# Substrate seem a logical way, but!



## Glouglou (Feb 21, 2006)

When a renew with aquarium 1 or 2 years ago,, I was amazed of the new ways and techniques.

I never have, in my younger years, dream of what can be accomplished now. Thanks, for the major parts, to the Internet and forum like this one to reunite precious infos and experiences.

One thing, I never try is to put some kind of substrate in my soil. Well, it seem obvious that if plants have roots is for a good reason.

For now I only spike my sand with Seachem Flourish Tab.

I will soon setup a big tank, around 250 gal. My big concern with substrate is: what happen when it’s start to be depleted of is nutrients?


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

Most substrates don't contain appreciable nutrients. Flourite has some iron, most fracted clay substrates have some iron. And Eco Complete has nutrients added with the "black water", or whatever they call it, that is packaged mixed in with the substrate. ADA aquasoil probably has the most nutrients. The clay based substrates aren't likely to ever run out of iron, but the others will run short of nutrients over time. That's why we might as well start dosing fertilizers in the water column from the beginning. Eventually we will have to, no matter what substrate we use. And, plants grow fine without substrate fertilizing, even though some do a bit better with it.


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## joephys (May 9, 2006)

Well, it depends on your setup. Many people will add dry ferts that dissolve in the water. That is probably the most used method of adding ferts. If you stock your tank with slow to medium growth plants, such as java fern, anubias, crypts ect..., and avoid the faster growing stem plants, fish waste can provide enough nutrients. I had my tank set up this way it it did fine. Growth wasn't the fastest, but it was fast enough to notice it. All my plants looked good except for the stem plants, and the only problem with them was down at the lower part of the plant that was hard to see because of the smaller plants in front of it. I never had a serious algae problem with this set up either. I kept the CO2 at about 15ppm.


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## rhodophyta (Jan 23, 2006)

My planted tank is still set up the way I learned years ago. Make a mud of laterite and garden soil and work it into a 2" thick sponge layer that you them set in the tank and cover with a thin layer of aquarium gravel. I'd like to try some of the new substrates, and I probably will in the fall when I redo several of my existing tanks. Should I try a variety of substrates in different tanks and expect some plants to do best in one kind and another set of plants to do best in another? Or is there simply one kind that is best for all types of plants?


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## joephys (May 9, 2006)

I personally just use small gravel. Works fine for me.


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

I hope to soon get rid of my Eco Complete and go with a black sand substrate. I really don't think the Eco Complete adds enough, if any nutrients, to a high light tank. If I miss a couple of days of water column dosing, the plants start to look bad and the algae start to grow nicely.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Yea noticed this with eco too Mat. Though i didn't really expect the eco to provide any more nutrients then fluorite. It really does have a nice color to it though so if you ever want to get rid of it...  send me a pm i'll pay for shipping in a flash.


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## mrbelvedere138 (Jan 18, 2006)

That's why I'm doing Onyx Sand. I love the look and the ease of planting, and hard water couldnt be less of a problem.


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