# Soilmaster Pro Select - Charcoal



## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

I have always preferred a black, or near black substrate, and have used black blasting grit for that reason. But, grit for blasting is sharp edged, and tends to injure Corys mouths, let alone what it does to your hands as you wash it and plant in it. A few months ago I heard of Soilmaster, which is a material made for baseball diamonds etc. They make a Charcoal color version, have a website that allows you to order it online, for pickup at your local dealer, with no freight charge. So, I ordered a 50 pound bag of the Charcoal color, for about $17, which includes California sales tax.

My Soilmaster Charcoal arrived at the dealer today and I picked it up a couple of hours ago. To show off a bit, I took some pictures of a sample of the stuff. They are:








































The first photo, obviously, is the bag.
The second is a big handfull of the stuff as it comes out of the bag, dry.
The third is with a couple of cups of water added and sloshed around to clean it. Notice it is dirty, without question.
The fourth is after three washings, and with more water added to show the color. Three washings was enough to get it clean, about what I am used to with blasting grit.
The last shows the particle size and uniformity. Notice that there is some red colored material mixed in, less than 1% I would guess.

The actual color, wet, is pretty black, with sparkles of red. I think I am in love!!


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## Clone (Mar 9, 2005)

I just set up a 58g with Soilmaster Select capped with 3M colorquartz. It looks great and seems to be doing fine. The tank has only been set up a week so only time will tell.


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## brad (Jul 10, 2005)

Does it contain any nutrients or is it simply for looks?


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

brad said:


> Does it contain any nutrients or is it simply for looks?


The Soilmaster is very similar to Turface Black or Shultz Aquatic Plant Soil. If you do a search on either of those, you should find quite a bit of info on them 

It does not come with nutrients but has a very high CEC and good iron content (both better than Flourite) making it a good candidate for a planted aquarium substrate.

It also seems to be hydroscopic so if you add some water with nutrients in it when first wetting it down I would imagine it would soak them up along with the water. At a price of $13 - $16 for a 50lb bag it is hard to beat. A 50lb bag will do fine for a 75g substrate also.


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## Simpte 27 (Jul 16, 2004)

I love the stuff. Not as dark as it could have been in a perfect world but how can you beat it?


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## plantbrain (Jan 23, 2004)

Well, glad you folks found it there locally.

I've been saying the merits of this stuff, Grey Turface basically for many years.
I never liked the red stuff personally. 

Many folks do not seem to mind the lighter weight subs these days, so I'm not sure why they would ever turn their noses up at this product.

10-15$ for 50lbs is a great deal.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## bigstick120 (Mar 8, 2005)

Do you need to mix this with anything or does it work well straight, maybe a little peat on the bottom and then this?


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

No matter what substrate I use, I always add a dusting of peat and some mulm from an estlablished tank. Here is how I did my setup:

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/showthread.php?t=10563

rwoehr also used Soilmaster and he and I did his tank a couple of nights before mine. He used 3M's "T" grade Black Color Quartz sand on top of the Soilmaster. We also used peat and mulm on his tank.


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## milalic (Aug 26, 2005)

Do you have to special order it? In what type of places can it be found?


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

Here's a link for Soilmaster Select Charcoal on the Lesco site: http://www.lesco.com/?PageID=27&ItemNumber=083365

Lesco is the distributor for Soilmaster products. Most larger cities in the US have a Lesco. If you go to the Home Page you can put in your Zip Code and find the closest Lesco. Items are delivered free of charge to the Lesco you placed the order from so make sure to order from the closest one. You will either have to go pick it up or pay for delivery to your house.

I don't think most of them carry it, but they will get it in from another Lesco if need be. I think that is how some of the others have ordered it. If you belong to a Club, see about placing a larger order. We received a discount of over $3 per 50lb bag by ordering a large quantity (1,000lbs) of Soilmaster.


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## Samala (Jun 13, 2005)

Would anyone be willing to send me 1cup of this new substrate for me to test? There is a dealer just down the road but he wont let me tear open a bag for a test. And having 50lbs of this stuff while living in an apartment isnt ideal if I'm not going to end up using it. I'd be happy to cover ship expenses. 

Test it in what? Saltwater.  Thanks guys.
>Sarah


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## ShaneSmith (Feb 15, 2004)

If i wanted to have a rather steep slope in a tank, should i stay away from the lighter stuff? the heavier the better it will stay in mounds and so forth, right?


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## Clone (Mar 9, 2005)

Samala you have a PM.


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## Samala (Jun 13, 2005)

Thankyou Clone!

Shane I always start with slopes and such but, irrespective of weight of a substrate, it all ends up in a flat level field within a year or so. Heh. Terracing has to be done with underground platforms and peices of plastic. Thats the only way I can get it stay for any amount of long term look. 

