# Colombo Florabase... volume requirement calculation ?



## Antipofish (6 Dec 2011)

Hi All,
Im a new member and new to Planted Aquaria, though not to fishkeeping in general.  I just bought a lovely tank, Aqua One Aquience 800R, which is 80cmL x 45cmW x 55cmT (175L).  I have done a bit of research and like the idea of Colombo Florabase.  I actually have a few bags of JBL aquabasis plus, but do not like the look of it and the need to use a capping substrate on top.  OK I could use playsand but I want a dark substrate to bring fish colour out and because I prefer the appearance, and I could get darker "aquarium sand" but thats expensive, so I thought, why not use the money and get a single all in one substrate.  Colombo Florabase therefore seems to fit the bill and my supplier has kindly agreed to let me exchange.

What I want to KNOW, though, is "Is there a formula or way of calculating how many litres/kg of a given substrate will be required to give a fixed depth coverage by area" ???

Im sure lots of you are using this stuff so if you could give me some facts/figures on your tank sizes, how much you used and what depth it gave, I can work my requirements out from there.

Also, I would welcome any comments on my choice / alternative options.  (I like the florabase as its not got a harsh texture, and I intend keeping Corys on the bottom).

Thanks.  I will set up a new tank journal in the appropriate section soon too


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## foxfish (6 Dec 2011)

80 x 45 x 5cm deep of substrate = 18000 divide 1000 = 18lts of substrate required for an even 50mm depth.


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## Antipofish (6 Dec 2011)

foxfish said:
			
		

> 80 x 45 x 5cm deep of substrate = 18000 divide 1000 = 18lts of substrate required for an even 50mm depth.



WOW that was fast !  How do you know that, lol ? Should I have been able to find that myself or is it a standard formula ?  Thanks.


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## Alastair (6 Dec 2011)

Fox fish eats n sleeps fishy know how I think ha ha ;0) 

He's right though as I have a spare bag of the stuff sitting here and that's enough for a thin layer to cover a 60cm tank according to the bag


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## Antipofish (6 Dec 2011)

Is it a Cory friendly substrate ?  
Is it a TOTAL substrate (ie does not require anything else for plant nutrition) ?
Is it an alternative to Cat litter, or a totally different thing ?
I have several bags of JBL aquabasis plus.  Would it be good to put this on top of the aquabasis (assuming its cat litter friendly), OR use it on its own ?

Thanks again.


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## Alastair (6 Dec 2011)

Yes it's cory friendly, It's a Conplete substrate so doesn't require anything in addition other than what eve ferts your dosing so ok to use on its own. It's diffrent to cat litter in the sense that it had nutrients already loaded in It as its a Japanese soil. Cat litter is inert but excellent at pulling in nutrients from the water Column to supply roots etc so isn't comparable to cat litter. Nothing wrong with cat litter in mind as I use it and swear by it with aqua basis under it. However the Colombo has a lovely look and colour to it and I believe is great for plants. 
I think you'd be ok putting aqua basis under the columbo yes, not too deep though as if your pulling up plants often it can make a nice orange cloud


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## Antipofish (6 Dec 2011)

Alastair said:
			
		

> Yes it's cory friendly, It's a Conplete substrate so doesn't require anything in addition other than what eve ferts your dosing so ok to use on its own. It's diffrent to cat litter in the sense that it had nutrients already loaded in It as its a Japanese soil. Cat litter is inert but excellent at pulling in nutrients from the water Column to supply roots etc so isn't comparable to cat litter. Nothing wrong with cat litter in mind as I use it and swear by it with aqua basis under it. However the Colombo has a lovely look and colour to it and I believe is great for plants.
> I think you'd be ok putting aqua basis under the columbo yes, not too deep though as if your pulling up plants often it can make a nice orange cloud




Thanks for the reply.  Hmm, I am now thinking the following...

Have a rim around the base that is _ENTIRELY_ Aquabasis plus (AB+ from now on).  This is for appearance only. THEN in the inside of this have AB+ mixed with Cat litter (Is is a colour or plain?  Which one do people use?). And on top of that, a good inch or two of a topping of my choice.  For price I am thinking Playsand, LOL, OR Playsand mixed with Unipac Senegal Sand to darken it but keep price down.

That will give me nutrition from the aquabasis, nutrient storage/release from the Cat litter and a topping that is acceptable too.

Thoughts everyone ?  Am I over complicating? 


INCIDENTALLY;  IMPORTANT NOTE..... I spoke to a local Bonsai specialist (Downsview Bonsais in Eastbourne, and apparantly, because the Akadama comes from within 50km of the recent nuclear meltdown in Japan it can no longer be mined.  Supply is dryring up and prices have already hiked 4 fold and likely to keep going up as stocks come to an end.  Just thought I would mention it in case people were not aware.


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## Alastair (6 Dec 2011)

I'd not mix the ab+ with the cat litter, only because it will make an awful mess of your water as the sand will sift through the cat litter being a much smaller grain size so the ab+ will be freely floating or mixed with your water. Any particular reason why you'd not just later with aqua basis and top with cat litter? 
The cat litter most including myself on here use is tesco low dust lightweight cat litter. Pink and white bag. Very similar in c
Colour to akadama. If you check my journal it's got that particular cat litter.


