whats better

[shrimpster97]

whats better?

 

[kenneth_kpe]

a friend of mine told me that over experience the best that he has used so far is soil... its just hard to maintain but its really good.. well i think maybe depends on the plants

 

[Nisha]

I use flourite which is working well for my plants. It's a bit messy to set up but if you layer it with some pea gravel it settles quite nicely.
I suppose it would be classified as iron-rich gravel.

 

[maestro]

Eco complete from all accounts id the best, Flourite is basically as good but very messy

 

[guppygirl]

I don't think flourite is very messy... you just have to rinse it well. I think sand would be best, I'm going to use onyx sand for my 20 gallon.

 

[jordan barnhart]

eco-complete all the way

 

[shrimpster97]

eco-complete all the way

what is this eco-complete??

is there a website or anything?

 

[jordan barnhart]

Eco-Complete is what I have for my 75 gallon planted.

Mineralogically Complete!

•Contains Iron, Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium, Sulfur plus over 25 other elements to nourish your aquatic plants. Eco-CompleteTM Planted Aquarium Substrate contains all the mineral nutrients needed for luxuriant aquatic plant growth without nuisance algae!

•Iron rich Eco-CompleteTM eliminates the need for laterite

•Nitrate and carbonate free – will not increase pH or carbonate hardness

•It’s real! No artificial dyes, paints, or chemical coatings

•Natural black substrate encourages the most vibrant coloration in fishes and reduces fish stress

•Spherical grains for optimum diffusion performance

•Supplies Calcium without raising pH

•Lead free
Biologically Complete

•Contains live Heterotrophic bacteria to rapidly convert fish waste into natural food for your aquatic plants

•Creates a natural biological balance which makes cycling a new aquarium faster and safer

•Packed in Liquid AmazonTM buffered “Black Water” solution for immediate organic water conditioning

•Unsurpassed MacroPorosity for healthy roots and bacterial efficiency. You would have to buy 4 bags of ordinary gravel to equal the surface area of this one bag of Eco-CompleteTM Planted Aquarium Substrate!

 

[a.i.m]

Heres another spanner for the works: ive been usins laterite and coarse brown silica sand as base and pea gravel about as top layer, or another alternative ive also been using is JBL aquabasis plus as base with a choice of either sand or gravel top layer. As for the answer to the question, i would defo qo for a substrait that provides and has the correct nutrients and elements avalible to promote the plants maximum growing conditions. p.s ive also used plain sand but would never go back after trying purpose made substraits with better results.

 

[shrimpster97]

Thanks All!!!

i wanted sand but i guess not, does the eco-complete come in only black? i wanted a natural color look.

 

[konrad05]

unless you layer sand with an iron rich gravel, it's useless for plants.

 

[a.i.m]

using JBL plus as a base and brown silica sand on top gives you the effect of a more natural look with a scattering of pebbles / small stones in varied areas. sounds a bit what talking about. B)