# Now I’m confused [emoji1745]‍[emoji3603] what substrate?



## newscaper (2 Dec 2018)

So I’m going to completely replace my substrate 

I have a mixture of Black quartz and “volcanic” nutrient type stuff? The volcanic substrate was meant to be ‘natural’ brown but is in fact bright orange. 

Don’t like orange .... at all! Plants seem to be ok with it though. 

My question is what substrate to go for? 

I think my requirements are, 

Natural dark colour 
Suitable for majority of plants 
Long lasting 
Not super expensive 

Tanks about 130l and I’m looking to go high back left to low front levelling towards the right. 

Tropica’s my thinking but there are so many options other than that I’m well and truly confused. 

I rekon I will need about 20 litres of what ever I go for. 

What do peeps recommend? Should I mix substrate or just stick with one? 

Thanks for any input. 


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## newscaper (2 Dec 2018)

newscaper said:


> So I’m going to completely replace my substrate
> 
> I have a mixture of Black quartz and “volcanic” nutrient type stuff? The volcanic substrate was meant to be ‘natural’ brown but is in fact bright orange.
> 
> ...



How about this??

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/352403692070




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## Konsa (2 Dec 2018)

Hi
U can use alfagrog,lava rock or coarse gravel in bags to build height and cap Tropica soil on top of it.It will save U some cash and have a good tested substrate 
Regards Konsa


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## newscaper (2 Dec 2018)

Konsa said:


> Hi
> U can use alfagrog,lava rock or coarse gravel in bags to build height and cap Tropica soil on top of it.It will save U some cash and have a good tested substrate
> Regards Konsa



That’s perfect thank you. That’s what I wasn’t sure on as for some reason I was thinking the rich nutrient level should be the base layer or at least that’s how it appears on the many YouTube clips I’ve watched. 

Would it not be beneficial for the plant roots to grow into the tropica / tetra / Ada substrate though?

Excuse my ignorance, I’m only basing my assumptions on what I’ve seen and advice from local fish shops. 




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## Konsa (2 Dec 2018)

Hi
The suggestions that I gave are based on the fact that the medium on bottom will be coarse (1,5 cm plus ),inert and bits of the tropica soil will inevitably  mix in.The plants will not care if only 5cm of your substrate is fertile tbh they can take up nutrients perfectly well with their leaves too.The info about fertile substrate put on bottom is mostly related to the soil type of additives that need to be separeted by capping with other medium(coarse sand) from the water column like Tropica growth substrate ,Tetra complete substrate or even Westlant aquatic compost from the garden centre all basically dirt that will mud the water.


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## newscaper (2 Dec 2018)

Konsa said:


> Hi
> The suggestions that I gave are based on the fact that the medium on bottom will be coarse (1,5 cm plus ),inert and bits of the tropica soil will inevitably  mix in.The plants will not care if only 5cm of your substrate is fertile tbh they can take up nutrients perfectly well with their leaves too.The info about fertile substrate put on bottom is mostly related to the soil type of additives that need to be separeted by capping with other medium(coarse sand) from the water column like Tropica growth substrate ,Tetra complete substrate or even Westlant aquatic compost from the garden centre all basically dirt that will mud the water.



Ah I see. 

That’s saved me a fortune on substrate! I’ll go ahead and build up the base layer then add in tetra or prosacpe ect. 

Should look a whole lot better when done and hopefully better for the plants too. 




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