Substrates

[idlefingers]

I've recently moved all my plants & fish from my 126ltr tank to a new 200ltr tank. Now I've decided what I'm gonna do with the now empty 126ltr.. heavily planted. But, before I start buying all the things to support this setup, I need some help! (probably the beginning of a long list of questions!)

What substrate would you recommend? A quick look at aqua-essentials and I'm already lost in a sea of choices! How much would I need (for 126ltr tank)? what kind of depth should the fertilizer layer be?

Then, once I've got it in my tank, how do I stop the top layer of sand mixing with it? Do you have to have layers at all?

 

[nicklfire]

There's really tons of different choices to go by isnt there. I'll tell you what i do. I use strictly one substrate. I used red sea's flora base. it's a clay compound that has many usefull nutrients for plants. it lasts for years on end and does not have to be mixed with anyone. You use 1 bag per 10us gallons. There is also seacheams flourite which works in the same regards (heard it's very cloudy and messy), and then there is eco-complete which is a black substrate, pretty neat looking which has all the nutrients for all your plants. good thing about the red sea's flora base is that it also acts as a ph buffer which is awesome.

I dont know too much about using sand but i'm going to guess you can just put laterate undernearth it? If you were to use sand with any of the things i listed above.. the sands just going to go to the bottom after time (small pieces go down big go up when your talking layers)

I'v used red sea flora base and i'v loved it, it provides everything i need and is not messy, does not need pre washing.

Hope that helps a bit.

 

[idlefingers]

Thanks! That helps a lot!

I'm not dead set on using sand. I just thought that if I didn't have something on top of the substrate, the water would be really cloudy.

 

[Themuleous]

What kind of tank is this going to be high or low light? For high light tanks its worth spending the extra bit on a decent substrate IMHO, the plants will need the extra nutrients in high light conditions. Lower light tanks you can probably get away with less complete substrates.

Sam

 

[idlefingers]

It's low light to start with, because I'll be using the hood that came with the tank (Fluval Duo Deep 800) and only has 2x18w lights over 33g, so just over 1wpg to start with. I'm hoping to upgrade that soon(ish), but I read that it's best to do the lights last or I run the risk of a bad alge bloom (is that right?).

I figured if I get the substrate sorted and some easy, low light plants to start with, then when I upgrade the lights, get better plants.

 

[Themuleous]

Sounds like a plan to me as for substrates, get what you can afford, but don't scrimp. Have heard good things about the tetracomplete and red sea substrates, and have found Eco-complete to be excellent in my tanks. For the time being I would avoid the ADA aquasoils, which whilst the best on the market, they affect the pH of the water and so probably only best used by very experienced planters The tropica base layer is also likely to be excellent.

Sam

 

[idlefingers]

Ok, thanks.

It's not cheap is it! Is there a cheaper place than aqua-essentials to order online from?

 

[2pods]

Ok, thanks.

It's not cheap is it! Is there a cheaper place than aqua-essentials to order online from?

You could try Aquatics Online ?

Peter

 

[Fillet 'O' Fish]

Ok, thanks.

It's not cheap is it! Is there a cheaper place than aqua-essentials to order online from?

You only need a 1cm layer of the Tropica substrate, so the 5 litre bag would be more than enough for you, possibly even the 2.5 litre bag and at only £14.99 on AE thats got to be a bargin

I used the 5 litre bag for my 400 litre tank and had great results - see my journal on here:
Adding Tropica Substrate Journal

Good luck with whatever you got for

Regards
Brian

 

[idlefingers]

I like the sound of this Tropica one! Much cheaper than what I was looking at before (with the red sea one, it would've been about £50 to put what it reccomended into my tank )

So what would be good to put on top of that? Is pea gravel good to use?

Thanks for the help everyone!

 

[Castellop123]

Cheers...

 

[n3ont3tra]

I use seachem flourite. The plants I have (all short bushy plants or hairgrass) are all doing great, growing much faster than I thought. The only bad things I can think of atm is appearance (not my favorite, but each to their own) and texture (it's a bit harsh for fish like cories). Overall it works great though!