Substrate Question Without The Expesive Stuff

[Duzzy]

Hi there,

if I don't get the expensive substrates is there a way I can do it so that I have a medium that will grow plants well. In other words what did ppl use before all these fancy substrates?

Regards Darren

 

[piper]

Some people just use normal playpit sand with root tabs, but you have to have a good fert dosing routine for that.

 

[Duzzy]

Hi Piper most of the plants I am using will need heavy feeding but was not sure what to use.....

Regards Darren

 

[Wolfenrook]

My first (and best ) planted tank has a home made substrate. Made up of fine lime free gravel (maximum size of about 2mms), a small quantity of laterite, a small quantity of aquarium peat, a packet of activated carbon and then topped up about once a year with a packet of root balls (last used the JBL 7 balls). For my dosing regime I use Tropica Plant Nutrition + at about 7mls a day, with 2 break days a week for the benifit of my shrimp. This is in a 180 litre, highly lit (as in 4 39 watt T5 HO tubes) aquarium with pressurised CO2. I get phenomenal growth rates, including roots, and it is very easy to plant into and holds the plants down well.

In my daughters tank I have play sand and activated carbon (pretty good growth still), in my invert tank I have Eco-Complete (the only off the shelf plant substrate I have ever used) which is more for the shrimp than the plants (mosses, java fern, dwarf hair grass and echinodorus tennelus).

Ade

 

[Duzzy]

My first (and best ) planted tank has a home made substrate. Made up of fine lime free gravel (maximum size of about 2mms), a small quantity of laterite, a small quantity of aquarium peat, a packet of activated carbon and then topped up about once a year with a packet of root balls (last used the JBL 7 balls). For my dosing regime I use Tropica Plant Nutrition + at about 7mls a day, with 2 break days a week for the benifit of my shrimp. This is in a 180 litre, highly lit (as in 4 39 watt T5 HO tubes) aquarium with pressurised CO2. I get phenomenal growth rates, including roots, and it is very easy to plant into and holds the plants down well.

In my daughters tank I have play sand and activated carbon (pretty good growth still), in my invert tank I have Eco-Complete (the only off the shelf plant substrate I have ever used) which is more for the shrimp than the plants (mosses, java fern, dwarf hair grass and echinodorus tennelus).

Ade

Hi ADE,

where can I find laterite and lime free gravel?

Regards Darren

 

[Sunny_Bee]

I just have medium sized gravel with riverstones on top in my tank. My plants all seem to do quite well, but they are hearty varities (amazon sword, lacey java fern..)

 

[Duzzy]

I just have medium sized gravel with riverstones on top in my tank. My plants all seem to do quite well, but they are hearty varities (amazon sword, lacey java fern..)

Thanks Sunny

 

[aaronnorth]

tetraplant:
http/www.warehouse-aquatics.co.uk/tetrap...58kg-1055-p.asp

or use aquatic compost (from garden centres) it is used in ponds, just bake it in the sun first.

 

[Wolfenrook]

My first (and best ) planted tank has a home made substrate. Made up of fine lime free gravel (maximum size of about 2mms), a small quantity of laterite, a small quantity of aquarium peat, a packet of activated carbon and then topped up about once a year with a packet of root balls (last used the JBL 7 balls). For my dosing regime I use Tropica Plant Nutrition + at about 7mls a day, with 2 break days a week for the benifit of my shrimp. This is in a 180 litre, highly lit (as in 4 39 watt T5 HO tubes) aquarium with pressurised CO2. I get phenomenal growth rates, including roots, and it is very easy to plant into and holds the plants down well.

In my daughters tank I have play sand and activated carbon (pretty good growth still), in my invert tank I have Eco-Complete (the only off the shelf plant substrate I have ever used) which is more for the shrimp than the plants (mosses, java fern, dwarf hair grass and echinodorus tennelus).

Ade

Hi ADE,

where can I find laterite and lime free gravel?

Regards Darren

My laterite was the API First Layer pure laterite commonly sold, the lime free gravel you can get from most places, just look for the finer ones. I paid £15 for a 25k sack (used 1 1/2 sacks though) when I got mine, but the shop I got it from doesn't sell it any more. Just look for quartz/silic gravel, it's often sold as suitable for discus tanks. Probably cost me a total of about £50, but that was for a very deep layer in a 180 litre tank, and was in the days before tropica substrates and the like became available.

You could probably achieve similar using something like tetra plant or JBL as a bottom layer, with lime gree gravel as a thicker top layer.

There are lots of ways to DIY substrates, including ones using the clumping bentonite cat litter, zeolite, all sorts. Takashi Amano apparantly started out using Akadam before he got ADA going. lol

Ade

 

[Duzzy]

Thanks Ade

 

[clen666]

aaron would you say the tetraplant is better than the tropica substrate?

 

[Mr Bliss]

Well, you want a substrate mix that has:

- High cation exchange capacity
- Resists compacting (ie. allows diffusion within the substrate) without being too fluffy. You want a mix that has approximately the consistency of top soil.
- Won't cloud the water (many hobbyists use a layer of sand on top to deal with this problem)

- Opinions are divided on whether you want the substrate itself to have a high nutrient level (like compost). Common sense would say that keeping the nutrient balance in check is easier if you have a high CEC, low nutrient substrate and all nutrients come from ferts; that way you know exactly what's going into the water. But at the other end of the spectrum there is the Walstad Method, where you basically use regular potting soil.

Stuff with high CEC: I remember vermiculite (available in gardening stores) being all the rage in the early 90's, but I wasn't into planted tanks at the time so I have no experience with it. Peat, clay, cat litter (make sure it has no added scents or chemicals!) all have sufficient CEC. Peat is a bit too potent in this regard and can therefore affect your pH rapidly, whereas clay and cat litter can compact easily, so you want some kind of a mixture. Mixing in some sand or fine gravel would make the substrate grainier and less prone to compacting.

Myself, being skint and always wanting to experiment, I ended up using cactus soil, which is a mix of peat, clay and sand, with very little compost matter, covered by an inch of sand. It's an ongoing experiment, but so far everything's been going great for two months, and Amazon swords (both big and small species) in particular are absolutely loving this substrate.

 

[aaronnorth]

Tropica substrate is like clay & has a good CEC exchange (see above post). This might be better if you can afford it as eventually the tetraplant will run out of nutrients (but after a few yeasr!)