Eco-Complete vs. Seachem?

[ricoishere]

I would like to know about anyone else’s experience with Eco-Complete vs. Seachem. I’ve kept up to 6 tanks, 5 with Seachem, 1 with a combination of Eco-Complete/Seachem mix. All other tanks grow like crazy. I have always struggled with the Eco-Complete/Seachem mix tank. I had forgotten about this difference, until yesterday. I’ve come to the determination that this must be the problem. Now I’m seriously considering changing the substrate on this tank, no small feat, even though it’s only a 47G. The question is: Anyone else having this problem? Other that removing all the fish/water then scooping and wet-vacuuming the substrate, any other quick ways to do this. I’ve done it twice, and it’s not fun!

[krisw]

Do you dose your aquariums with fertilizers? Technically, both of these substrates, if running high-tech setups will need additional fertilization. I seen great results with both. In lower tech setups, I'm not sure if one is really better than the other. I'm curious why you mixed substrates, instead of going 100% Eco-complete?

[ricoishere]

I do dose, and even before I did, i had excellent results in all my aquariums, while using DIY CO2 and plain Seachem red. Now in this particular tank, even though I have compressed CO2, the growth is lagging behind my DIY tanks, which is puzzling. The reason I mixed was because I was concerned about using Seachem black sand as a sole substrate, and after a while it becoming compressed, and inhibiting root growth.

[ricoishere]

This leads to my next plan for this tank: Should I change all of the substrate or add another 1" of Seachem black sand? I have polka dot loaches in here, and wnat to keep a substrate that wont irritate them. Anyone have any Seacehm Black Sand they want to sell/trade?

[krisw]

Hmm... I haven't used the Seachem Black sand myself, but it seems to look similar in texture to Eco-Complete, it is not? If this is the tank you have compressed CO2 on, is it possible that you're not dosing enough, and the plants are starving? What are you dosing? (fert, amount, and frequency?)

Do you have algae problems in this tank?

[ricoishere]

I thought so myself. Then once i read on it, and checked it out, it's very similar, with one notable difference: It intentionally has larger grain, or pebbles, in order to prevent compacting. This seemed sensible to me, but the dynamics are that the smaller grain wil sink anyway. One of the attendants recommended ad scales recommended it as well. I do have compressed CO2, and my plants might be starving like you said. I have algae, and have had for anbout 3 weeks now. I keep my PH at 6.7. I can tell you my dosing and GH when I access that data later as well.

[ricoishere]

Wel, these are my parameters, etc. Date these were taken were 6 Jun. Right now I'm slowly adjusting to maintain PH to 6.7, and maintain doisng. I'm looking forward to plenty good advice on how to proceed.

PH 7
AMMONOIA (NH3/NH4) 0ppm
NITRITE (NO2) 0ppm
NITRATE (NO3) 0ppm
GH (CaCo3) 120ppm
KH 50ppm/2.8
CO2 PPM 13.313ppm

[krisw]

Rico, your Nitrate levels are definitely low. Your plants need nitrate to grow, as do they need P and K. You likely want to add nitrate and phosphate in a ratio of 10:1 to get the levels about 10ppm nitrate, and 1ppm phosphate. You can also increase your CO2 levels (provided the fish tolerate it).

Jeff wrote up an excellent primer to dosing, which you may want to check out on our site:
http://gwapa.org/wordpress/articles/fer ... -aquarium/

What type of lights do you have on this tank?

[ricoishere]

Kris,
I have Catalina, 30" 24x4, 6700K/10000K. I just ordered Greg Watsons guide to Dosing. It'll amke good reading tonight. Over the next 7 days, I will be more diligent in my dosing, while lowering the PH real slow to 6.5. If the fish seem too stressed, I might add a bubble wand to run intermitently throughout the evenings. The New Guineas and Bozemani's would enjoy that as well. I wil also read the link you provided above. Thanks. I guess I should post a few pics, huh?