# Three substrate to try.



## plamski (Oct 27, 2009)

Hello. I’ve got tree type of substrate to try in my planted tanks.
Pea Gravel I bought it from Wal-Mart for $2.39 per 14.1L bag
Turface is from our local John Deere landscape dealer with special order which took 2 months to arrive. All sports pro cost $18.73 per 50lb bag,Athletics pro league S11.98 per 50lb bag.
I rinse All sports pro 3-4 times and it become pretty clear
Athletics pro league contain black clay and even after 12-15 rinses is still muddy.
They are in 2 different tanks with RO water .Tomorrow I’ll add Seachem Equilibrium and KH buster to fix the water and will test water.
All comments are welcome.


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## xx123j (Mar 10, 2010)

I'm interested in the results. As I can only get All Sport here and wanted Pro League I want to know what if any differences there are.


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## plamski (Oct 27, 2009)

I'll plant them friday.Will start ferts dosing and light Saturday.I'll post some result after 1 week.


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi plamski,

Actually it is easier, and the water clears much faster, if you just put the Turface Pro League Grey in the aquarium dry, do your rough grading, and then add the water. It will be a little cloudy but with a 160 GPH filter my 30 gallon cleared in about 8 hours.


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## plamski (Oct 27, 2009)

Seattle_Aquarist said:


> Hi plamski,
> 
> Actually it is easier, and the water clears much faster, if you just put the Turface Pro League Grey in the aquarium dry, do your rough grading, and then add the water. It will be a little cloudy but with a 160 GPH filter my 30 gallon cleared in about 8 hours.


You are right the water get clean after 10h even with small filter up to 30gal.I can't use your advice because I pour dry substrate with heavy NPK and micros water in order to make it good for plants roots .Will see how long substrate will hold nutrition.
Only one thought - it is too lightweight very easy for planting but I don't know yet how will hold roots, even low GPH pump will move it around.


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi plamski,

You are right, compared to gravel it is much lighter. I use a 2"+ deep layer and seldom have problems with plants not staying in place. My experience is that once planted the roots of the plants do very well in this substate.


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## AquaDean (Oct 29, 2009)

Hi plamski,
Looking forward to reading about your results.
I like the looks of the Athletics Pro League for a substrate.
What is the product you called KH Buster in your first post?


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## plamski (Oct 27, 2009)

All sports pro stay lighter than Athletics pro league in the tank. I have powerhead to inject CO2 and it moves All sports pro around the tank creating dune like in the desert. That why I moved powerhead to point horizontally. In other prospective water is little bit cloudy with Athletics pro league. Let see how plants will like them. 
KH Buster – Backing soda, Seachem Acid or Alkaline buffer


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## killacross (Apr 29, 2010)

i cant wait to see how it turns out cuz I have a 10gal shrimp tank with a sandy substrate...and my plants dont do as well in it as my tank with litter sized substrate...i think coarse substrate grows ground cover plants faster and thicker than the fine stuff

...jus my experience tho


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

To fill the tanks with any of these products put a plate or plastic bag over the substrate and pour the water in slowly over the plate. It will seep in slowly and create little or no clouding.


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## plamski (Oct 27, 2009)

Athletics pro league losing its KH every 5-7 days. During water changes I’m adding 3-4KH to whole amount of water, not only to the RO water which I'm using for WC. After 5-7 days KH is Max 0.5KH.GH get lower only by 1 point for month or so.
All sports pro it is losing KH and GH by 1 count for 35-40 days.
My plans are to add some RCS to see how they will like it. My goal are PH 6.5,KH-3,GH-3. Temp 77F


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