Substrate Ferts.

[paulypaul182]

hi, what is the best ferts to go under the substrate, eco complete? laterite?. there are soo many products? do they make a difference to plant growth? is it worth the money? or should i mix two substrtae ferts? it would be nice to hear from people with 'practical' experiance who have actually used the ferts.

I used Tetra Plant substrate under a sand substrate. It worked a treat for me http/aquatic-store.co.uk/tropical/view/1178 . Two buckets of that for a 100 litre tank (30 x 12 inch base)

 

[Nick16]

hi, what is the best ferts to go under the substrate, eco complete? laterite?. there are soo many products? do they make a difference to plant growth? is it worth the money? or should i mix two substrtae ferts? it would be nice to hear from people with 'practical' experiance who have actually used the ferts.

I used Tetra Plant substrate under a sand substrate. It worked a treat for me [URL="http/aquatic-store.co.uk/tropical/view/1178"]http/aquatic-store.co.uk/tropical/view/1178[/URL] . Two buckets of that for a 100 litre tank (30 x 12 inch base)

for a 240l tank, i will need 5 buckets? i have heard ADA soil mentioned? right, so i put some tetra plant stuff down as a base, then cap it with coarse sand? where can i get coarse sand from? pauly paul, can you post a pic of your tank?

 

[paulypaul182]

hi, what is the best ferts to go under the substrate, eco complete? laterite?. there are soo many products? do they make a difference to plant growth? is it worth the money? or should i mix two substrtae ferts? it would be nice to hear from people with 'practical' experiance who have actually used the ferts.

I used Tetra Plant substrate under a sand substrate. It worked a treat for me <a href="http/aquatic-store.co.uk/tropical/view/1178" target="_blank">http/aquatic-store.co.uk/tropical/view/1178</a> . Two buckets of that for a 100 litre tank (30 x 12 inch base)

for a 240l tank, i will need 5 buckets? i have heard ADA soil mentioned? right, so i put some tetra plant stuff down as a base, then cap it with coarse sand? where can i get coarse sand from? pauly paul, can you post a pic of your tank?

You can get aquarium sand from most LFS, thats all I used. You can use play sand but ive never tried it. I only have wisteria, lilliciana and vallis which are quite easy plants but they still need nutrients and I have to prune the Vallis at least one a week and the wisteria once every 3 weeks and I dont even use CO2

 

[paulypaul182]

Oh and it depends how many buckets you buy. You could always buy 2 maybe three and lay your plant substrate within the areas you will have your plants. I think you can get away with having it a centimetre deep

 

[Nick16]

thanks, tank looks nice. right, i will have to decide out of the jbl and the tetra, basically whatever is the cheapest! then i will try to look on the internet and see if i can find any coarse sand, and if not, i feel a trip to my lfs to make enquiries is in order!

will 2 x 5L bags of jbl be enough to cover a 240l tank? as it says the 2 bags will do 200l but thats with a thicker layer, so i might do that, as i wont need 3 bags, plus, some will not be needed under rocks and wood!

 

[paulypaul182]

thanks, tank looks nice. right, i will have to decide out of the jbl and the tetra, basically whatever is the cheapest! then i will try to look on the internet and see if i can find any coarse sand, and if not, i feel a trip to my lfs to make enquiries is in order!

will 2 x 5L bags of jbl be enough to cover a 240l tank? as it says the 2 bags will do 200l but thats with a thicker layer, so i might do that, as i wont need 3 bags, plus, some will not be needed under rocks and wood!

Yeah, id get the two bags and if you discover that isnt enough for a complete layer, then lay it thicker in the areas you wish to plant. One tip, dont forget, you wont plant under your filter or even close to the filter so once you establish where the filter will be, you can keep that plant substrate free. Try and map in your mind where everything will be. Some will say lay your substrates (plant and sand) after youve put a quater of the water in the tank to avoid substrate rising or mixing. I didnt bother. I layed the plant substrate and then the sand. I then put a very heavy layer of bubble wrap over it and then GENTLY put the water in (I used the small plant substrate bucket to pour the water in from a 10 litre bucket. The firther the water level rose, the less gentle i put the water in. If you have a hose, use that as I guess it would be much easier. Dont forget, do not expose your filter to un-decholrinated water!! Also, my tips are only for plants like wisteria, lilliciana and vallis. Some other plants require CO2 and additional fertilisers and special lightings. Your best bet for plants like that is the plant forum. All the best mate!!

 

[Nick16]

i dose ferts, (TPN), i have the standard juwel T8 30w light tube in the tank and i added a 30 T6 tube to up the wpg. i have 3 x 2l DIY co2 bottles running at the mo so enough co2 there. what happens if i run an external filter becuase then i wont have a filter to not plant around, if that makes sense! how did you then remove the bubble wrap? could you not have poured the water straight on top of the bubble wrap as it was a thick layer? too me, using another tub is that extra bit of effort!, i still need to find some coarse sand!!!!

 

[paulypaul182]

i dose ferts, (TPN), i have the standard juwel T8 30w light tube in the tank and i added a 30 T6 tube to up the wpg. i have 3 x 2l DIY co2 bottles running at the mo so enough co2 there. what happens if i run an external filter becuase then i wont have a filter to not plant around, if that makes sense! how did you then remove the bubble wrap? could you not have poured the water straight on top of the bubble wrap as it was a thick layer? too me, using another tub is that extra bit of effort!, i still need to find some coarse sand!!!!

I did pour direct onto the bubble wrap, basically you'll create a puddle on top of the bubble wrap which doesnt disturb the substrate. The bubble wrap will rise with the water level. I have got an external filter but in that case, Id distribute the plant substrate in the likely areas that id put the plants (basically, you wouldnt plant plants directly at the front of the tank). As for CO2, it wont hurt, in fact it will help loads but with the plants I have its not needed. If you have CO2 and a good plant substrate along with good lighting then I see no problem in housing more exotic and interesting plants. As for Java, Moss, Vallis and Wisteria; I dont think you really need CO2 although some would put their moeny on it

 

[McG]

Alright Nick,

Just curious- how do you monitoring the CO2 levels in the tank? I've got a trigon 190 that I'd hooked up to two 1 1/2 litre DIY CO2 (mixture 1 cup sugar, 3 tepid water, 1 teaspoon of activated (Bread) yeast and about a 1/4 of baking soda) when I hooked both of them up and diffused through the juwell internal the drop checker went yellow by the next morning, so took one off and waiting for the colour to go more blue before I'll add the second.

Maybe me that's doing something wrong (I'm not entirely sure about the solution I have) but seems like a shed load of co2 you got there for 120 litres

 

[Nick16]

well i have lots of plants that absorb lots of it, i have now cut it down to 2 bottles. when i was running 3 bottles it was mainly for stability, so if i removed one bottle and refilled it the co2 levels wouldnt plumit. its all about finding the balance. i also have about 2wpg on my tank so lighting is reasonable. i am going to do the FE next time i thing. i cant decide on a 2kg or a 5kg.