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## Antipofish (6 Dec 2011)

Alastair said:
			
		

> I'd not mix the ab+ with the cat litter, only because it will make an awful mess of your water as the sand will sift through the cat litter being a much smaller grain size so the ab+ will be freely floating or mixed with your water. Any particular reason why you'd not just later with aqua basis and top with cat litter?
> The cat litter most including myself on here use is tesco low dust lightweight cat litter. Pink and white bag. Very similar in c
> Colour to akadama. If you check my journal it's got that particular cat litter.



I will check your log.  Thanks.  Didn't realise I could layer the cat litter on TOP of the AQ+  Does it not give off colour or cloudyness ?  Also the only cat litter I ever knew was grey in colour, so was not aware it was an acceptable appearance.  What grain size is it ?  Its the TESCO VALUE litter you use ?  Is it cory friendly?  Thanks.


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## foxfish (6 Dec 2011)

All you ever wanted to know about cat litter ... viewtopic.php?f=17&t=8572


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## Alastair (6 Dec 2011)

Best to have a read of the link fox fish posted to just then, but in response to your questions, most cat litter turn to mid after getting wet, the tesco one stays hard.
It's not the value stuff though no. The price is Around 2.80 for a ten litre bag. Which is half white and half pink. 
Is it cory friendly? Yes, I have panda corys and albinos an there barbels are fine. 
If the cat litter is layered thick enough you'll get nothing coming up from the aqua basis. I don't. You'll get some coloration possibly coming off the cat litter when first filled but if you layer newspaper over it won't be as bad. Just rinse the stuff well first mate. Or, just go straight for the columbo.


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## Antipofish (6 Dec 2011)

Alastair said:
			
		

> I'd not mix the ab+ with the cat litter, only because it will make an awful mess of your water as the sand will sift through the cat litter being a much smaller grain size so the ab+ will be freely floating or mixed with your water. Any particular reason why you'd not just later with aqua basis and top with cat litter?
> The cat litter most including myself on here use is tesco low dust lightweight cat litter. Pink and white bag. Very similar in c
> Colour to akadama. If you check my journal it's got that particular cat litter.




Hi Alistair, I just went and bought 3 bags of the stuff.  Then I came back and read a log which said it is scented.  SCARY.  Is it REALLY OK ? lol.  I guess so, but how many rinses are necessary ?  Thanks.


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## Antipofish (6 Dec 2011)

Hi again Alastair, Yeah, Ive got the litter now, and am pleased as its gonna cost a LOT less than the Colombo florabase.  Will read the thread that Foxface showed me this evening too.  Can I just ask how thick your layer of litter is above the AB+ ?? Cheers.


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## Alastair (6 Dec 2011)

It's fine mate, the rinsing gets rid of the perfume anyway, just pop some carbon in the fikter I'd you have some spare to get rid of any possible left over smell. I only rinsed each bucket full 3 times or so as I was too impatient. 
Above the aqua basis I have about an inch n half at the front to 3 at the back as my ocelots ate there and they have monster roots.


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## Antipofish (6 Dec 2011)

Alastair said:
			
		

> It's fine mate, the rinsing gets rid of the perfume anyway, just pop some carbon in the fikter I'd you have some spare to get rid of any possible left over smell. I only rinsed each bucket full 3 times or so as I was too impatient.
> Above the aqua basis I have about an inch n half at the front to 3 at the back as my ocelots ate there and they have monster roots.



So, I am well chuffed at joining this site.  There seems to be endless threads to read and so MANY amazing setups.  There are clearly some very talented and knowledgeable people on here and I look forward to learning as I go along.

I have saved a small fortune in not adding the Colombo florabase as a capping substrate for my JBL Aquabasis plus and am well impressed at what I have read about the cat litter.  So much so that I have three bags of the stuff waiting to be washed tomorrow.

What thickness of the aquabasis+ should I use ? I think I have about 12.5L of it and my tank footprint is 80cm x 45cm.  I read that you should use about a 2cm layer which is 20mm.

Using the same calculation as was offered for my colombo florabase, this gives 80x45x2 = 7200/1000 = 7.2L  Thats good (assuming I am right) cos I have three 2.5L bags, one of which is opened and one 5L bag.  So i will use the big bag and the opened bag and my wonderful LFS will let me take the other stuff back for store credit.. Woohoo...

I am assuming I put the AB+ in dry, no washing ?  Is that right ? Hope someone corrects me quickly if I am wrong or I am about to screw up big time   

I'm getting VERY excited now   Shall I start a thread for a tank journal ?


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## Alastair (7 Dec 2011)

It goes in dry mate, and yeah a 2cm layer, or more if you choose. More for the plants then. It is a great site, and I learnt heaps from what was on here and advice of people. 

Get a journal started from scratch. We all love a good journal....well I do anyway


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## Antipofish (24 Dec 2011)

EXTRA CALUCULATION INFO:

Just as an extra to anyone who read this, the calculation is already shown, but there is a way of working it backwards, so that if you know the volume of what you want to use, you can calculate the depth it will give you.  This is done as follows;

volume of product divided by (length x width of tank /1000)

Make sure you perform the calculation in the right order...  So you multiply the length x width of tank in cms, then divide that by 1000 and then you divide the volume of your chosen product by the figure you have just got.

Example;

Colombo Florabase, 2 x 10L bags, TOTAL 20L
Tank size 80cm long x 45cm wide

So,

multiply 80 x 45 to get 3600
divide this by 1000 to get 3.6
then divide 20 by 3.6 to get 5.5

This means 20L of Columbo florabase will give you approximately a 5.5cm depth in a tank that measures 80cm x 45cm.

Hope this helps.  Remember to use your INTERNAL measurements for a more accurate result.


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