# Tetra Active Aquarium Substrate



## PotteryWalrus (21 Jun 2020)

Not sure if this is the right place to ask, but I bought this stuff under the impression that it was suitable substrate for aquatic plants? Am I right or does it need more than it says on the package? I rather like the colour so I'm uninclined to cover it up, but I will if that would help rooting and plant nutrition... 

Secondly, do you think just mixing regular potting soil with horticultural sand would work the same as with the pond soil stuff? If so, what ratio should I use?


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## dw1305 (21 Jun 2020)

Hi all,





PotteryWalrus said:


> just mixing regular potting soil with horticultural sand would work the same as with the pond soil stuff? If so, what ratio should I use?


There are issues with a lot of potting composts because they contain <"composted green waste">, which tends not to be fully oxidised.

Have you seen @Tim Harrison 's tutorial <"The Soil substrate..... ">?

cheers Darrel


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## Simon Cole (27 Jun 2020)

PotteryWalrus said:


> Am I right or does it need more than it says on the package?



I usually go for quite a think layer, even just one or two bags in a 180 sometimes. Other times I mix it with Vaxer pumice, which is £3 for 3 litres from Ikea, to bed it out a bit.


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## oreo57 (29 Jun 2020)

PotteryWalrus said:


> Not sure if this is the right place to ask, but I bought this stuff under the impression that it was suitable substrate for aquatic plants? Am I right or does it need more than it says on the package? I rather like the colour so I'm uninclined to cover it up, but I will if that would help rooting and plant nutrition...


As far as I can tell they actually don't tell you enough but not seeing the complete backside of the bag..???

About the best guess is it's baked clay.
Now this can be anywhere from very low CEC (won't hold + nutrients) to relatively high CEC (but not as high as organic soils).

Being called "active" one might assume it has some CEC capacity but ??.
Depends on the type of clay it is made out of.
As to included nutrients.. not likely but could be wrong.

If your water Gh decreases w/ using it one could assume some CEC as it will pull Ca out of the water column.

Turface/Cat Litter(normally)/Safe-T-Sorb are US examples of a higher CEC clay.
Most will pre-charge it w/ ferts initially though personally I'd only add something like Calcium at the beginning.

Things like Flouite are usually low CEC.

Point is it would be helpful to know WHAT it actually is.

As a substrate sure it is fine as to size/stability/ and to you the color.
Not knocking it as a product, just wish they were less opaque.
Not uncommon though.



> Secondly, do you think just mixing regular potting soil with horticultural sand would work the same as with the pond soil stuff? If so, what ratio should I use?



Again, one needs to know what's in the potting soil to make a determination.
From fertilizers (spike ammounium most likely) a lot of humus (high CEC ) to things like perlite/vermiculite it all sort of matters.


Probably a lot more "stuff" than you asked but oh well.
just info:


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## jaypeecee (29 Jun 2020)

Hi @PotteryWalrus 

It looks like laterite to me.

But, _Tetra_ are doing themselves a disservice by telling us nothing useful about it.

JPC


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## PotteryWalrus (29 Jun 2020)

Damn, it's complicated, huh? I just tipped it in the tank and planted into it and nothing's died yet, so I'll see how it goes lol


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## Simon Cole (29 Jun 2020)

PotteryWalrus said:


> I just tipped it in



That is what I usually do


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## Classicdriller (30 Jun 2020)

Simon Cole said:


> That is what I usually do


this is what I like to hear, as some of the threads on here are so confusing at times


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## Tim Harrison (30 Jun 2020)

PotteryWalrus said:


> Not sure if this is the right place to ask, but I bought this stuff under the impression that it was suitable substrate for aquatic plants? Am I right or does it need more than it says on the package? I rather like the colour so I'm uninclined to cover it up, but I will if that would help rooting and plant nutrition...
> Secondly, do you think just mixing regular potting soil with horticultural sand would work the same as with the pond soil stuff? If so, what ratio should I use?


I sometimes think that manufacturers deliberately bamboozle folk, it makes it easier for them to sell product. The bottom line is plants can root and folia feed so it just makes sense to feed both sites. A nutritious substrate combined with water column fertz dosing always gets good results. However, plants will grow quite happily in inert substrate if they are fed through the water column only, so there is no real need to compromise aesthetics. If you like the colour / texture of Tetra Active just go with it.


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## oreo57 (1 Jul 2020)

Well since I was curious I asked Tetra themselves..



> Dear Jeff,
> 
> Thank you for your email.
> 
> Unfortunately we cannot provide you those internal informations.



I asked for type of clay and or CEC and if they added fertilizer


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## Karmicnull (28 Jan 2022)

At the risk of resurrecting a dead thread, I've just spend 30 minutes searching the interweb, and the posts above are the most comprehensive and detailed analysis of Tropica Active Substrate anywhere on the planet.  They were also the second hit on both questions I asked Google, which is reassuring.  

FWIW I have some that I bought in an LFS about 1.5 years ago when I had not even the faintest clue what I was doing.  It is very light, so don't expect plants to be held down by it.  It's large granules, so don't expect sand to cap it particularly successfully - there's some physics Darrel quotes regularly on why bigger granules always end up on top. I've worked on the assumption that it's clay and will absorb goodness injected into the tank through ferts and fish poop.  I've used as a layer over aquasoil, and generally had pretty happy plants.  But I have no comparison vs. what difference it would have made if I'd used just aquasoil.

Another data point for the UKAPS collective consciousness.
Cheers,
Simon


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