Substrates

[Schmill]

I am thinking of changing the substrate in my main tank as I don't feel that the fairly large gravel I have in there at the moment is particularly great for my corys.
So what do I want?

Well something that will be good for my corys, small plecos, and Cherry Shrimp.
Something that will be good for the plants.
Something dark (ideally black).
Something not TOO pricey as I need to cover a surface 4' x 18", and as deep as it needs to be.

I was thinking of going with the black roman gravel, but wasn't sure if I would NEED to put something under it, or if clayballs pushed into root areas & EI water dosing would be ok as I will likely just have a few amazon swords in the gravel, and ambulia, cobomba, and most other things tend to be on grids, or ornaments, or bogwood.

I was considering Tropica Plant Substrate (5L) if I need anything, but I'm not sure for a few reasons;

a) Do I need it? Is it of great benefit when dosing with EI anyway?
b) Presumably although I could put the Roman Gravel into a tank with water in it, the Tropica substrate would need all water removing first?
c) Is it going to eventually start to mix with the roman gravel? I don't want to go for the darkest blackest gravel I can find, only to have it mottled with brown
Tropica after a few months.

Interested to hear any thoughts on it anyone has

Many many thanks

 

[Nick16]

right, you dont NEED to have a plant nutritios substrate at all. However most plants like a nutritious base in order for them to thrive. i dont personally like tropica substrate as it tens to go to a pulp quickly.

i would advise emptying the tank out giving it a good clean and then putting the substrate down with black gravel on top.
As most people know the ADA products are the best but you pay for it of course.

i personally like the JBL aquabasis plus. it is great for the plants, is very comapct, cheap and has a decent texture. it is like sand tbh. its a very dark brown so i use it in all my black gravl tanks. It is avalible from AE.

 

[Truck]

only problem with ADA is it leaches ammonia and other nasties into the water for a period of 3 weeks, which will cause a spike in an already stocked tank.

but ADA is good stuff, im using it in my DP nano

 

[Nick16]

yeah, i forgot to mention, its not just ADA that leaches ammonia there are a few others, but stick to the cheaper ones and you should be fine. if you can, leave the fish out of the tank after you re do it for a few days, perhaps if you can, a week. and do water changes every day.

 

[Schmill]

Thanks for that, think I'll avoid the Tropica base then.

The JBL Aquabasis sounds reasonable then. Any idea how much of it I would need? The AE website gives no idea of required depth, or coverage you can expect from 1 bag. Quite unhelpfully it says that 5L bag will do 100 litres; what does that mean? Theres many shapes and sizes of tanks that could hold 100 litres, so I don't really see how that says how much ground coverage you will get from one bag
My tank is 300L, but it's a tall tank, and the base is 4' x 18"

Thanks

EDIT Also how good is the Aquabasis at NOT mixing in with the gravel when you put new plants in, take old ones out etc? I really want to try and avoid the whole substrate mixing issue.

 

[Nick16]

it depends how deep you want the layer really. 2 bags would cover the tank floor. i think you will need about 8 litres of the stuff, so if you get 10L you can just make it a tiny bit deeper at the back.

well it depends how careful you are when you move things in the tank, i have never had any issues.

 

[Truck]

when planting the plants use tweezers and just push them in, if you dont want the plants anymore or you want to move it, pull it up a little snip the roots and remove

 

[Schmill]

Cheers guys, will probably get it from HERE as it seems considerably cheaper than AE

 

[Nick16]

ok, i would still get it from AE. delivery is better.

 

[Truck]

ok, i would still get it from AE. delivery is better.

second that!

 

[Nick16]

zooplus isnt a bad delivery but it comes from germany so obviously it takes longer than AE who are british based. AE has amazing delivery times. richard is incredible in that department!

 

[Schmill]

Ah yes, delivery times are seriously fast from AE, thats where I got my fert powders, but the 5L bag is cheaper from Zooplus than the 2.5L bag is from AE, and the delivery from zooplus is cheaper, (so AE have already priced themselves out of this one ) AND I'm not likely to get a chance to do anything with it until next weekend anyway, so delivery speed isn't an issue this time around

 

[aaronnorth]

Ah yes, delivery times are seriously fast from AE, thats where I got my fert powders, but the 5L bag is cheaper from Zooplus than the 2.5L bag is from AE, and the delivery from zooplus is cheaper, (so AE have already priced themselves out of this one ) AND I'm not likely to get a chance to do anything with it until next weekend anyway, so delivery speed isn't an issue this time around

nice find schmill I always forget about zooplus!

 

[Nick16]

i do use them alot, but for big things, all the instructions are in German, and i never listened in german lessons at school!
AE are better for the more technical stuff.