# Redoing substrate (dry ferts?)



## Psittac (Jan 29, 2009)

I decided to use an SMS like substrate and have had nothing but problems with it so I'm going to put all of my fish into a temporary tank and soak the substrate in a baking soda solution then completely rescape my tank.

Since I'm doing this I wanted to look into using dry ferts. I've been told that having to much nutrient in a substrate can lead to issues and wanted to get some thoughts on the subject. I was thinking of doing something similar to the mineralized soil by adding various additives to the bottom side of the substrate. Any thoughts are welcomed.


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

When you say you had problems with it, do you mean because it was too light-weight? Soaking it in baking soda I'm guessing there were odor issues. How deep was the substrate, and did you have anythign underneath it?

Unless you use the Mineralized Soil Method, I wouldn't recommend putting fertilizers underneath a substrate. Root tabs might be good, but you don't how fast or slow powdered ferts will dissolve and be released into the water.

Can you share other details on the tank (lighting, duration, watts per gallon, tank size, other issues you had...like algae, fungus, odors... ) ?

-Dave


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## prBrianpr (Nov 18, 2007)

use, slow relase ferts,like osmocote


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