# Substrate on top of substrate?



## Brian Murphy (8 Dec 2012)

I currently have black gravel on top of Tetraplant complete but will be changing to ADA Amazonia at some stage in the new year so I was wondering is there any benefit or even dangers if I was to scrape away the the gravel leaving the substrate base and adding the ADA substrate on top of it? Would the Tetraplant leech into the water or ADA substrate therefore getting into water column?


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## ceg4048 (8 Dec 2012)

Hello,
      Amazonia does not need a base as it is a complete and enriched substrate, so you should remove everything, however, it leaving what is already there in place makes no absolutely difference.

Cheers,


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## Brian Murphy (8 Dec 2012)

ceg4048 said:
			
		

> Hello,
> Amazonia does not need a base as it is a complete and enriched substrate, so you should remove everything, however, it leaving what is already there in place makes no absolutely difference.
> 
> Cheers,



Thanks ceg, I should have went with ADA from the start.  The Tetraplant says complete aswell but still needs capped with gravel


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## Antipofish (8 Dec 2012)

Personally I would syphon off the top layer until you expose the tetra plant complete (dont worry if you leave a few scatterings of your gravel).  Then cap the TPC with a gravel tidy (people nowadays use plastic greenhouse shading available from most garden centres).  And cover with your ADA.  Not only will that give you an excellent substrate, it will not waste the TPC that you have already paid for, and will reduce the already high cost of ADA soil 

As a refinement to the above, once you have done your syphoning, drain all the water out.  You can do this by draining down to the substrate layer and then scraping a small patch of the TPC out of the way to expose the bottom of the tank, raising it one end so the remaining water runs to that end, then draining the last bit of water out. Next, using a scaping tool (bit like a triangular fish slice) scrape the TPC back from all four edges of the tank so that you have a level layer but with an inch or two gap all the way around, and wipe around with a cloth.  Then place your gravel tidy (greenhouse shading) over the TPC.  This will leave an "edge" to fill in with the ADA and then add the rest, so that it does not look like one layer on top of another, but looks like ALL your substrate is ADA.

Hope this helps.


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## Brian Murphy (9 Dec 2012)

Antipofish said:
			
		

> Personally I would syphon off the top layer until you expose the tetra plant complete (dont worry if you leave a few scatterings of your gravel).  Then cap the TPC with a gravel tidy (people nowadays use plastic greenhouse shading available from most garden centres).  And cover with your ADA.  Not only will that give you an excellent substrate, it will not waste the TPC that you have already paid for, and will reduce the already high cost of ADA soil
> 
> As a refinement to the above, once you have done your syphoning, drain all the water out.  You can do this by draining down to the substrate layer and then scraping a small patch of the TPC out of the way to expose the bottom of the tank, raising it one end so the remaining water runs to that end, then draining the last bit of water out. Next, using a scaping tool (bit like a triangular fish slice) scrape the TPC back from all four edges of the tank so that you have a level layer but with an inch or two gap all the way around, and wipe around with a cloth.  Then place your gravel tidy (greenhouse shading) over the TPC.  This will leave an "edge" to fill in with the ADA and then add the rest, so that it does not look like one layer on top of another, but looks like ALL your substrate is ADA.
> 
> Hope this helps.



Thats a good idea .... I was hoping I could use it to 'bulk' up the level of substrate and save me £££ when it came to buying ADA substrate.  Thanks for the tip


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