# What Substrate to use?



## Vadimshevchuk (Jul 5, 2009)

I am setting up a 10 gallon red cherry shrimp only.
Substrates in mind-

1 eco complete (have it in my 29 gallon and i love it... easy to work with)
2 Soil (nervous about the amonia spikes when rescaping or shrimp digging.)
3 Seachems oynx sand ( my waters ph is 7.6 and my kh is very hard. this will rise it a little)
4 regular gravel- Not to sure about this one since its boring

I want a dark substrate but a sand type one and a dark substrate also. I was thinking of caping the soil with a 1" on sand on top... The el natural method type thing since my tank gets 2 hours of sun each day. Any ideas or comments or tips or critisism is all welcomed. =D:whip:


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## Vadimshevchuk (Jul 5, 2009)

Also i dont wanna use ada since it breaks down into mud and this is gonna be a low tech setup with mosses and crypts and anubias plants.


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

If you can find a seller of Turface or Soil Master Select, they have it in grey/black. It is a baked clay, inert, won't break down into mud. If you go with soil capped with gravel (or any other substrate really) the only problem you'll run into is when you rescape. That can cause serious green water blooms, but they eventually go away.

-Dave


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## Vadimshevchuk (Jul 5, 2009)

so with turface do i treat it like soil or what? im confused about this product....


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi Vadimshevchuk,

Turface Pro League Grey is my choice. It is a fired clay product that does not turn to mush over time. I treat it like gravel, an inert substrate, and dose throught the water column. It is available at Lesco or John Deere dealers here in our area, runs about $20 per 50# bag. A bag does about a 75 gallon aquarium. It is a little dusty, I usually rinse it once outside and then put it in the tank. With a good filter it is usually clear in about 24 hours.


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## Vadimshevchuk (Jul 5, 2009)

any1 have pictures of it in fish tanks? what colors avalible and does it raise lower ph and such.......


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi Vadimshevchuk,

Here is a link to the turface site. MVP is a larger grain size than Pro League. I like the grey better than the tan (brown) but I believe there is not difference on how they perform in the aquarium. Here is a picture of Turface Pro League grey in one of my tanks, sorry about the quality I wasn't actually trying to take a picture of the substrate!


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## Vadimshevchuk (Jul 5, 2009)

thanks so much! i will probably go with turface but what am i gonna do with the extra 40 lbs that will be leftover?


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi Vadimshevchuk,

What a silly question.......set up another tank of course!


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## Vadimshevchuk (Jul 5, 2009)

lol i guess my next tank size is gonna be a 40 gallon breeder due to its great shape =D but not for a while... i have a 10 gallon now and a 29 gallon in my room and my parents dont want me to flood the house and i need to save money for pressurized co2... im gonna try turface but ill have to get rid of it some how. =/


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi Vadimshevchuk,

Wrap the bag in a plastic garbage bag, it keeps forever!


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## rjfurbank (Jan 21, 2008)

I have used Flourite black sand in a few of my shrimp tanks and have really liked it. Have had good growth of plants (w/ regular fert dosing) and it is cool to watch the RCS sift through the small grains of the sand.


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## Vadimshevchuk (Jul 5, 2009)

thats why i wanted a sand type substrate... will i need to put anything else like root tabs and such for turface?


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## rjfurbank (Jan 21, 2008)

I haven't added any root tabs-just water column fert dosing. If you have a bunch of heavy root feeders you may want to add some from time to time but I have not found it necessary. However, I am keeping mostly stem plants and crypts.


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## Vadimshevchuk (Jul 5, 2009)

well im gonna have only 19w on the 10 gallon. So only ferns crypts and anubias. I am gonna go with turface i think since i can only geteco complete in my city and i dont want it since i have some in my 29 gallon and i want to try diffrent things. I would try seachems black sand but they dont have it localy and i dont wanna get it shipped.


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

Turface will remove the KH from the water. In my tanks it goes from around 5 degrees out of the tap to 0. This also crashes the pH to 6 or lower. 
Add some coral sand mixed with the turface, or in a bag in the filter to prevent this. 
Turface and Soil Master Select have a very high cationic exchange capacity, so are very good in a planted tank. They tend to be rather light, and do not hold the plants down very well. 

3M Colorquartz is a sand-like product that is available in many colors (including black). Google 3M and use their dealer locator. This is a swimming pool product used to give a different color of finish to swimming pools. It is inert, fish and shrimp safe, heavy (easy to clean) but has no significant CEC, so is not so great as a soil. Local swimming pool supply stores and contractors will probably be a good source for this product. It is available in 2 grain sizes.


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## dawntwister (Sep 29, 2007)

My favorite sand substrate is river sand. Cost only $3 at landscapers. I use it to cap topsoil.


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## Vadimshevchuk (Jul 5, 2009)

Well i used eco complete. =/ and its a white cloud minnow tank for updates. =D


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## El Exorcisto (Aug 10, 2006)

I'd personally go with Miracle Gro Organic Choice, capped with whatever sand you can get your grubby paws on. My 55 uses it capped with Black Diamond, a blasting grit available at Tractor Supply for $9 a bag. My little 10 uses it capped with Lowes' "multi-purpose" which was $6 a bag. All told it cost me $21 to put substrate in two tanks and I doubt the tanks will stay up long enough to burn out the substrate (meaning the tanks will be changed inside maybe 5 years).


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