# The ideal substrate arrangement?



## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

So, I've heard people throwing around things like play sand, river sand, peat moss, etc. I'm familiar with the fish store products - fluorite, laterite, Eco-Complete, etc., but what do you guys think is the best substrate arrangement for plants? What layers, what depth, etc.?*banana dance


----------



## James0816 (Jun 19, 2009)

To be honest....any.

Under the right conditions, you can have a very beautiful tank with any substrate. I have varying ones myself.

However, to answer you question fully, out of the substrates I use, I find SMS to be the best at growing plants.


----------



## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

Total noob question - what is SMS?


----------



## James0816 (Jun 19, 2009)

Terribly sry...SMS is Soil Master Select. It has since been replaced with a product called Turface.


----------



## mfgann (Oct 21, 2010)

I've got 3 tanks. One is plain old aquarium gravel and two are beaslbob's peat+sand+gravel. All are growing plants. The beaslbob tanks are growing very well, and filling in nicely. The 30G with plain gravel is a little slower growing, but has had inadequate lighting for a while. Also, I should add that in the 30G I did add root tablets for a fertilizer. I have also seen Diana Walstad style Natural Planted Tanks, which use dirt (yes.. plain dirt or cheap topsoil) and something on top to keep the dirt from making water yucky (sand or gravel). Hey, its what they grow in out in the wild, right?

I think your substrate is good for long term stability of the plant.. there for trapping and holding nutrients and giving your roots a place to hold on. Aquarium gravel makes it hard for some plants to root, and really has no inherent value for them, which is why people use other things.

I'd suggest you use SOME substrate, of whatever you think would work best for you, and cap it with some sand or gravel and get some good lighting. Getting enough Watts/gallon is just as important. (2-2.5 W/gal for something you don't want to run CO2 and heavy fertilization on, 3-5 for CO2 setup and heavy ferts).


----------



## mk4gti (Jun 15, 2010)

I use eco complete in all my tanks and have really good results, its kida expensive but if you get it on petco.com when its instock make your order over 50$ for free shipping the price is not so bad.


----------



## James0816 (Jun 19, 2009)

mk4gti said:


> I use eco complete in all my tanks and have really good results, its kida expensive but if you get it on petco.com when its instock make your order over 50$ for free shipping the price is not so bad.


$30 free shipping now. I ordered a couple bags earlier this morning. ;o)


----------



## mk4gti (Jun 15, 2010)

Yeah holiday coupon, its funny becuase sites like bigals they dont do free shipping on over weight items but petco does. The only issue is they dont always have it in stock. There are 4 aquarium stores by my house, the prices for a bag of eco complete range from 25-38$ a bag so i never buy it from there. I beleive its like 13.99 a bag on petco.


----------



## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

I have found the peat moss prevents kh and gh from rising. Which helps some fish like neon tetra survive.


Therefore I recommend that.

But basically the peat moss/sand/pc select is a very inexpensive alternative to the aquarium specific substrates.

I also used SMS on one tank and it did work but had more clouding issues. the test tank also had extremely high lighting which could have caused clouding also. PC select is a new(er) alternative to SMS.


----------



## Amie (Sep 15, 2010)

Beaslbob recipe all the way baby!!!


----------



## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

Amie said:


> Beaslbob recipe all the way baby!!!


gee I guess it works for you too. *old dude


----------



## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

Thanks for all the thoughts guys


----------



## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

If you don't like messing about and getting your hands dirty get one of the expensive shop bought ones. If you want to save money do DIY like beaslbob or try mineralised top soil. It really depends on what you want.


----------



## Amie (Sep 15, 2010)

beaslbob said:


> gee I guess it works for you too. *old dude


LOL Are you kidding?!?!? I planted a second tank yesterday!!! Gonna make a thread about it hopefully sometime today. Went smoother then the first build and this one is not going to get any filtration!!!


----------



## NursePlaty (Feb 5, 2010)

James0816 said:


> $30 free shipping now. I ordered a couple bags earlier this morning. ;o)


*only $25 if you registered for petco. *

*Anyhow, I use Red Mexican Clay pieces at the bottom for iron, then peat, then Eco-Complete. My eco is about 80% of the substrate. Plants are doing very good.

The 20g tank, I used 100% eco. Very good results also. *


----------



## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

Amie said:


> LOL Are you kidding?!?!? I planted a second tank yesterday!!! Gonna make a thread about it hopefully sometime today. Went smoother then the first build and this one is not going to get any filtration!!!


WOW

You're really going out on a limb!!!!!

No filter

Who would have thunk?

It does go faster for the second build.

will wait for other thread.

my .02


----------



## James0816 (Jun 19, 2009)

I was/am registered. ;o)


----------



## george27uk (Dec 14, 2010)

if you was to use unprepared substrates, what would need to be done to make them safe, would cycling for 2 weeks work or would u need to treat it in anyway. im refering to sand substrates.
cheers


----------



## James0816 (Jun 19, 2009)

Nothing special for your "normal" substrates. It's the tank itself that has to cycle.

With MTS though, it has it's own cycle that it has to go through when you are making it. But this is an exception and a completely different process.


----------



## Amie (Sep 15, 2010)

beaslbob said:


> WOW
> 
> You're really going out on a limb!!!!!
> 
> ...


LOL!! Can't wait to start adding fish!! I did put in a DIY CO2 system simply because the plants all came from Singapore via ebay and had the leaves removed for shipping and stuff like that. Some of them smelly pretty foul and I'm not sure if they are going to make it or not so I figured since they are already 'sick' then I'd try to give them a big advantage of the CO2 to help get them going.


----------

