# what substrate ?



## MarkP (30 Dec 2008)

if any,, i,m toying with idea of a complete carpet of java moss on entire base of a tank (3x2) would i need a substrate or could i just grow the plant on a grid of egg crate. if a substrate is required which one do i go for.

thanks
mark


----------



## Ed Seeley (30 Dec 2008)

With moss's tendency to gather lots of debris I would definitely think about the egg crate idea.  Then you will be able to lift the whole thing and syphon the detritus out.  The problem is what do you grow the rest of the plants in if you do this?!  You'll still need a substrate where you have rooting plants.  As to which one Aquasoil is the best IMHO, but expensive.


----------



## MarkP (30 Dec 2008)

i intend to grow all the other plants on some large peices of mopani wood ( various ferns and other moss's and maybe some anubius ) a bit different to other tanks i know but is for my altums and a large shoal off tetra's a bit of a twist on a amazon theme.


----------



## Ed Seeley (30 Dec 2008)

In that case you could certainly try the egg crate.  I'd also suggest raising it off the bottom of the tank and having an intake to a filter under there to suck all the detritus up constantly, would certainly cut down on maintenance.


----------



## MarkP (30 Dec 2008)

would using a reverse flow under gravel filter help along side my internal filter ( a juwel jumbo filter ) i could make my own ugf plates and attach the moss to that ?

thanks
mark


----------



## Ed Seeley (30 Dec 2008)

Yeah anything like that would work.  The egg crate would effectively make your own UG plate really, just with bigger gaps!  The tin slits of a normal UG plate might get blocked up as the moss grows.


----------



## frasertheking (30 Dec 2008)

sounds like a cool idea id say split your output and put the intake under the substrate then set the egg crate with about an inch of space under it and have one output blow the crap up and stir it into the intake and another output higher up for creating water movement higher up .


----------

