# how many pounds?



## PoohBear (May 19, 2007)

I was finally able to locate some 3M black colorquartz in T grade. It comes in 50 pound bags. I have a 40 gallon tank. Can I get away with using 1 bag of this stuff?


----------



## DonaldmBoyer (Aug 18, 2005)

The general "rule" is 1 pound of substrate per gallon of water. You can add a 50 lb bag to your 40G tank, but you may run into a problem when you try to scape your aquarium. The plant roots may not be able to grow too well if "T" grade is "fine"; it will be too dense for the roots to push through. I am not familar with the substrate that you mentioned, but if it is a fine grade, I would take some out and throw it away. If it isn't a fine grade, and is more of a medium grade gravel, you will be ok.


----------



## BigRed27 (Mar 11, 2004)

PoohBear I am thinking of getting that same thing after reading your other post on inert gravel. Did you end up buying it? How much was the 50 pound sack? Do you like it? I found a local rep but havent found out if he will/can get it for me. Just wanted to know your 2 cents on it if you got it.


----------



## PoohBear (May 19, 2007)

I teach, and I'm waiting until school lets out to order it because I'll have more time to fuss then. The 26th is my last day, so if you check back here several days after that, I can let you know how it went. The price I was quoted was $36 for a fifty pound bag. Still cheaper than Eco-Complete, which is about $24 for a twenty pound bag that also contains a lot of water.


----------



## stepheus (Jun 13, 2006)

I agree with Donald. 3M colourquartz is also an inert sand. they give no benefit in providing your plants with root nutrition. Unless you are planning to get a lot of root fertilizers and stuffing them into the tank or have other types of substrates under the layer of colourquartz or heavy liq fertilizing.

Eco complete in another hand has some fert and other organic material that is good for plants. I am a fan of aquasoil tho =)


----------



## PoohBear (May 19, 2007)

stepheus said:


> I agree with Donald. 3M colourquartz is also an inert sand. they give no benefit in providing your plants with root nutrition. Unless you are planning to get a lot of root fertilizers and stuffing them into the tank or have other types of substrates under the layer of colourquartz or heavy liq fertilizing.
> 
> Eco complete in another hand has some fert and other organic material that is good for plants. I am a fan of aquasoil tho =)


I'm sticking with plants that have low demands, and going low-tech, no CO2, so I don't think my plants will have a very high need for fertilizers. I'm going to let the mulm build up naturally. I use Flourish for the water column, and will use some fert tabs at the base of root feeders. I looked into Eco, but it's not in the budget at this time.


----------



## stepheus (Jun 13, 2006)

Low tech plants completely slipped my mind :heh: Ephipytes are a good idea too.


----------



## PoohBear (May 19, 2007)

stepheus said:


> Low tech plants completely slipped my mind :heh: Ephipytes are a good idea too.


What are Ephipytes?


----------



## AMP (Nov 11, 2006)

Epiphytes are plants that grow on other plants or objects for support or anchorage, but not for water or nutrients


----------



## stepheus (Jun 13, 2006)

Like a huge variety of anubias and java ferns, you can find here for starters. Press go beside the word Epiphytes. Good luck!


----------



## PoohBear (May 19, 2007)

Thanks for the help.  So far I have three moss balls, 2 onion plants (don't know what the real name is for these), some floating hornwort, ludwigia repens (which seemed pretty hardy from the plant finder description), and a cryptocoryne (not sure which variety, but appears to be doing well). I just put in the 3M colorquartz T grade substrate yesterday. Got to buy some plant tabs for the rooted plants now.


----------



## PoohBear (May 19, 2007)

BigRed27 said:


> PoohBear I am thinking of getting that same thing after reading your other post on inert gravel. Did you end up buying it? How much was the 50 pound sack? Do you like it? I found a local rep but havent found out if he will/can get it for me. Just wanted to know your 2 cents on it if you got it.


Well, I finally got the 3M colorquartz in the tank yesterday! I got it from a pool supply store. The manager was nice enough to order me a bag of the S grade and T grade, so I could see which I liked better. The S grade is fine, like white granulated sugar. The T grade is like crushed coral. I went with the T grade. I used a paint strainer net to thoroughly rinse the substrate with a garden hose outside. It worked out pretty well, just got a light cloud in the tank, which had settled down by this morning.

I've only had the colorquartz in my tank for a day now, so I can't say much other than that I am very satisfied with the black color, and the size of the T grade. It was exactly what I was looking for. Now I have to buy some plant tabs for the roots.

The fifty pound bag cost $31 and change. It did my 40 gallon tank, with about 1/3 a bucketful to spare.


----------

