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I’m thinking about redoing my 55 gal tank. I only have a few fish so I’m going to temporarily put them into a 10 gallon tank that I have. I want to plant my tank with a lot more plants then I’ve had recently. I was going to use Freshwater Plant Substrate so I can grow them easier. Any thoughts on this? Anyone ever used it before? Also do I need to add a rock gravel substrate on top of this?


Thanks in advance,
Justin

55gal Tank:130 watt coral lights,Eheim Wet/Dry 2227 Canister Filter,Powerhead, Co2 Injection and a heater.

Hi,
The stuff is terrific, and there is no need to cap it with
a layer of gravel. It is designed to be the same as
aquarium gravel.
I have 100% Sea-chem Fluorite in my tank. I purchased
enough so that the substrate is 4 inches thick throughout
the tank. Its been in the tank for 13 years now and the
results on the plants is amazing. I have 2.5 wpg of
8800K light, 10 hours a day, and a bottled CO2 system.

Each week, during my water change, I have to trim back the
plants, and wind up throwing a handful or two.

Do read the information on the bag. It is best to wash
the gravel once. It is fractionated clay. That is, they
mine it, then wet it into the consistency of potters clay
that is ready to "throw" on a potters wheel and mold.
When it reaches this consistency, they spread it out on a
flat surface and fire it. Then the sheets are ground into
aquarium size gravel. It is ancient, iron rich clay, and
each time you wash it, it grinds clay particles loose and
they will cloud your water, sometimes so much so that the
water becomes opaque. It will take weeks, even months, to
get rid of the clay particles and the water to become crystal clear.
THE ONLY way to eliminate the problem is to
also purchase a diatom filter. I have one of the VORTEX
brand filters. In the span of 13 years, I have overhauled
the tank three times, and each time I've used the filter
on an opaque tank, and within an hour the tank has turned
crystal clear to the point where the fish seem to be
swimming in liquid crystal.

Once you have done your initial rinse, just "give up" and
pour it in the tank. Set all the substrate in the tank
at once and pour the water into the tank breaking the
water force with a dinner plate. Fill about 1/3 full,
plant your plants, and then top off the tank.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Wonderful stuff as Frank said but it also has a high "pain" factor as Frank also said due to the clay dust that can and will become suspended in the water as you fill your aquarium. Did I mention that the dust will also coat the inside glass walls, plants and hardscape?

Despite the drawbacks, you can keep the problems to a minimum by:

1. Rinsing it thoroughly several times prior to placing it into your aquarium. Note that it will always show "dirt" washing away. Don't worry about it, you just want to get rid of the extremely fine dust.

2. Place the wet product into your aquarium, then add your hardscape (rocks and wood) and plant the aquarium without adding water.

3. Place a plate in the aquarium on the substrate and begin to fill the aquarium very slowly by directing the water onto the plate so that the water trickles over the edge and into the substrate. Any faster and you will have a whirling cloud of dust to use that diatom filter on.

However, you could also buy EcoComplete. A black product with almost the same benefits as Fluorite but you don't have to rinse it so it won't cloud your aquarium and it has bacteria added to speed the cycle. I have used it and it works great. Did I mention, no rinsing, no dust, no diatom filter?




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

I found another one here, do you think it will work? It seems a lot cheaper. Also do you do gravel vacs or just water changes?

55gal Tank:130 watt coral lights,Eheim Wet/Dry 2227 Canister Filter,Powerhead, Co2 Injection and a heater.

Hi justin84,

That was a very interesting link, thanks for that. I have been purchasing plants and some hardware (regulators for CO2) from this company quite a few times and it always was a pretty good experience. But it has been a while since I needed plants or hardware so I have not checked the site in some time.

A new substrate for $40 vs. the Eco Complete for over $140 for a similar sized aquarium sounds almost too good to be true. I for sure will not be the first one to try it out, except if I would be willing to "play" with the tank in which I would add the substrate, risking a failure.

Imagine the business decisions behind this product:
"We have a substrate with similar qualities than Eco-Complete, how should we price it? Well, why not make it dirt cheap?"
Granted, this may make sense when viewed as "getting a foothold" in the market, but under any other cosideration would be a bad call on their end.

Of course, I can be well off with all my speculations here, so maybe after a few people (with experience in other substrates) have tried it out with success I might go and get it myself.

Thanks Justin,

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

justin84,

I have found that if you take a very fine meshed fish net and place the Flourite in that. Then run water over it, is a great way to rinse the stuff. I had almost no clouding after doing it this way.

Best of luck!


55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Wings, you have no life! How many pounds did you do?

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

Flourite is great as it does npt break sown as almost all other substrates do requiring supplementation with fertilizer tablets or something similar. IMHO, the initial rinsing pays more than off and the substrate is easy to clean as you can remove any debris easily with a gravel vac without disturbing the substrate and damaging the plant roots which can not be performed with most other substrates. ( I know that you should not vac the planted aquarium but if yo ukeep bigger fish ...)

Wings, you have no life! How many pounds did you do?

Only one bag, so what would be 20Lbs. It was for one of the 15G tanks at work.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Thank God! I could see you doing 100 pounds for a large tank!

You just got married, you have better things to do!



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

If I ever get to do a big tank.. I am going to go with eco. Dump it in an go..

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric