Which designer substrate to try?

[krisw]

Yeah, pretty much what Aaron said. Aquasoil has been the easiest substrate for me to date. Not to say that you can't get algae or stunted growth with aquasoil, I have, but something in there seems to give you a little bit more room for error than the others.

I only have one eco-complete tank, and while I absolutely love the look of this stuff, it doesn't seem to be much more than glorified sand.

Flourite works, but as Aaron stated, the granule size is often too large to grow some finer stemmed plants, particularly foreground plants like hairgrass. (It's possible, but it often takes longer for them to establish.) Soilmaster seems to be a better flourite, but again, doesn't really provide much right out of the bag. Infact, of all of them, Soilmaster takes about a week to fully saturate underwater. This means, that you'll see air pockets in your substrate for the first week or two after you set it up. This can be problematic when planting small stems because they'll get unrooted when an air bubble is released. Additionally, medium to large fish can really upset the Soilmaster if they're startled, as it's not very dense. That said, if you establish ground cover, it is a good substrate, and pricewise, can't be beat.

And of course, soil is the other choice. I haven't used this personally, but Sean and Aaron are proof that a longterm base can be established that will make things easier on the long term. Short-term, it's not great, as you may experience a few months of algae blooms and cloudiness before everything settles.

[B Considine]

So, these designer substrates are essentially gravel with the laterite (clay) as an integrated component, and with some other (temporary) nutrients mixed in?

Then, what's the point? Why not stay old school with regular gravel? Soil, of course, would be either the oldest of schools or retro old school.

I think, for these two small tanks, I'll just use up various random gravels I have at home and stop by SCALES for laterite.

Still looking forward to the Aquasoil. If everyone likes it, can GWAPA place some sort of bulk order with an ADA distributor? Or has that train already left the station?

[Aaron]

The bulk ADA order train left the station about 2 months ago. That's where the soil for the contest is coming from.

We may do it again , but probably not in the immediate future. Either way you'll still have a chance to try the Aquasoil and see if it makes a difference for you.

[krisw]

The difference between the designer substrates and plain gravel is that the substrate have a high CEC, which means that they will pull nutrients from the water column, and store them in the substrate for the roots to use. Plain gravel is inert, and does no such thing, so you need to use laterite to do some of this. The the difference between some laterite verses an entire substrate that can store nutrients is enough that I wouldn't use gravel.

[B Considine]

CEC?

[krisw]

Cation Exchange Capacity.

A few links:
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_substrate.htm

http://home.infinet.net/teban/jamie.htm

[B Considine]

I use RO/DI water. There's probably nothing to exchange!

[Aaron]

Are you adding nitrate, phosphate, potassium and trace minerals? Those are what get locked up in the substrate and made available to the plants.

Also, you should reconstitute the RO water with a little GH hardness (to about 60 ppm or 3 degrees). The plants need the calcium and magnesium as well.

[B Considine]

Are you adding nitrate, phosphate, potassium and trace minerals? Those are what get locked up in the substrate and made available to the plants.

Also, you should reconstitute the RO water with a little GH hardness (to about 60 ppm or 3 degrees). The plants need the calcium and magnesium as well.

NPK are currently not part of my fertilizing scheme. And I just add the water straight from the carboy. Plants seem healthy enough. Andrew at SCALES advised me not to start with the NPK unless things started to look amiss. Same with CO2.

I dose Excel daily, and Flourish (that would be the trace minerals, correct?) with every water change. Liberal use of flourish tabs around my crypts.

I believe the water I get from the labs here is pH 6.8. I've asked the metrologist to provide me with the hardness.

[krisw]

Everything is a system. At lower light levels, and with less plant mass in the tank, you probably can get by with root feeding plants using mulm as their source, and the other plants using fish food and waste breakdown for their nutrients. As you ratchet the number of plants you keep up, you will need to add supplemental nutrients. Additionally, if you introduce brighter lights, or CO2, your plants will photosynthesize faster, thus requirement nutrient supplementation. Flourish actually does contain both macro and micro nutrients, so you are adding small quantities that I'm sure are much appreciated by your plants.

Andrew's advice is the appropriate advice for novice plant keepers, using very limited set of plants. Many of the plants you read about online, or see in our tanks and auctions require high light, CO2, and dosing.

There's not a right or wrong way of keeping a tank, if you're happy with the results. Perhaps, the first question we should have established, is what type of tank and plants you're hoping to setup?