Ideas for 75g substrate

[zima]

Hi all,

Decided to post this in plants, but might be more appropriate for FW general discussions. I am setting up a new 75g, which is going to be a heavily planted setup. Aiming at aroud 3w/g of light, pressured CO2, and dry ferts. You get the drift..

Now the question is in substrate. I was thinking of doing an all Eco-complete substrate, which is a fair bit of investment, given the size of the tank. Aesthetics are important since it is going to be a show tank in a living room, which is fine when it comes to eco-complete. Any other ideas? Should I be concerned with doing layers (say half eco-complete and half flourite)?

[BigDaddy]

I've got Flourite in all my tanks which I like the look of.  Eco is nice because it has a smaller grain size than Flourite but I'm not crazy about the solid black (have had black substrates in the past and found they just showed off any debris/detritus in the tank).

[sdivell]

I also have flourite (red) in my tank.  I like the way the colour is variable through the substrate as some stones are red some are black, some are brown, etc. I think it makes my tank look a little more natural.

That being said I am tempted to set up another smaller planted tank using Eco and a black background to make the contrast, and make the plants really pop.

[fischkopp]

Eco complete is NOT solid black, it is more grayish and you will notice all kind of color variation from beige over brown to red ... I was a bit disappointed as I used it the first time and expected solid black. Other than that it makes a good substrate. One thing to mention is that it seem lighter than Flourite, which makes planting easier but also requires you to be more careful during aquascaping as it is very easy to pull plants out accidentally.

Personally, I prefer Eco over Flourite red & brown, layering those two together wouldn't improve much, both are great substrates. I will probably give Flourite Black Sand a try as it seems more black than Eco. The debris really shows off on black, but hey, a tank focussed on plants shouldn't have much debris

[zima]

Thanks all for the input. I was indeed looking at the black flourite sand as an option!

Another question: why do layering? Any advantages, besides the obvious of saving money?

[beowulf]

I prefer to go with an inch of black earth and then 1,5 to 2 inches of fluorite. 

[Jeff1192]

My 90 gallon in my living room is black flourite with a black background and I find it really makes the greens of the plants stand out.

Jeff

[dan2x38]

My 75 has 5 bags black Eco-complete with black background. The plants really stand out. Like fischkopp says it is not 100% black sort of a grey/black. I do not find it shows anything bad off like detris... Other main planted tank is 50% red fluorite & riverbed pea gravel. I do find the 100% eco-complete easier to start plants in though by a little. They both look nice hard to decide which I like better... 

As a suggestion don't start EI dosing right off the bat. Wait until you get the plants established for a few months. With the nutrients already in the substrate & your CO2 it will be fine. To much to soon will be an algae bloom potentially. The plants will have some transplant shock so their uptake will be slow at first.

[zima]

So why do we create different layers instead of using one kind of substrate? What is the advantage of doing it?

[fischkopp]

You will be just fine using one substrate only if you go for Eco or Flourite. The main reason to layer these with other substrates would be lower cost or just looks. There is no other need for laying these substrates from a planted tank perspective (unless you are going into it ... see below).

If you decide for earth then you will have to add a layer of gravel on top to keep it on the bottom of the tank. I use black earth covered with silica in some of my tanks and can say that these setups work very well too.

You can google for some fancy amano setups that use plenty of different layers of all kind of stuff that is supposed to enhance plant growth by providing all kind of nutrients - but most of the stuff other than laterite is hard to get here. This is sort of fine tuning a planted tank to provide the most optimal conditions. There is a lot of room for own experiments ...

[zima]

Great, thanks for the input all! Will post some pictures once the setup is running!

[dan2x38]

Remember though sand is hard to plant in the roots have a harder time to spread as it compacts. Plus it allows for less aeration of the roots. I have considered the soil substrate - The Walstad Method. Be interested to see where you go with this.

[beowulf]

Remember though sand is hard to plant in the roots have a harder time to spread as it compacts. Plus it allows for less aeration of the roots. I have considered the soil substrate - The Walstad Method. Be interested to see where you go with this.

I believe that is why he wrote that he uses black earth first and the sand on top so the roots can grow in the earth and not the sand.

[zima]

Well, it looks lik eI am going to go with the good old Eco-complete. I just don't feel I am advanced enough for experiments. Maybe the next project!

Having said that, I am probably going to put in an order from MOPS.ca for a few items. How many bags of Eco do you guys think I should order to have a nice 2.5-3" bed of Eco in a 75g (footprint 48"x18")? 4? 5?

[dan2x38]

I used 5 bags... depending when you order from MOPS.ca I might in for some stuff. If your doing a group order that is?

[fischkopp]

How many bags of Eco do you guys think I should order to have a nice 2.5-3" bed of Eco in a 75g (footprint 48"x18")? 4? 5?

6-8, more is never a bad thing f the budget allows 

You should also try pets and ponds, I think to remember they where better priced after shipping.