Sanity Stick Required

[Ste_J]

Ok so I admit that my head is well and truely not on my shoulders and the logic train departed some time ago so could somebody give me a slap with a sanity stick please

This year santa decided in her infinite wisdom to buy me a new tank [56 USG] with this I have bought a couple of other things, which I wont go into because it hurts my wallet when I think about it. As of yet I have not set this tank up as I am in the middle of making a hood which I hope to finish this weekend.

So thinking of the timescales I had bought 2 small packs of Laterite that I intended to use under sand, then changed my mind due to using pine for hood - light sand with light hood etc etc. From here I was going to buy some Aqua medic Volcanit and use the laterite under that - went to lfs today and they are not getting any in till the new year Here's where the problem started! Sat here working from home allows time to browes the wicked wide web and my browes led to Aqua essentials where upon I was taken over and a purchase made in my name for 2 bags of eco complete - now I have 2 small boxes of Laterite and 2 bags of eco on their way!

When looking at the usage guide for eco I see that 1-2 pounds per gallon is stated - well here comes the stupid stick cause I only bought 2 bags and have a 56G

End of rant and onto the questions

Since I have bought the laterite can I use it as a first layer? bearing in mind that I will also be using eco
With the fact that I have under bought on the eco would it be wise to use a fine gravel underneath inorder to increase the overall depth of the substrate layer? I want to have the eco on top - aesthetics

So I have an idea floating around in myhead at the moment that I will use a fine gravel mixed with laterite and then add the eco on top, now I know that this isn't how this is supposed to be but bearing in mind that I have lost the plot and spent a load of cash, I can't afford not to utilise what I have.

/ Just had another thought - Could I just use the playsand that I already have mixed with the Laterite as first layer then eco on top?


Sorry to rant but my head is bursting at the moment with a combination of death in the family, daughters 4th Birthday and Christmas


Ste

 

[zig]

Well i would try and cancel the order of the eco complete (sorry Richard) thats if it has not allready been shipped, so worse case scenario if it has been shipped you are short 2 bags of eco complete to give you a nice depth to the substrate, 4 bags will give you near enough 3 inches depth if your tank is 48x12 wide, so personally i would wait until you can afford another 2 bags (plug here for Richard ) and do it properly.

You could allways try and sell the laterite in the buy and sell section of the forum or someone in the planted section may make you an offer (you never know) i think i would go completely with one or the other othwise it may look like %*$&* (bad) eco complete can look fantastic on its own and this is the way it really should be used. But having said that i use a fine gravel and laterite and get very good results, its one area of a planted tank i personally would not skimp on, with eco complete you will only have to buy the substrate once in the lifetime of the tank thats the way i would look at it.

 

[Ste_J]

Cheers Zig I thought that you may pop by to give me a sane answer on this one

The tank is a 48x15x18 so it should equate to 56 USG, just looked at my order status and it's still awaiting courier although now that I have placed the order I reckon that I'm going to stick with it. One question about your reply though - you say that I am 2 bags short yet the info on AE states that 1 bag is enough for 20G so would I not need just one more bag? or would the depth of eco suffer doing it this way?

If anyone from Aqua Essentials is around could they offer advice on the delivery times over the New Year?

More money going to AE then and I'll have to see what I can do with the Laterite, bought that from AE but my timing has been out so I can't send it back now! not even opened the boxes yet.

Cheers

Ste

 

[zig]

I worked it out on this

Substrate calculator

4x20lb bags will give you a depth of 2.5 inches on a 48x12 tank according to the calculator

But maybe someone who auctually has it in their tank can advise you better, but i would imagine the calculator is quite accurate, but i dont have any practical experience of eco complete so i couldnt say for definate.

Ideally you want the depth of the substrate to be around 2-3 inches, less than 2 inches and it wont really work too well, the more the merrier IMO some people will have it low at the front rising to 4-5 inches at the back, but with eco complete this obviously will cost big bucks the more substrate you add.

 

[Ste_J]

Great! just worked it out on the principle of a 48x15 and it equates to 5 bags

In the interest of saving my bank account I propose the following

1. Do not tell the wife how much the black stuff at the bottom cost
2. Stick with the order for 2 bags
3. Get in touch with Swell to see if they have any Volcanit

The Volcanit actually looks really nice as it's black grain with dark orange flecks, this comes in at around £16 per bag meaning that I could get 3 bags for the price of 2 eco's and mix them.

Oh well live and learn


Cheers

Ste

 

[Ste_J]

Aqua Essentials must be loving my mistakes! Just placed another order for 2 more bags. May have gone for 3 but they were out of stock so I'll go with 1 bag of volcanit instead and mix.