Soilmaster Select Substrate

[PHalas]

Originally Posted by matpat

I've never bothered trying to find leonardite, lignite, pumice, or any of the other items you listed since peat is so easy to find and so cheap! I don't think there would be much advantage one over the other especially once you figure in the time it would take to locate them and possibly have them shipped. I have used Laterite and probably never will again. Way too messy for my tastes. Most Wal Marts have Schultz Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss on their shelves this time of year and it is very easy to find a Wal Mart

Not much of an expert when it comes to minerals, I guess there is not much point looking for the peat replacement & I've also read various places that Laterite is hard to deal with. Now the other stuff, Pumice, Zeolite & Terralite were mentioned as being a significant plus along with the Peat.
Have not researched availability of these three items...Maybe Walmart TOO

[g8wayg8r]

I tore down my aquarium two nights ago and started over from scratch after cleaning all of the hardware and salvaging as many plants as possible to mix in with my new ones. It was a long night for me and my fish. My wife bought a 50-pound bag of Soilmaster Red Soil Conditioner from a local shop for $17 that morning. The grit size is somewhat smaller that of Seachem Flourite and it was much easier to rinse and use: stirred in several inches of water cover for about 10 or 15 seconds; drained the water and poured it in the tank; filled with water slowly and almost all of the initial cloudiness was gone after 48 hours. The real plus to me, however, was the ease of planting relative to flourite, which is an exercise in frustration. It's an active substrate that plants easier than in gravel. Compared to fine natural gravel, sand and flourite, it's the best I've ever used to set up a tank. For now, I highly recommend it.

[spinnerbayt]

Glad to see you are happy with your SM. After having it I wouldn't even think about going back to the expensive substrates. You know your doing something right when your inlaws come over and ask if you can get their tank to look that. I guess that I will be setting up the inlaws tank with SM. Keep us posted on your progress.

[turbomkt]

I rinsed it about a handful of times and didn't have any cloudiness when I set my tank up. But significantly less than I had to rinse my flourite (which still clouded up in the tank).

[Ken]

I just got an email from the Phoenix store manager. He wants me to pay $27 in shipping costs for a $16 bag of SM Charcoal. I could almost do 100% flourite at that price for my 29G.

[Lil boy blue]

Is there any iron in the soilmaster???? If there isnt would it be possible to put seachem florish tabs in it????

[matpat]

I would say it has iron in it since it is very similar to Turface or Turface Black (Parent company of Turface is Profile Products which is the maker of Shultz Aquatic Plant Soil also) according to the below link: http://home.infinet.net/teban/jamie.htm

What may be of more importance than the iron and mineral content is the CEC and also the hydroscopic properties of Profile Products and Soilmaster. They may be able to absorb nutrients like nitrates, phosphates, potassium, etc when they first take up water. However, I have no idea if these nutrients are are available to the plants once/if they are absorbed, but I would guess they are

[matpat]

Originally Posted by Ken

I just got an email from the Phoenix store manager. He wants me to pay $27 in shipping costs for a $16 bag of SM Charcoal. I could almost do 100% flourite at that price for my 29G.

The stores here in the Dayton area were not willing to work with us on getting the Soilmaster either but a call to a Cincinnati store (45 minutes south of Dayton) got us a manager who was willing to help us out. We did order 1000lbs so that may have helped us too.

Since you are in Phoenix, you may want to consider joining Arizona Aquatic Plant Enthusiats. They meet in Phoenix (according to the info on Aquatic Plant Central) and may have enough members interested in getting a group order together.

Here is their link: http://www.aape.naturalaquariums.com/ I believe Chiahead and Roy Deki frequent here also

[Youjin]

Had just receive my order from the store here in San Jose, CA. Got a bag (soilmaster - charcoal). I did the internet order and then called the local shop to enquire about delivery date and it was available within a week. I drove over and pick it up (5 mins). No shipping charges.

[a deadly fart]

Hey there Andrew good to hear that we are able to get this without shipping charges. Any chance I could get the name and number for the store you ordered from? Last I heard the boys up over in Sac wanted to order some but their stores wanted to charge extra for shipping. Have you used turface to compare it with? I'm using turface right now and my kuhli loaches are making it a whole lot harder to keep things planted.

[Youjin]

I ordered thru' the lesco website and chose San Jose as the collection location. They actually brought in one bag just for me and told me that they can get more if i need more.

LESCO Direct / processed by San Jose CA Service Center at (408) 428-9575
2299 Ringwood Ave San Jose, CA 95131-1732.

Have not use Turface before...but Soilmaster is working great for me.

[a deadly fart]

Cool. Thanks man.

[tom855]

I just had a 50# bag of charcoal colored Soilmaster transfered between the local Lesco and a warehouse somewhere and it cost a whoppin' $13.62 plus tax. No minimum order, no shipping fee, and they got it in stock about 4 days after I called. Now the fun starts - time to change substrates

[Jubs]

I paid $12 even for my bag. The guy at the desk asked me if I was using it for an aquarium lol. Apparently he has been getting alot of calls about it lately and the bag I bought was special ordered for someone and they never picked it up so I got lucky to find the charcoal in stock at my local Lesco. They had a few more bags of the red in stock as well might have to go get some if I ever setup my 90g. I am not sure if I am going to be planting it or not yet.

[bastalker]

I have playsand at the moment, but am going to change to SM in a month or so. Bein a landscaper, Lesco sees me all the time and pretty much will order whatever I want. They have the red in stock right now, an I really like the color of it in spinnerbaytes tank. I will grab a bag of it. It will be just enough for my 55.

Funny thing, Ken at lesco told me a guy came in last week an ordered a bag of it. He asked him what it was for. He told him for an aquarium. Ken said "really, whats it for?" He said its for an aquarium. Then I walked in an asked for a bag. He said "whats it for?" I said an aquarium. He about fell over.

The only problem with the substrate change is I am gonna have to put up with my huge crypts poutin for about a month