Schultz Aquatic Soil!

[m3th0d]

I'm sorry but that's what I think about Schultz. Maybe I don't know what I'm doing or what but it's making me want to quit planted tanks and I've only been in this for about two months! Everything stays down alright except the E. Stella. The E. Stella has more buoyancy and uproots and floats to the surface every now and then. The first day of planting it was hell! I had to go buy some weights to hold my plants down and for the E. Stella I would have to put 2-3 weights on each stem to keep them down and even then it would pop out a little bit. Man, I regret not forking out the extra $15 for the Eco-Complete!

[Robert H]

That is your reason for hating it? All you have to do is mix a little gravel with it. It is very light weight, and until plants become well rooted, they may have a hard time from getting uprooted easily. Adding some gravel to it solves the problem. Also as it ages and becomes laiden with mulm, it becomes heavier.

I have been using it for years in 90% of my tanks. It is a great, cheap substrate.

[Rolo]

I had some shultz before, and hated it. Well not really for it being light. You just need to use a good 3" so the plants don't uproot. Anything less and I had the same problem.

But I really hated it because of what it did to the water parameters. Have you been dosing phosphate, or checked your levels yet? Prepare yourself for battle. It constantly increased mine and whatever I did never brought it down. There was also an unexplained KH increase from my original 18, to 30+! I just stopped testing after 30 drops.

[aquatic-store.com]

That is the main complaint with this product. It does work well though!!

[Rolo]

Originally Posted by aquatic-store.com

That is the main complaint with this product. It does work well though!!

The phophate leaking or the lightness? While I can't say my plants didn't grow, I still got rid of it cause the water parameters were out of my control.

[Robert H]

Well the reason your plants pop up Rolo is because it is light weight! Why else do you think it has a problem holding plants down? Just add some gravel.
Raising your phosphate level? Thats impossible. It is made of Fullers earth, which is a type of clay. It doesn't contain any phosphate.

Shultz clay conditioner is the same as Schultz Aquatic Plant soil, but a lot cheaper. $15 for a 40 pound bag.

Here is the contents of Schultz

100% natural clay gravel, providing iron, calcium, and manganese, (no additives, all from natural minerals) Over 70% pore space for the storing and exchange of nutrients.

I grow the majority of my plants in it and have been since 1999. Never had any measurable phosphate, in fact I add phosphate for the plants

[Rolo]

BTW robert, I'm not the one having the problem with profile. I'm using flourite now. This is Methods thread. It just seems you thought I started this thread. lol.

Never say impossible. I know without a doubt profile was the problem in increasing my phosphates, and KH too! Yeah it doesn't contain phosphate in itself, but if you do some research, fuller earth is a type of ceramic, VERY similar to phosphate removing filter media.

I have a thread all about the problem called "where did all this PO4 come from?" if you care to follow up on it. But basically it practically removed all the PO4 that was added by the tap. Even after very little dosing all of it was removed to 0. After just a week suddenly the phosphates where 2.4ppm and then never lowered. It apparently became saturated with phosphate and then became a time releasing fertilizer - very similar to old activated carbon. Then after that my KH unexplainably went past 30 degrees. All I had was some plants and profile...what else is too blame?

[Rex Grigg]

Robert,

There are been posts on the APD about Profile/Schultz causing problems with both phosphates and water chemistry. One person had severe problems with both.

[m3th0d]

I made a thread at APC when I first started out asking why my phosphates were so high when there was nothing in the tank except Schultz Aquatic Soil and a piece of driftwood and now everything makes sense. My phosphate levels were unusually high in the first initial stages of planting. I don't know my levels now because I'm too lazy to check.

[bigpow]

I have it mixed with playsand.

Not sure about PO4... you might want to check your tap water PO4 first before blaming the substrate. Also did you do inert test with: 1. tap water + profile, 2. tap water + wood?

I've no problem...except that I bought aquatic soil (7$ per 20lbs) - wish I had bought eco-complete because I don't really favor the color.

Red/light brown + white (playsand) = weak presentation IMHO