# Opinions on Dennerle Duponit Mix



## jamesbattle (May 5, 2007)

I'm in the process of setting up my 5ft rena tank. Initially I purchased some of the Florabase, but have had second thoughts of using it in my first planted tank. 

I'd love to hear of your experiences with Dennerle's product, which I'm planning on using instead. My reasons are simple: I found dozens of good stories with Dennerle's product, but had to look very hard to find anyone using Florabase (and some of those comments were not great).

The Florabase was not cheap £24.50 / bag (I purchased 6 bags, which was the amount they indicated on the packaging) - as a newbie to planted tanks, I wisely left this research to *after* paying out the big bucks...


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

I've used Dennerle's Deponit Mix...

I got good plant growth but I don't think it was due to the Deponit; I've gotten the same results with Flourite and plain gravel by fertilizing the water column, having good lighting and CO2. The Flourite and Deponit seemed to give the plants a "kickstart" but over time I had similar results.

And I got to *hate* layered substrates so I don't use them anymore.


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## mrbelvedere138 (Jan 18, 2006)

Should have bought ADA Aquasoil. It's basically the same thing as Florabase, and cheaper. They are both good substrates, though.


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## jamesbattle (May 5, 2007)

What confused me with Florabase is that they seemed to imply that it had to be ripped up after 1y (I imagine that would be easy...); and that it shouldn't be mixed with anything else. To me, this stuff looks like cat litter, so that thought is not attractive.
I'd love to try it in a small tank maybe and see how it goes.


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## jamesbattle (May 5, 2007)

Thanks for the advice. I went with the Dennerle range of products for my substrate/water. I'll let you know how I get on. I'm using 3-5 cm of the Deponit mix. After reading a lot of opinions about the lack of necessity of the cable heater - I've decided to use it anyway. I find it hard to believe that Dennerle, Dupla etc would push these products so hard if they really didn't do anything.


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

jamesbattle said:


> ... I find it hard to believe that Dennerle, Dupla etc would push these products so hard if they really didn't do anything.


Believe!  :-D

The cable heating won't hurt. While it doesn't do much for the plants (I know; I used one for several years), it effectively hides the heating element of the tank!  Though you can achieve the same thing for cheaper by using an inline heater on a cannister filter.

Good luck with the new setup!


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## jamesbattle (May 5, 2007)

ok; I take your experience onboard regarding the cable.

The main thing I got it for, was that Dennerle reckon that it helps prevent the substrate going anaerobic, and that it's good for long-term stability. On the other hand, I have this vision of trying to move a big amazon sword 6-months down the track and it pulling up my cable - oh well....


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