Eco complete african cichlid gravel 4 plants??

[FishFreaks]

is this ok for our 15g going to be planted tank? i cant find any regular eco complete. if i cant use this ill just have to get fluorite, none of my lfs sell anything other than marine sand and gravel. thanks in advance!

 

[superjalami30]

No, I believe the cichlid eco complete will raise your ph way too high for plants to thrive.
I would go with the flourite, I use it and like it.
however, I do like the regular eco complete black look as well.

 

[FishFreaks]

yeah me to! do y ou know where i could find it online? also would the flourite work with the gravel vac?

 

[FishFreaks]

oh wait i think i found it, is it this that i want?big als online

 

[superjalami30]

Ya, thats the stuff.
I've seen it on ebay too.
I dont gravel clean my like you would a non planted tank or a tank with regular substrate.
I "skim" my vacuum along the surface and get as much as I can this way.
My tank that I have flourite in is pretty heavily planted therefore I dont need to vacuum it quite as deep.

And as for rinsing flourite, I rinsed mine, but for a very, very short time, I was told so by LFS employees.
They said, "if you rinse it thoroughly you'll rinse all the minerals away, so whats the point in buying it"
I said, "OK".
My tank was pretty murky, but after letting it settle (I turned my filter off before I put the flourite in) I set up a few powerheads with filters, let those clean up most of the murk, then started my fluvol 204 and by the next morning my tank was clear again.
My plants are thriving, fish are all alive, and the waters clear so it must of been ok to not of rinsed it thoroughly.

 

[FishFreaks]

thanks!