# Substrate confusion!!



## chrisjj (19 Mar 2011)

I have been doing a lot of research re substrate for my next tank, & I've now got information overload!!

I currently have plants growing in gravel with good results, but I'm looking for a plant substrate for my next tank (200ltr)& am unsure what to do.

I will be using liquid ferts & CO2.
There will planted areas & sandy areas.
I'm thinking that once set up, it is likely to stay the same for a while, so looking for one that holds nutrients.

I've read about the many ADA soils, Akadama, eco-complete whatevers, jbl mumbo something, peat, etc...... and am totally confused! 

To be honest, I'm looking for something simple and need suggestions.  Is this right?:

Thin layer of plant substrate - ?  (where plants are going to go)
Plant substrate to planted area - ? (brown)
Sandy area - sand! (sand coloured!)

Cheers


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## viktorlantos (19 Mar 2011)

it is up to you. i usually ask whoever is intrested in soil from us, how much energy you are willing to put into it.
there are soils what need to be prewashed many times and the other which not required.

frankly i hate to wash the soils. rather put this energy to the scaping process. but these soils are cheapo ones so if the budget is tight and you're ready for this work then JBL Manado and Akadama is an option.

I am not in love with their colors too but that's another thing. works well for plants and shrimps too.

then there's another category. the japanese soils which not required to wash. you can use them immediatelly. there are zillions of them and lots of them is accessible around this time. pricing is similar for these soils be that ADA, Oliver Knott, Colombo, Hirose, Shirakura etc etc... You can find here some really great soils and their colors looks much more natural too. Many of them has ferts in it which could be a problems sometimes if you willing to keep sensitive shrimps. of course many of my breeder friend keep sensitive crs too with these soils. so this is much more of a legend and depend on other factors what kind of shrimp you can keep with them. you easily can keep CRS with ADA Amazonia too.

so i would check the budget first and start from there.

Thin layer of plant substrate - ? (ADA Power Sand, Tropica, JBL Aqua Basis, Sera..)
Plant substrate to planted area - ? (ADA Malaya if light brown is ok, Amazonia, Oliver Knott, Colombo, Hirose, Shirakura, TMC?)
Sandy area - sand! (ADA Nile Sand, ADA Sarawak, Unipac sands)


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## bigmatt (19 Mar 2011)

Hi there,
If your head is spinning then the easiest option might be to use simple substrates (anything fro normal aquarium gravel to play sand!) without nutrient enrichment and then use fertiliser tabs.  This is a lot cheaper and simpler for simple folk like me to understand, and with good water column dosing you will still see spectacular results!
Hope this helps!
Matt


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## Bartash (22 Mar 2011)

Im not a lover of manado, i have it in my tank and i think it was the worst decision i made, its very light and corys can easily dig a pit stiring up the aqua base. 


Carl


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## lil-lynx (27 Mar 2011)

Iv had good growth capping JBL AquaBasis Plus with normal gravel. Its quite cheap and very effective. 
T


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## lil-lynx (27 Mar 2011)

Iv had good growth capping JBL AquaBasis Plus with normal gravel. Its quite cheap and very effective. 
The only problem i have found is when moving the plants you get a dust cloud, so try make your perfect scape first time round .

Good luck finding the perfect substrate


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## chrisjj (19 May 2011)

Finally made a decision and have got the following:

Planted areas - JBL aquabasis and eco-complete
Unplanted areas - Unipac silver sand

with lava rock hardscape.

Just waiting for the tank to arrive now......


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