the cat litter creating more of a hassle for you? The easycarbo and TPN+ are considered to be good tools in the frustrating world of low-light technique.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[lljdma06]

I Are you sure it wasn't just the cat litter creating more of a hassle for you? The easycarbo and TPN+ are considered to be good tools in the frustrating world of low-light technique.

~~waterdrop~~

What's so frustrating about low-light? I love it. Easiest tank I've ever had.

 

[waterdrop]

Yeah, but you're a master!

 

[ellena]

Well, the cat litter was only a hassle setting up. It was OK doing water changes as long as I didn't do more than half-the substrate didn't get disturbed. It was carrying around 2 bottles, a pipette and the food and dosing it all the time. Doesn't sound like much, but more hassle than I want to have. I wouldn't have minded if the tank looked amazing, but I was pulling out loads of dead leaves and having to do a major trim every water change.
Once I stopped using them, you could see a drastic change in the plants, and I eventually broke that tank down altogether.
I tried the compost under sand on the recommendation of honeythorn on the betta forum as it's a set up she's had success with using low light plants like amazon swords and aponogetons. I had trouble finding the latter, that's why I got the ulvaceous. I've also heard crypt wendtii are good for low light, low tech.
So is there any way worth trying where I can just plant it up and almost ignore the plants from then on, as if they were fake? I hear so may people saying that's what they do and having success. I'm not even thinking this will give me an amazing planted tank, but if things would just not die, even if they didn't grow much, that would be fine!

 

[lljdma06]

So is there any way worth trying where I can just plant it up and almost ignore the plants from then on, as if they were fake? I hear so may people saying that's what they do and having success. I'm not even thinking this will give me an amazing planted tank, but if things would just not die, even if they didn't grow much, that would be fine!

Ellena, read this journal. Tales of the Crypts I'm not trying to toot my own horn, but this kinds of sound like what you want to do. The substrate is a thin layer of old fine-grain gravel (the original substrate) capped with a deep layer of Carib sea fine freshwater sand. My last waterchange was March something.

 

[waterdrop]

I got a crypt wendtii for the same reason but its not done particularly well for me. But I also have super low mineral content, almost no GH and about zero KH and sometimes I think that adds a bit of strangeness to my situation. You don't happen to be a soft water person by any chance?

 

[lljdma06]

I got a crypt wendtii for the same reason but its not done particularly well for me. But I also have super low mineral content, almost no GH and about zero KH and sometimes I think that adds a bit of strangeness to my situation. You don't happen to be a soft water person by any chance?

No, my water is quite hard. Large mineral content. Though crypts did alright for me in IL, where my water was soft as well.

Why not perhaps add some calcium to the new substrate to harden the water a bit? Possibly something to consider.

llj

 

[ellena]

That sounds like exactly what I want to do! Thanks for the link, I really enjoyed reading that and looking at the pics. It's turned out amazing!
I now have to try and find somewhere that stocks a good range of crypts-I'm probably going to have to go online. I think I'll still try the amazon swords and anubias too. My lighting is higher wpg than yours, but I plan on having a raft of floating plants too (water lettuce) so that should cut it down some.

 

[lljdma06]

That sounds like exactly what I want to do! Thanks for the link, I really enjoyed reading that and looking at the pics. It's turned out amazing!
I now have to try and find somewhere that stocks a good range of crypts-I'm probably going to have to go online. I think I'll still try the amazon swords and anubias too. My lighting is higher wpg than yours, but I plan on having a raft of floating plants too (water lettuce) so that should cut it down some.

You're welcome. You'll probably have to go online. Me, I got most of the crypts from a LPS.

Yeah, but you're a master!

I am no master, WD. I just believe that this hobby could be easier than how some people make it out to be.

llj