Best Substrate for contstant replanting?

1813 Views 17 Replies 10 Participants Last post by plantbrain, May 15, 2014

big ounce

Discussion Starter · May 1, 2014

I'm rebuilding my 10 Guppy breeder tank this weekend. Since this tank is in my bedroom the plan is to move all the guppies to my 75 Gallon and rebuild this tank and make the plants the focal point of the tank with a few fish.

This will be used to get my feet wet with planted tanks so I'm starting with Water Sprite, Water Wisteria in the background and would like to do a carpet in the foreground. I wanna stay away from dirt since I plan to replant the trimmings for the W.S and W.W. and don't want the mess.

What substrate would you recommend for constant replanting that won't make too much of a mess?

What would be a Fast Growing carpeting plant? Not really too worried about what looks the best. Just want somehting that will spread fast and easily.

Tank set up:

Substrate: To be determined
Lighting: 2x 10 Watt 6,500K Colormax CFL
Suppliments: Flourish, Flourish Excel
Filtration: Aqueon 10G ( Will be upgrading after rebuild )

1 - 18 of 18 Posts

lauraleellbp

· #2 · May 1, 2014

A bag of any of the commercial substrates should work fine. I'd get one that contains nutrients since you want a carpeting plant. If you go with Flourite (my own favorite), be sure to rinse it all really, really well before putting it in your tank.

Dwarf Sagittaria will probably be your best bet if you're looking for a carpet that can fill in fast without needing CO2.

andrewq

· #3 · May 1, 2014

In my experience eco complete holds nutrients really well. Im always moving the substrate around and rescaping. Plants always do well every time I move them. Tank has been up and running for a little over a year. Not sure how well it would work for carpeting plants. Baby tears are probably to small. Dwarf sag, hairgrass, and gloss may work.

philipraposo1982

· #4 · May 1, 2014

safe t sorb + dwarf sag = win like my tank

Oxl

· #5 · May 1, 2014

I'm a big fan of plain old river pebbles, especially in your situation where you just want something heavy and easy to rearrange. It also cuts down on detritus making it easier to keep the water crystal clear.

big ounce

Discussion Starter · #6 · May 1, 2014

I would also like something that has good nutrient retention

big ounce

Discussion Starter · #7 · May 2, 2014

Oxl said:
I'm a big fan of plain old river pebbles, especially in your situation where you just want something heavy and easy to rearrange. It also cuts down on detritus making it easier to keep the water crystal clear.

how good is it at retaining nutrients?

philipraposo1982

· #8 · May 2, 2014

safe t sorb is clay and hold nutrients well. you should consider it.

big ounce

Discussion Starter · #9 · May 2, 2014

philipraposo1982 said:
safe t sorb + dwarf sag = win like my tank

Does safe t sorb come in black?

big ounce

Discussion Starter · #10 · May 2, 2014

lauraleellbp said:
A bag of any of the commercial substrates should work fine. I'd get one that contains nutrients since you want a carpeting plant. If you go with Flourite (my own favorite), be sure to rinse it all really, really well before putting it in your tank.

Dwarf Sagittaria will probably be your best bet if you're looking for a carpet that can fill in fast without needing CO2.

So Flourite or Eco-complete would be ok for carpeting?

big ounce

Discussion Starter · #11 · May 4, 2014

bump

MamaJu

· #12 · May 6, 2014

I have EcoComplete in my 20 gallon and Flourite Black in my 75 gallon Dutch. I move plants around all the time. I prefer the Flourite because the plants stay put. I have issues with plants always uprooting in my EcoComplete tank. The Flourite is easy to vaccuum and doesn't get cloudy when I move plants around. I originally mixed Flourite Black and Flourite Sand together in the 75 gallon. I would skip the Flourite Sand since it tends to get sucked up with vacuuming. Hope that helps.

lauraleellbp

· #13 · May 6, 2014

big ounce said:
So Flourite or Eco-complete would be ok for carpeting?

Yep.

urbach

· #14 · May 6, 2014

I'm a fan of Seachem flourite. Love it. After trying dozen of substrates, I settled for flourite and never look back.

Jesseter

· #15 · May 6, 2014

I can only speak to my own personal experience. I have tried DHG in three different substrates(if that's the carpeting you're looking for). The best result was in flourite black sand. The pool sand had minimal growth and though I dosed with ferts it didn't thrive. The Shrimp stratum had the DHG flourish, but not spread . I hope this helps!

Shawn123

· #16 · May 6, 2014

I can't tell you about the other substrates, but I would say you should not choose eco complete. I like the look of it and my plants grow fine, but sometimes it is hard to get plants to stay down and not float back out of it.

big ounce

Discussion Starter · #17 · May 15, 2014

I decided to go with Mr. Aqua Soil thanks to a recommondation from my LFS. So far I'm happy with the product. My LFS recommended this product because they said it's like using Organic Soil without having to cap it, and so far that seems to be the case. I'm replanting and rearranging all the time with not much of a mess. I haven't left the plants alone long enough for them to get properaly rooted and see how well they grow. Journal coming soon.

plantbrain

· #18 · May 15, 2014

big ounce said:
I would also like something that has good nutrient retention

None really do this much at all.
Rich sediments with N, P, K etc, they all lose those generally over time. N particularly.

Flourite, Eco complete, these have no nutrients that are bioavailable, they have the minerals in the materials, but like SiO2, which comprises plain silica sand, good luck breathing sand to get any O2 out of it.

I use ADA aqua soil, but I am careful with it.
But I rearrange often and replant.

I will deep vacuum sometimes to remove the dust, or lightly vacuum after replanting, and I always do a large water change any work.

This keeps things cleaner and less mess.

For most folks, I think the Flourite sand, or plain old 2-3 mm sand works well.

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