# Product question-'Turface'



## Luminescent

Been lurking for a while but newly registered- Hi!.

Anyway, I have been studying substrates for a couple of weeks and I just found this stuff called 'Turface'. It isn't recognized as an 'aquarium substrate' but it looks interesting.

It is for sports fields and you can see the colors and appearance here: https://soa.utexas.edu/matlab/search/materials/details/t/item/id/24468

They have a Turface Quick-Dry:


Absorbs its weight in water!
Won't harden or cake like similar water-absorbing products
Used to rescue more infields than any other brand
http://www.turface.com/turface-products/infield-conditioners/turface-quick-dry

And a field dressing:

Used on athletic fields from the major leagues to local parks and recreation facilities, the product conditions soil to relieve compaction and manage moisture across baseball and softball infields.

1. Materials: A calcined, non-swelling illite and silica clay
2. Porosity: Total 74%, with 39% Capillary and 35% Non Capillary
3. pH range: 5.5 + 1.0
4. CEC: 33.6 mEq/100g
5. Particle Stability: Sulfate Soundness testing (ASTM C-88) and static degradation test not to exceed 4% loss over 20 years 
6. Bulk Density: 37 ± 2 lb./ft³

TYPICAL CHEMICAL DESCRIPTION: 
SiO2 - 74%
Al2O3 - 11%
Fe2O3 - 5%
All other chemicals equal less than 5% and include : CaO, MgO, K2O, Na2O and TiO2

http://www.turface.com/sites/default/files/turface_mvp_sheet_6-12-13_0.pdf

Here are the white papers on all the products: 
What do you think?


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## Seattle_Aquarist

Hi Luminescent,

First of all welcome to APC!

Turface makes an excellent substrate due to it's high CEC (cation exchange coefficient) which basically means it has the ability to absorb ions from the water (such as nutrients and minerals) and make them slowly to plants in the root zone. Many of us have used Turface or other Montmorillonite clay substrates for years.

Unfortunately Turface discontinued the Turface Pro League Gray substrate I liked. It has a nice gray color and a fairly uniform grain size that worked well in planted tanks. They still make the Turface Pro League in a few other colors.

Currently I am using Saf-T-Sorb #7941 which is also a Montmorillonite clay material. It also has the high CEC characteristic but is a more 'natural' color.

Here is Turface Pro League gray









Here is Saf-T-Sorb #7941


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## Luminescent

Seattle_Aquarist said:


> Unfortunately Turface discontinued the Turface Pro League Gray substrate I liked. It has a nice gray color and a fairly uniform grain size that worked well in planted tanks. They still make the Turface Pro League in a few other colors.


Oh heck. That gray color looked perfect! Maybe if everyone writes them to let them know.. 

Thank you for your reply- I will keep looking around. What I am considering is a substrate that I could mix with soil to do a hybrid El Natural.


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## Luminescent

Hmm. Looks like there are a lot of possible solutions - just looking outside the box.


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## BriDroid

I'm also using the Safe T Sorb that Roy is using. I got it locally for $5 for a 40lb bag. I really like it so far. It's really natural looking and the plant roots really seem to like it.


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## Seattle_Aquarist

Luminescent said:


> Hmm. Looks like there are a lot of possible solutions - just looking outside the box.


Hi Luminescent,

Be careful of substrates that have fertilizer additives; some of them may contain ammonia / ammonia based nutrients that will provide you with a beautiful algae farm.


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## Tattooedfool83

I don't use it yet, but am picking up a bag this weekend to try out in a 10 gallon dirted tank that's in the works. $4.50 from tractor supply you really can't beat that.


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## Luminescent

Seattle_Aquarist said:


> Hi Luminescent,
> 
> Be careful of substrates that have fertilizer additives; some of them may contain ammonia / ammonia based nutrients that will provide you with a beautiful algae farm.


Thank you, I will definitely avoid anything that will contribute to an algae farm. Although I did tinker with making an algae based trickle filter once. But that was outside the tank.


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## Luminescent

Seattle_Aquarist said:


> Hi Luminescent,
> 
> First of all welcome to APC!
> 
> Currently I am using Saf-T-Sorb #7941 which is also a Montmorillonite clay material. It also has the high CEC characteristic but is a more 'natural' color.


Thanks for the welcome, Seattle 

I was wondering about Saf-T-Sorb as a cap for dirt or a mix? I am looking into setting up some test tanks with various strata - aiming for a kind of 'hybrid natural'. I know that natural soil tanks can have compression problems - and possible H2SO4 build up, etc. I will be using undertank heaters to help with that, but I am also very curious about mixing strata to prevent anaerobic compaction in the first place.

Your thoughts?


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## Seattle_Aquarist

Hi Luminescent,

I have not done a 'El Natural / dirt tank' yet but I have read about those who have and they seem to be successful. The trick seems to be a thin layer of MTS with a much thicker layer of covering substrate.

I did something similar with some of the isolation bottles I use to treat plants for snails prior to putting them in my tanks. I use a very thin layer of Miracle Grow Potting Mix (1/2") with a 2"-3" layer of Montmorillonite clay.


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## Michael

Luminescent, I use Safe-T-Sorb as a cap for soil in my Walstad tanks. In fact, I like to mix it half and half with the mineralized soil. Roy is right about soil depth--a very common mistake among beginners is to make the soil layer too deep. I recommend nothing deeper than 1.5" for soil, and 1" is usually plenty.


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## Tattooedfool83

So then the soil being an 1-1.5" deep what are you doing as far as depth for the cap?


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## Michael

Same depth, 1"-1.5" cap. If you need topography for a design, I prefer to build that up from the bottom with some sort of inert material, then put soil and cap over it.


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## Tattooedfool83

Thanks


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## Luminescent

Thank you- the info is much appreciated.


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## fraviz

How long do you keep them there??? I tried that before and I only end up with green soup....


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