substrate

I'm considering a new experiment, and there are some points I'd like to get your advice about. I want to check behaviour of a "typical" aquasoil compared to sandy substrate, and a sandy substrate with and without "typical" root tabs. Some of you already know my experimental workstation. I...

Im about to start aquascaping in my new 260 lit Juwel Vision tank. Im going to make the bottom layer higher in the back sloping down to the front (guess that is standard), but then I want to make the left side of the tank - say abt 30% of the space - significantly higher, whith big rocks and...

The confusing world of ADA substrates... ADA have never been the clearest with their marketing, and now there are old/new and different varieties i'm just trying to get my head round what is what. After searching the ADA journals, youtube, google and many other reviews i'm finding a bit of...

Hello everyone. I have these following questions: How deep should substrate be for carpeting plants, stem plants and ‘root feeder’ plants? In Dutch scape, do you plant stem plants as indivitual plant or in bundle? How deep should the plant be in the substrate, do I have to buried the crown (2)...

Hi everyone! This is my first aquascape (see pictures below) - I'm wanting to do it all "right" - or create the best conditions for the plants and fish to thrive (as we all do :) ). I chose a "dark start" fishless/plantless cycle strategy as what I gleaned was the most conservative/successful...

Hi. I've just set up a non-CO2 planted tank, two days ago. The tank is an Oase Styline 175, fitted with an external Biomaster 250 Thermo. I've planted it with mostly easy and some medium grow stem and root plants for now. With maybe some epiphytes later and 6 hours of light from one led tube...

Dear all, I am in the process of rescaping a tank which has 7 year old ecocomplete capped with fine black sand. The ecomplete has a 1/1.5inch depth and the sand is about 2 cm. Over the course of the last 7 years, some of the ecocomplete has founds it's way ontoo of the sand, although this...

Hi, this is my first serious attempt to set a hardscape. I set up a 54L tank before, but it was a very minimal effort. The tank is 120cm x 40cm x 50cm (Eheim VivaLed 240L) Main stone: dragon stone Substrate: Seachem flourite black (I ran it out last night, and am waiting for more to have the...

Hi - So I recently bought another tank which I aquascaped a couple of weeks ago and am waiting for it to finish cycling. I had been planning to put tropical fish in there (I already have some Guppys, a Betta, and some Cardinal Tetras in my other tanks) however I'm now toying with the idea of...

Hi Folks, In my line of work, I often needed to produce a specification that listed all the features, attributes, parameters, etc. when procuring/purchasing a new product. I learned how important it was to be clear in my mind exactly what was required to meet the needs of the task in hand. So...

Hello all, I was wondering if anyone had ever tried using both substrates in the same tank, one capping the other. Not sure if that would make any sense but curious to know if some people did and if it had any benefits? Thanks

Hi Folks, I need help. I have an established planted tank with CO2 injection and custom build LED lighting. I have posted elsewhere on UKAPS about problems with E. bleheri. I am in the process of re-planting some areas of my tank. And that's because I've removed several plants because they were...

hello guys, so i went today to the aquarium design centre and bought Tropica Aquarium Soil 3kg for my new 50litre aquarium. I did the setup and think I need more substrate so i ordered on amazon the Fluval Plant & Shrimps Stratum 4kg. Should i put the fluval on top of the tropica, mix them or...

Hello, I'm still a newbie so I have a lot a questions and appreciate a lot your help. I haven't started because i want to know everything I need to know before, i had a 200litre tank in Portugal where I did water changes with tap water but the water was so diferent. My idea is to do a planted...

I’m been attempting to grow Utricularia graminifolia as a carpet plant in an 15 gallon iwagumi set up. This led me to do an online search to see what conditions have worked for others. In addition to the usual specialty web sites I looked at various blogs as well. So what follows is the progress...

Hi, I've brought aqua gro shrimp and plant soil, does anyone have any experience with this brand of soil and have any tips when setting up my aqua scape? Thank you.

Evening. Just three quick separate questions. 1) Can anyone advise on a good substrate for a small 25L Thailand style betta planted tank? 2) For a bigger tank I would like to have with sand, does anyone know if there is a good substrate that is suitable for going underneath with sand on top...

I can’t quite figure it out. Is 3 litres of Tetra substrate enough for a 5 gallon nano tank? How deep is the substrate supposed to be for planting? Thanks

Hi guys and gals, Will Cory catfish be ok in this gravel, don't want Thier beautiful moustache to be damaged https://www.completeaquatics.co.uk/aquarium-accessories/aquarium-decoration/aquarium-gravel-and-sands/marina-2kg-black-aquarium-gravel

Hi all At the begining of July, I stripped down and completely rescaped my tank. The gravel was replaced with Tropica Aquarium soil and a mix of new and existing plants were added along with new and existing wood hardscape. After a week or two, i noticed the water was hazy and on closer...

Hi Folks, Haven't been on here for a very long time. I have a 125 litre tropical planted tank with custom LED lighting and CO2 injection. I currently use Seachem Flourish (+ Flourish N + Flourish P, as required) but I sometimes wonder if I should also be using root feeding in the substrate. In...

