[TracyLee]

Hello, fellow fish lovers! My name is Tracy and today is my first day as a member of The Planted Tank.net I am in the process of starting my first official "planted" tank and could sure use some advice. My tank is a 40 gallon SeaClear. I will be using an AquaClear HOB for now. My big question is this...Will it be smart to use Caribsea Eco-Complete for Planted tanks on the bottom and CaribSea Eco-Complete for Cichlids on top? My goal is to have several plants and a carpet. I want to keep German Rams, Cockatoos and maybe some Angel fish. Thanks for your help. I'm really looking forward to meeting some new people

 

[Nlewis]

Hello, fellow fish lovers! My name is Tracy and today is my first day as a member of The Planted Tank.net I am in the process of starting my first official "planted" tank and could sure use some advice. My tank is a 40 gallon SeaClear. I will be using an AquaClear HOB for now. My big question is this...Will it be smart to use Caribsea Eco-Complete for Planted tanks on the bottom and CaribSea Eco-Complete for Cichlids on top? My goal is to have several plants and a carpet. I want to keep German Rams, Cockatoos and maybe some Angel fish. Thanks for your help. I'm really looking forward to meeting some new people

I've used Eco and IMO I wouldn't waste my money on it. For something that cost $20 a bag that is basically inert I would spend my money elsewhere for substrate. I'm a huge fan of blasting abrasive and it's super cheap.

 

[WaterLife]

While it's inert (and I believe, doesn't come pre-enriched with nutrients), it does have a high CEC (Cation Exchange Capacity) so it does have the ability to absorb a lot of nutrients, which can be beneficial for plants. Pretty much like a nutrient-replenishing substrate that doesn't need to be replaced/removed like soil and other nutrient enriched substrates with low CEC. So it has it's benefits. There is Safe-T-Sorb which is also a high CEC substrate, but much cheaper than Eco-complete, though it may not be as appealing.

I am not familiar with all the Eco-complete varieties, but from the sounds of "for Cichlids" maybe it contains calcium and/or carbonates that some cichlids like (harder, more alkaline water)? Not sure if the "for Planted tanks" variety does come enriched with nutrients? Sorry I haven't looked it up firsthand (I should...) so don't quote me on it

 

[TracyLee]

Thanks for the information.. I'm afraid most all of this is going to be over my head. You're right about the eco complete for cichlids having calcium and aragonite! I'm wondering if the 2 different kinds will fight each other....I think I'm wishing I had found this place before I ordered 4 bags of EC for plants and 2 EC for cichlids!! lmbo, oh well, I bet I can trade some of it for credit at the fish store!!

 

[Nlewis]

Thanks for the information.. I'm afraid most all of this is going to be over my head. You're right about the eco complete for cichlids having calcium and aragonite! I'm wondering if the 2 different kinds will fight each other....I think I'm wishing I had found this place before I ordered 4 bags of EC for plants and 2 EC for cichlids!! lmbo, oh well, I bet I can trade some of it for credit at the fish store!!

If you've already purchased the Eco than use it. I would not use the Caribsea for cichlids though.

 

[Axelrodi202]

Don't use the cichlid substrate if it'll raise your water. All the fish you hope to keep are soft water fish and will not appreciate the hardness.