Adding Tropica Plant Substrate To My Mature Gravel Bed Tank

[Fillet 'O' Fish]

After setting my tank up about a year ago I have become more and more interested in planted aquaria.
I have been using pressurised Co2 for some time with Seacem Flourish and Fourish Excel ferts. My only draw back has been my inert gravel substrate. I have had good results with the plants, but always wondered how things may improove if I had a proper plant substrate.
After much reading and of course asking many questions on this forum and sending PM to people like George I decided to go for the 'Tropica Plant substrate' and ordered some from Aqua Essentials Web site.

My biggest fear was ending up with a really muddy cloudy tank at the end. But I am pleased to say all went well and I decided to post a step by step journal for the change over to help others considering havng a change over in an already mature tank.

Tank is a Rena 1200mm x 500mm x 750mm high (around 450 litres).

Pic Before change:

Purchased a brand new plastic dustbin to house my fish during the change. Put one of my heaters in the dustbin to maintain water temperature, and a couple of plants for scared fish to hide in. Syphoned some tank water to fill te dustbin (note I did thoroughly clean and soak the dustbin a couple of days prior to use).

Removed the plants to make fish easier to catch ( a lot of mulm stirred up when the plants roots pulled from gravel).

Plants sorted and pruned ready for re-planting. Put into some various tank water filled containers.

Drain all the water away and remove as much as possible (using flat sided ice cream tub to get ight to bottom) If you leave too much water in it will mix with the new substrate and form a muddy slush.

Rather than remove all the gravel from the tank I decided to place the new substrate in 2 halves. Just over half the tanks footprint in gravel was moved to one side.

I placed the new tropica Plant substrate over half the cleared area to the depth as per manufacturers instructions

I then put some fine quartz gravel as a thin layer over the powery substrate (hoping to help prevent it mixing with new water in tank).

I then put the main tank gravel into the prepared half and repeated on the other half and then spread the main gravel all over.

Next some scaping. I decided to put my slate pieces to form a raised plateau which I was going to plant with my amazon swords as a sort of sword forest, with lower plants running diagonally from the corner.

Now the worrying time !! if the substrates mix Im gonna end up with a muddy mess in the tank water. I decided to put a sheet of thick plastic in the tank (weighted with a rock) and carefully bucket water into the tank. It was well worth the effort. The water remained clear !

All the plants and fish put back in and no muddy water

I know the plants need to grow to fill out the tank a little, but I am please a project I was dreading went so well.
hopefully this will encourage some more of you guys thinking of taking the plunge to a plant substrate to go for it!!!

 

[Glod]

Looks very nice ! Love the slate "cliff", it really is an interesting feature. I've done this on a smaller scale in the past with me 10 gallon, I'd love to do it with my 4ft tank but the logistics are a nightmare, hehe. I know what you mean about dreading the thought

Looks like a very successful venture and well worth the effort. Kudos !

 

[Fillet 'O' Fish]

Thanks Glod

 

[Dave Spencer]

Excellent stuff! The swords will like your new substrate.

EDIT: You will have to update this thread periodically to let everyone know if you notice any difference.

 

[Fillet 'O' Fish]

Excellent stuff! The swords will like your new substrate.

EDIT: You will have to update this thread periodically to let everyone know if you notice any difference.

Will do Dave.

 

[Fillet 'O' Fish]

Well I have tested my water this morning and all is stable with the same readings as before the substrate change. Fingers crossed that my mature filter is dealing with the upset. I suppose only the next few days will tell.
Plants look good today. Maybe they like their new root surround !

 

[Fillet 'O' Fish]

Well the new water 'white mist' has cleared today and tank back to crystal clear.

 

[gsta13]

Ye i messed up my tank and disturbed the substrate, the tank looks rubbish, i have no idea how to remove the cloudyness of my water. I used the same substrate as you but didnt put any quartz inbetween my grave l and tropica. im gutted
Greg

 

[Dave Spencer]

Love the Angel. It looks as if it is doing Mach 3!

 

[nry]

Nice layout, I can actually picture how it will look with some further growth!

 

[Fillet 'O' Fish]

Thanks for the comments guys

Ye i messed up my tank and disturbed the substrate, the tank looks rubbish, i have no idea how to remove the cloudyness of my water. I used the same substrate as you but didnt put any quartz inbetween my grave l and tropica. im gutted
Greg

Greg, The fine quartz was if am am honest just a thought I had when worrying about clouding and mixing substrate with the water. I am not sure that was the only thing that prevented any problems. Did you make sure you got all the water out when draining down? Did you fill up the tank really carefully rather than 'dump' the water in. Again I think the time taken to carefully place the water (although time consuming and a pain) worked. I suppose your pump is just constantly stirring the water now and keeping it cloudy? Maybe you could do a drain down and do a careful re-fill to see if it improves?

Love the Angel. It looks as if it is doing Mach 3!

Your right Dave, a bit like the Tornado figher plane. Sweep the fins back for mach flight !!

Nice layout, I can actually picture how it will look with some further growth!

Yes, more growth required, but due to the tank being tall (at 750mm = 29" ) plants look stunted. The amazon sword leaves are actually 14 to 16 " long ! Hopefully with the new substrate and CO2 it wont take long to fill out.

 

[Fillet 'O' Fish]

Well 3 full days in after adding the new substrate, and tested the water tonight. No blips at all I am pleased to report !
The water is just as stable as before I added the Tropica. No spikes in nitrate or ammonia. So far so good - but only time will tell I suppose.

 

[Davver]

Thats a great and inspiring project, thanks for documenting it so well. It will make the same experience a lot less daunting for others, I'm sure. Just one thing though, ever thought about substrate heating? Ha Ha. Now you can repeat the process! After all you have the knowledge and experience now... Only joking, I will soon be adding heating and this thread contains many usefull tips. Thanks.

Dave.

 

[Fillet 'O' Fish]

Thats a great and inspiring project, thanks for documenting it so well. It will make the same experience a lot less daunting for others, I'm sure. Just one thing though, ever thought about substrate heating? Ha Ha. Now you can repeat the process! After all you have the knowledge and experience now... Only joking, I will soon be adding heating and this thread contains many usefull tips. Thanks.

Dave.

Dave
I gave a lot of thought to substrate heating and spoke with many experienced planted tank keepers including George Farmer, and the general opion was that they are a gimmic and waste of time and money.
If George doesnt think they are worth using thats good enough for me. I personally dont know if they work or not, but I was willing to give it a go without.
It may be worth you reading this before using one: http/www.aquaessentials.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=529

Kind regards
Brian

 

[Davver]

Cheers Brian, thanks for those interesting links, many fascinating topics discussed therein. Interesting how companies will try to sell you stuff that they have no proof about.. (if you see what I mean(?))
I have recently been worried, when I have delved into my substrate, and Found it to be cold. Then reading the Dennerle literature I have found that they suggest substrate heating,led me to the conclusion that it may be advantagious. However, if GF and TB claim it to be pointless, I will reassess. Anyway, again thanks for sharing your experiences with us, they can only serve to assist others.

Dave.