>Sarah


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## ShaneSmith (Feb 15, 2004)

I find once the root structures grow the slope keeps form, its just getting it to stay for the month until they are strong.


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## New 2 Fish (Dec 31, 2004)

Wow...wish I had found about about this stuff before I had bought a few bags of florite and eco..... I won't buy them again!
Thanks for the info!


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## plantbrain (Jan 23, 2004)

Samala said:


> Thankyou Clone!
> 
> Shane I always start with slopes and such but, irrespective of weight of a substrate, it all ends up in a flat level field within a year or so. Heh. Terracing has to be done with underground platforms and peices of plastic. Thats the only way I can get it stay for any amount of long term look.
> 
> >Sarah


Hey, you are not allowed to go Freshwater
Proves my theory............Fw and SW folks can do both and one leads to the other..........

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## fishdude1984 (Feb 17, 2005)

dose this stuff change the water in any way? PH, GH, KH, ect...?


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## oceanaqua (Oct 24, 2005)

have anyone experience with the 'red' version? My dealer seems to have only the red variety of soilmaster.


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

*Two weeks with Soilmaster Pro Select*

I have had SM as a substrate in a 29 gallon tank for two weeks now, not a long time at all. It appears to get slightly lighter in color during that time. I noticed yesterday when I moved some of it around a bit that the subsurface stuff was blacker than the surface stuff. It is still a dark gray, but not black, and still very nice looking in the aquarium. My plants are slowly growing, which is better than dying, and I still don't have CO2 set up. That should occur later this week. I won't say "no algae yet" because that might jinx me. Oh, I have:
51 watts of T8 bulbs, use Greg Watson ferts, dosing KNO3 and traces every other day, and K2HPO4 on the alternate days. Plants are (as best I remember now) Java Moss, Java Fern, Bolbitus Fern, Water Sprite, Micro swords, and a couple I don't remember now. Water is 7.0 pH after a day. And, I don't have my KH test kit yet, but for no added CO2, it has to be pretty low.


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## oceanaqua (Oct 24, 2005)

I bought a bag of SoilMaster today, the local Lesco Store only carry the 'Red' version so I'm out of luck. But I decide to try anyways. The bag was humungus! I had a hard time carrying it to my car. It seems that the store even sell a even finer version of SoilMaster, Its call Dry Fast; Lesco somehow use the same product to use as a water absorbant.


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

oceanaqua said:


> I bought a bag of SoilMaster today, the local Lesco Store only carry the 'Red' version so I'm out of luck. But I decide to try anyways. The bag was humungus! I had a hard time carrying it to my car. It seems that the store even sell a even finer version of SoilMaster, Its call Dry Fast; Lesco somehow use the same product to use as a water absorbant.


That is why you need to order it online via their website. The local stores do not seem to want to work with the "little guy" who only needs a bag or two of the charcoal colored version of Soilmaster Select. We ended up calling every store in a 50 mile radius to find out most of the product was in Florida at the time of our order.

If you order online, they will get it in from another Lesco that carries the color you want and you will be able to pick it up from your local store.

Soilmaster's Rapid Dry is very small in size, almost powdery and similar to the size of playsand, at least the sample they sent me was. I would not want to use it in my tank for fear of compaction.


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## bichirboy (Dec 28, 2005)

Anyone else carry this stuff? I don't have a Lesco anywhere near me and this seems to be perfect for what I need. Is it sold anywhere else under a different name?


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## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

If you notice what the application is that's listed on the bag (_Premium infield conditioner&#8230;_) you'll have no problem understanding why most stores only carry the red version. I mean, how many of you have ever seen a baseball diamond with a gray infield?


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

bichirboy said:


> Anyone else carry this stuff? I don't have a Lesco anywhere near me and this seems to be perfect for what I need. Is it sold anywhere else under a different name?


Turface Gray is a similar, if not identical, product. Turface products are sold by the Profile Company and the Pro League is the finer grained of their products. Profile is also the maker of Shultz Aquatic Plant Soil.

The products are marketed as "sports field conditioners". I think the Florida Marlins (if I remember Soilmaster's comments correctly) were a team that used a grey infeld a few years ago and the color wasn't accepted very well 

In watching some recent football games, it seems as though there is a lot of dark "soil" that has been getting kicked up out of the grass. It usually falls back into the grass so I have been wondering if the football stadiums are using a darker color of Turface or Soilmaster. If you have any type of sports field near you (Golf, Football, Baseball, etc) try contacting them about some.


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## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

MatPat said:


> In watching some recent football games, it seems as though there is a lot of dark "soil" that has been getting kicked up out of the grass. It usually falls back into the grass so I have been wondering if the football stadiums are using a darker color of Turface or Soilmaster.


That dark stuff is actually bits of rubber. I saw a segment about it when it was installed at Aloha Stadium in Hawaii.


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