# substrate questions



## travdawg (Mar 3, 2005)

Ok, I am workin on gettin the bits for my tank. I know to get a bag of chem free/fert free top soil from Home Depot (though I will have questions on brand when I get it all together). My question is on the pea gravel that goes OVER the top soil. It seems like the stuff I see in most NPTs is plain brown... Are their options available? Black, or anything else? Or is it pretty much brown or nothing? Or could I just use plain aquarium gravel? Might seem like a stupid question, but I just wanna make sure I do it as close to right as I can. Do I need to add peat, or flourite under the topsoil? 

I am going to have rocks in the tank... In a previous thread I was told not to place this stuff on top of the dirt, but to place it IN the SS. I assume this means I need to have the rocks touching the glass at the bottom of the tank & just dump the SS around it? just hate losing all that height to dirt :/ Again, wanna make sure I do it "the right way".

Thanks for the info all!

Trav


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## lauraleellbp (Jan 31, 2008)

Trav- most people setting up a NPT are going for as "natural" a look as possible, so prefer the natural-covered pea gravel. However, this is your tank- so pick what you like!

Schultz Aquatic Soil from Home Depot has gotten some great reviews on the forums I'm in- haven't used it myself, though.

The point of placing large rocks on the bottom of the tank is to try and reduce the risk of an anaerobic area developing in the substrate under the rock. Anaerobic bacteria produce hydrogen sulfide, and this is deadly to fish and plants should any escape into the tank. I've seen people build up the height of their rocks using coarse gravel. The idea is that water will still be able to circulate through the spaces between the gravel and prevent anaerobic spots.

You could add peat (very very fine layer- more like a dusting) and/or fluorite under the soil- this would boost the overall nutrient levels in your substrate.


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

You can use just about anything you like to cap the soil that has a good grain-size (I find 2-4 mm works best for me) and won't mess up your water quality. I use eco complete in most of my tanks as a top layer because I had it from an earlier setup and I like the look of the black. I'm also using Aquarium Plants' substrate in one tank (it's like Soil Master Select) and is a nice charcoal color. Some people use pool filter sand as it has a larger grain size than most sand. 

Whether you need to add anything like peat to your soil depends on your water parameters and what you want to do with your tank. Peat tends to make the water softer and more acidic, great if your doing a South American tank or your water is hard, but not needed if your water is already soft. I've added aragonite sand to my tanks' substrates because the water here is soft and my snails' shells were degrading. You shouldn't need flourite because the soil will be providing the nutrients.


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## travdawg (Mar 3, 2005)

thanks for the responses guys... I got to lookin around & think I might try the brown gravel stuff after all... Its either going to be that, or black soilmaster from a friend. 

With the topsoil.... I just dump it from the bag to the tank?


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

travdawg said:


> With the topsoil.... I just dump it from the bag to the tank?


That's what I usually do now that I know what I'm dealing with. Some people will spread the soil out and let it air out for a week to decrease the amount of ammonia produced when they set up the tank. I usually just leave the bag open for a few days and that helps - not as effective as spreading it out but much less chance for making a mess.

As there are a lot of variations in soil you might want to try a bottle test first to see how your soil affects the water parameters and whether there are any small particles that cloud the water despite having another substrate capping it. You can use any container you have handy. My "bottle test" was a 10 gallon tank that morphed into my shrimp tank.


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## travdawg (Mar 3, 2005)

Thanks again! Now I just have to figure out what I am going to do for a filter. :/ I was going to use a tetratec, heated HOB filter... but I read a review that said they are bad about locking up & leaving the heater exposed. I def do not want that. 

Do you all just stick the heater in the tank & damn the eyesore?


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## lauraleellbp (Jan 31, 2008)

I personally don't use heaters at all- but I'm spoiled living in SW florida.

If you use a canister filter or sump with a tank, Hydor makes an external in-line heater- I actually just got one of these for a discus tank I'm setting up.

Many people use internal heaters and place them low in the tank where they will be hidden by the plants.

I also would not recommend putting a heater inside an HOB- evaporation and other malfunctions could take out 2 pieces of equipment at once.


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## NatalieT (Mar 20, 2007)

lauraleellbp said:


> I personally don't use heaters at all- but I'm spoiled living in SW florida.


I'm in Virginia, and don't use a heater either. My house is usually kept at about 70 degrees in winter and higher in summer, so that's how warm the tank stays. My plants and livestock were also fine when we were gone for 3 days and the heat was turned down to 60 degrees. For livestock, I have livebearers (guppies/mollies/platys), cory catfish (panda and pymgy) and shrimp (cherry and ghost). The temperatures in my tank seem OK with all of them.

Natalie


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## travdawg (Mar 3, 2005)

I might try to run it without a heater, & see what the temp settles at. 

Thanks again all for the advice!


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## yum (Feb 11, 2008)

I got a "Stealth" brand heater and it seems to do the trick thus far. It's all black, fully submersible and doesn't even have a light to let you know it's on. I put it horizontally near the bottom/back of the tank. Buried the cord in the substrate so the cord runs up the corner. It's about as unobtrusive as it can get. It claims to be accurate within 1 degree and so far that seems about right. It ran me about $30 but I'm sure you can get it cheaper. I think I overpaid. 

Good luck going heater-less. I'm in Chicago and my condo is old and drafty so a heater is a must for me.


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## tjg2007 (Nov 2, 2007)

I have the Visi-Therm Stealth on both my 55g and 37g they are pretty cheap on Foster's and Smith's if you are going to order some more stuff. They are pretty unobtrusive and hide really well.


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