Cheaper Substrates

[blue acara]

hi, soon im setting up a planted tank. looking at the prices of the eco complete has put me off it. i would need loads of it as tank is 125g. so i want to get a cheap substrate. i saw this site http/www.thekrib.com/Plants/kelly-intro.html

it says use vermiculite. has ne1 here ever used this? also it says to get soil with high cation exchange+low organic matter where could i get soil with these properties? mabie pond soil?

then i was going to add laterite to this mix then cover with sand then add solid fertilizer neer plants-do you think this substrate would work.?

 

[netcode]

you could always mix laterite with vermiculite and peat. then throw some sand or small gravel on top.

Or could you just use simple gravel and say hell with it

 

[l337dave]

The vermiculite will float to the top if you disturb the sand...

(yes i did find this out firsthand... )


dave.

 

[George Farmer]

Is it low-tech i.e. non-CO2, low-moderate light? If so why not go for the Diana Walstad method? Peter Bradley is running a plant blog on PFK's website on a similar method using Tetra Aquatic Compost.

Another cheap option would be to use an inert substrate and add fert tabs as necessary to target plants.

 

[babybell911]

Mum got a bag of pond soil and iused that in my tank with simple gravel worked wonders

 

[blue acara]

i was going to go for low tec, but i might do the homemade co2 option and get 2.5-3 watts per gallon-ive seen some really beautiful planted tanks here and i would love to have 1 even half as good.

 

[BWBettas]

Can you not buy aload of cheap root tabs and dry ferts and just mix in with a regular ol bag of silver sand?

Bret

 

[discusmad]

You could allways use cactus compost

 

[gizmo001i]

Don't know if they are any good or not, but you could use one of those net like barriers to seperate the vermiculite and the sand. This would stop the vermiculite getting to the surface and into the water column.

 

[Themuleous]

If you're going to add 3WPG over a 125G tank you'll need lots of CO2 which I think will mean pressurised or nothing, trying yeast CO2 is going to be much a pain trust me! and will cost a far bit even if you did DIY kits.

Also you'll need a good substrate for sure and tons and tons of fast growing plants. Well over 50% of the substrate covered in plants

All in all it'll cost you quite a bit more so be prepared to that

Oh and root tabs can work out almost as expensive as a plant substrate so might as well spend a bit more and do it properly

All that said if you do it right (which I sure you would ) a 125G fully planted tank would look chuffing wicked so go for it!

Sam

 

[blue acara]

thanks for ur input ppl.

if vermiculite flots mabie ill avoid it. on the link though is says to mash it up with water to remove the air, and then mix it with the soil-mabie this is why it floated in ure case dave?

the pond soil and catus compost sound good as long as it doesnt have lots of organic matter as this rots does it say on these bags the organic matter content?

the price issue is a factor-i dont want to spend thousands...mabie i could go for 2 wpg and only a little co2?
i have a tank now with 1.5 wpg no co2 with just solid fert taps and some of the plants are doing well-and some not so well- so with a good substream,more wpg and some co2 harder plants should be good.

 

[Themuleous]

Dont think you can have 'just a little co2' if you've got enough light then you need lots and lots of CO2 if you skimp in it you'll have an algae mess to deal with.

Sam