# Turface and plant rooting



## AKnickolai (Nov 30, 2007)

After a 5 year break from planted tanks due to moving around and a small house fire, I'm back in the game! I have a 150 gallon tank that I'm building a custom stand, hood, sump for right now that I'm super excited about. Trouble is I'm not 100% sure how I want to do it. I three 40 gallon tanks running in various configurations right now to see what I like and remember how to do this. I'm amazed at how well my tank with Turface is doing. I have the AH Supply LED's (2x15W) on the tank, that deliver about 40-50 PAR at the substrate level (from what I've researched, I don't own a meter). I dose on the lighter side of EI with pressurized CO2. Lighting and fertilizer wise, I like middle of the road. I get fast enough growth that I can trim/play with the tank when I have time, and if all I get to is water changes for a few weeks that's fine too.

My only complaint is that Turface is so light I have a hard time planting anything other than stem plants i can initially jab 2-3 inches into the substrate. Anything with a halfway developed root system (crypts, small swords etc.) is just brutal and floats out over a 3-4 day period. How does everyone out there with lighter clay substrates keep their plants down? Do I need to weight them some how until the roots become established or would I be better off with soil underneath to give the plants something more substantial to root into over time? 

I don't have issues with keeping plants down in my gravel & Flourite tank, but the Turface is growing plants better and flourite & gravel for the 150 is a lot of $$$.


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

Yes, it's cheaper, but as you mention, the weight is an issue. Because of that, I won't use it again; I've had enough too. You can actually grow most anything in plain gravel as long as you attend to the plant's needs by other methods, either by fertilizing the water or creating a rich under layer.


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

I put a few pebbles over the roots until the plant holds the substrate well.


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## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

I've had success in the past mixing sand and turface together. Somewhere in the 50/50 or 60/40 Turface/sand usually works well.


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

Phil Edwards said:


> I've had success in the past mixing sand and turface together. Somewhere in the 50/50 or 60/40 Turface/sand usually works well.


I've got mine mixed with some Flourite Black Sand and have found that the heavier stuff ends up underneath. The sand stayed mixed with yours?


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## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

Yeah. I did do quite a bit of deep vacuuming and hand-stirring when doing maintenance and uprooting plants. I didn't do a lot of uprooting though. The plants stayed where they were put and just got trimmed.


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## AKnickolai (Nov 30, 2007)

Interesting on the sand. I've never used sand in a tank before, I think it looks great though. I can't siphon turface without sucking it up, I'd imagine sand would get pretty stirred up too. Did you use a small pump/filter instead of a gravity siphon for cleaning?


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

AKnickolai said:


> Interesting on the sand. I've never used sand in a tank before, I think it looks great though. I can't siphon turface without sucking it up, I'd imagine sand would get pretty stirred up too. Did you use a small pump/filter instead of a gravity siphon for cleaning?


My solution has been do temporarily shut the flow on the python and disturb the gravel before letting it settle a bit and sucking the dirty water up. That also gives shrimp a chance to get out of the way. I have some Flourite Black Sand in there too, but adding that to give things some weight didn't really work so well and it looks like it's all on the bottom.


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## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

Yeah, the turface did get sucked up a little. I just squeezed the tubing to reduce flow and it dropped down. That's an easy trick to use on any lightish substrate. I was going with a plain old gravity siphon.

Manual stirring/disturbing works too on smaller tanks. I preferred not to do it on the big tank as it kicked up too much mess and it was hard to reach everything.


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## AKnickolai (Nov 30, 2007)

Sounds like some of you have made it work in the long term. I guess I'll stick with it for now, it does work awesome with EI as long as the rooting doesn't drive you mad. I've got another test tank I can set up to see how a 50/50 gravel/Turface mix works. Might be the best of both worlds. I don't think I have any options open to me for sand other than play sand. Not many pools in Alaska to justify a store stocking pool filter sand locally.


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## bosmahe1 (May 14, 2005)

When you plant, do you pull the roots horizontally under the substrate? I use something similar to Turface that's very light as well and usually, get it to stay down on the first try.

http://www.moltan.com/Products/Flyers/SafetyAbsorbent_Clay_flyers_10.pdf


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## Logan's Daddy (May 3, 2008)

This is my take on a turface substrate. It's about 60% turface, 30% eco-complete (that sank to the bottom) and 10% aquarium gravel / other small gravel that rises to the top. It's all set up in my 75 and has given me no trouble for several years. I will second the "dragging" the roots while planting method, it works great.


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## rjordan393 (Nov 23, 2012)

Another approach is to place your plants in 2 inch plastic pots. The kind with slits on the sides and holes on the bottom that the shippers use. Then fill them with a heavier substrate. The roots will find their way out. If the roots are long enough, then guide them out the slits or holes.
This is what I plan to do soon when my Eco-complete order arrives.


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