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At what point do you have too much substrate. I have mostly heavily rooted plants like swords, crypts, and crinums but what depth is too much eco complete?

I would think 3-5ins would be sufficient yet it could be a lot more but this would involve in less space for the fish and the plants. Also it could/would mean a deep substrate cleaning more often.


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It looks like a heck of alot of substrate but when I shoved a ruler down into it the highest spot only came to 4" so I guess that's ok.

Question 2: how do you get substrate flat, smooth, and even? I never did accomplish that with the 90g and the other tanks aren't sloped so I just ran my hand over it and then let it settle.

Hi,
Doesn't that stuff "behave" like regular gravel?
When I start a tank, I dump the substrate in, and then
add a few inches of water. Then I shove the gravel
to the rear of the tank and smooth things out, then plant
and then fill the rest of the way. I've never seen a tank,
first hand, with the EcoComplete in it, only pictures.
I knew from reading that the stuff comes "wet" but never
thought that it behaved any differently than regular
gravel.

Normally, a planted tank has substrate ranging from 3-4
inches deep. You could slope it from back down to front
and have only an inch or so in the front and the large
rooted plants in the back, deeper, substrate. That would
leave the front for the shorter less involved root systems
of carpet plants.

Frank


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I don't think it's completely like regular gravel. A bit closer to sand actually but a mix of some larger particles. I have 1 tank of all sand, 1 tank of gravel, and 3 tanks of EC setup right now so I can compare them pretty well. EC is cleaned and handled much like sand but doesn't compact like sand and the plants have a much more extensive root system than in either the sand or gravel tanks. Since it rained for 2days straight plus snow melt our apartment got flooded and I had to tear down the 90g so they could replace the carpet. The tank has been setup for less than 6months without co2. The crinums and 1 of the crypts had developed such a root system that I had to have my boyfriends help to dig and pull them out of the tank. Even the little marsilea I was using for ground cover was a bit difficult to pulll out. If I continue to plant marsilea it's going to need probably 2" or so of substrate at the front of the tank.

My only compaint is I just can't get the EC to even out. It also doesn't like to stay sloped and tends to run to the front until it's all sitting flat. I got it to slope by using twice as much of it but now it has lots of valleys and hills going across the back line and front glass of the tank.

Just guessing if it is of a fine particle substrate it will develop unevenness by the water movement. Where the roots of the plants are I think that area would be holding together where as an open are would be exposed to more water movement.

When I finish the water change and substrate cleaning the levels are all over the place small hills about 1-2ins high yet within 24 hrs it has all leveled out again.

I hope this is the type of answer you were requiring.


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Keith

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Just guessing if it is of a fine particle substrate it will develop unevenness by the water movement.

A picture speaks a thousand words. This is newly added eco complete:http://photobucket.com/albums/v244/aqh88/fish/55g/ Hard to film depth but in the pic of the right corner you can see how uneven it is. I wasn't planning to set the tank up yet but when the 90g had to be taken down an emergency location was needed for the fish and I also moved some of the old substrate so I got all the trumpet snails(which have been out in mass since I haven't fed anything for 3days).

The particles go from as small as the argonite sand in my reef tank(1mm?) up to larger than most gravel. I think newer bags of EC are now screened to have slightly smaller maximum size but I've had some of this stuff since I set my first tank up. The size difference is one reason I like it. It settles out to have a very interesting layering pattern going from really fine up to what can look like small pebbles giving the roots and fish all sizes to dig through. The dojo loaches especially like shifting the top layer and burying themselves into the lower sand like layers. Does get annoying though when they pop up next to the anubias and shower it with the smaller substrate bits. Maybe all the settling and layering it does when first added to a tank is what makes it hard to keep sloped.

Attached is a picture of my 125 as I was aquascaping it with Eco. Since the substrate came wet, I did not add any water. I used a plastic straight edge for wallpaper to shape the substrate from 5 inches in the back to 3 inches in the front. I tried to vary the contour.

After shaping the substrate. I added hardscape, two large pieces of driftwood. I then followed by planting the aquarium... all before adding water.



After a year and a half the substrate has "slumped" or evened out over the aquarium due to fluid motion and gravity. Smaller, sand-like pieces have gravitated toward the bottom exposing larger pieces. I have been very happy with the results.

Attached Image:


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Aquarium after filling...



Attached Image:


__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright