# Tired of Aquasoil



## doubleott05 (Jul 20, 2005)

Im tired of a substrate that breaks down. Alternatives?

it breaks down and turns your water brown when its time to rescape.... sure you can reuse it but then your water is brown for a week. this is retarded you would think for the price it would have a better performance. then if you wanna use it right you have to dry it back out then shake it and then reuse it but it will then turn your water a tint of greenish brown for a month 


-elliot

im gonna try some local korean stuff. its in my small tank and its great does nto break down cause it is fired better.


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## vancat (Nov 5, 2004)

Fluorite?


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## doubleott05 (Jul 20, 2005)

considered that
along with eco complete

but they are expensive too so is akadama


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## vancat (Nov 5, 2004)

not in the long run....lasts forever.


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## doubleott05 (Jul 20, 2005)

flourite does not break down? does it loose nutritional value?


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## vancat (Nov 5, 2004)

I don't believe so. You could ask in the Seachem section.


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## Aquaticz (May 22, 2009)

oil dri
keep it fertilized with osmocote

works 4 me


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## Reef2plants (Jan 24, 2011)

Matt, flourite never had nutrients to begin with. It will however, store nutrients over the long term. There are much better CEC substrates out there.


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## singolz (Oct 27, 2011)

check out azoo. everyone I know around here swears by the stuff


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## DaTrueDave (Dec 28, 2003)

Reef2plants said:


> Matt, flourite never had nutrients to begin with. It will however, store nutrients over the long term. There are much better CEC substrates out there.


You mean never had macro nutrients. I don't think it's correct to say that Flourite doesn't have nutrients. In fact, I believe that Flourite is loaded (figuratively, of course) with some very important nutrients!


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## DeChaoOrdo (Jan 7, 2012)

Nearly every substrate over time will break down and lose its nutrient base. That's the tradeoff of plants using the substrate for nutrients. The only base material that will have little breakdown would be a true humus, which would not be very useful(it has a high IEC but literally no nutritional value and will almost definitely cloud your water). Peat as a base would be a decent choice if it weren't for the pH change it will cause. Higher firing rates won't improve its use as a flocculant, in fact it does the opposite. Calcined clays lack the flocculation ability that their uncooked varieties have, but cooking them helps to inoculate them. The more calcined they are, the less available the micros they contain become as well.

A high grit sand bed kept nutritionally rich with root tabs seems like it would suit your needs best. It has a low IEC but if sifted properly shouldn't erode too much over the time frame most tanks are kept, and the water column should provide enough nutritional value and IEC to keep plants going well.


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## doubleott05 (Jul 20, 2005)

thanks


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