Hi - looking for some advice/others experience. Contemplating a rescape of my 90cm, sumped, tank. My thinking was to transfer all fish to the sump (approx. 60ltrs) temporarily and turn that into a closed loop, then sort out the display tank. If i used 100% organic garden compost, capped with...

Hello! So, I've got the new tank planted and set up, just in the process of waiting for it to cycle (with seeded media.) I went for a tropica substrate capped with a 2-4mm rounded gravel on top, was going to go full biotope but did so much research that I eventually talked myself out of doing...

Since i'm going to be setting up a small shrimp only tank (RCS selective breeding) anyway, i thought i'd have a bit of fun with it and i've decided to get an Aqua One Trio Tank, it's only a 32L but it will allow me to alter small things in each of the 3 bays and see how the plants react. Plus...

Hi all, I'm redoing my 180L tank and have been looking into ADA aqua soil. I did have eco complete but found I'd pretty much just paid a lot of money for expensive black gravel. Crypts and stem plants did grow well but I want to get a carpet and do a nicer planted tank, so I've been looking...

Just had a delivery of a 9 litre bag of ADA Amazonia, but it isn't enough to fill my tank with a slope to the back of the tank and and around my rocks that I plan to place. I dont fancy paying another £36 + postage for a bag on Amazonia, so could I buy a bag of much cheaper Tropica Plant Growth...

Hi UKAPS, New member starting out here with a question. I have a cycled tank 60L Fluval Flex but want to swap out my sons multi coloured gravel for proper substrate We have basic plants and a shoal of tetras with some snails, levels are all good I plan to put in some volcanic...

Hi everyone, I'm in midst of setting up my new planted tank and intend to use lava rocks (2 - 3 cm) under the substrate. The are two main reasons I'm doing this way. 1. To reduce the number of ADA aquasoil I need to buy when creating a slope at the back of the tank and also to give a bit of...

Hi everyone, Started setting up a nano tank the other day, here it is this evening: http://s14.postimg.org/ea832sooh/12421737_1011697872204903_1848457715_n.jpg You can see video which documents setup here: - Since the video I've perfected the lily pipe positioning and it's generally a little...

Evening everyone, going to be putting together a scape in a 35L nano tank for shrimps nearer to Christmas, I have everything I need from the tank itself, to the lily pipes for the external filter. Except of course the plants. I'm going to go with something simple, I have two large lumps of lava...

Hey, thanks for reading. Basically I want to use Tropica AquaCare Plant Substrate as a bottom layer as it seems to be a cheaper and reliable bottom layer, I am using a brown/red rock, what top layer should I use on a cheaper budget? Please attach pictures or links if you can.

I'd like to draw your attention to this substrate: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Karlie-Flamingo-Aquarium-Gravel-Black/dp/B004E78W5K/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1440440625&sr=8-7&keywords=aquarium+substrate#Ask It comes in gravel (black and brown) and sand varieties. It's received good reviews on Amazon...

Hey guys, Starting a new build and this time I want to try out the dry start method with a reptile fogger mostly for mosses on my wood, although I do want to try out some other plants using the same method! I will be using compressed CO2 on a timer once flooded and EI dosing so my main...

Has anyone tried this substrate? My LFS has a selection of Aqua One sands and gravels. Mostly of the 'barbie pink' variety, apart from this one. It's mostly small balls, and definitely a soil or clay based product. It's hard and porous like a baked clay, but has a strong composty smell from the...

Hi guys, I am planning on buying a 29g tank(75cm x 30cm x 45cm) and wanted to know about a good substrate for a low tech tank. No EI or CO2. I am thinking between laterite or indian river sand or ADA Amazonia. I feel I should go with amazonia because the former gave me a lot of trouble while...

Hi Folks, I would like to better understand the mechanisms by which aquatic plants take in nutrients. Firstly, are aquatic plants equally able to absorb nutrients through their roots and leaves? Which of these do they prefer? Some plants, e.g. Anubias, are normally grown on driftwood or rocks...

Aquatic plants take up nutrients through the leafs and roots. To feed the plants through the leafs people dose the aquarium with liquid nutrients and to feed the roots you use nutrient rich substrate... So my question is how long does the nutrient in the soil last? Or does the liquid nutrient...

hello guys! i am new in forum but also quite new on planted aquarium world!i hope that you can help me! before i start i do apologies for any mistake about english!it is not my first language and is not my best thing yet!but i will try! so.. i want to start a new 5 feet planted tank but already...

So which is better, I want a black soil substrate, preferably with as small a grain size as possible (colombo has huge grains) opinions on both please, what do you guys think?I want know nutrient levels, grain size, ammonia, how long it lasts/does it turn to mush, very dusty? Very light? Etc...

Hi, I was wondering if anyone has had success using this product with CBS in there tanks? I know most people use ebi gold but the TMC soil is easier to get at my LFS,Is there much difference between these products? :)

Referred to this site numerous times over the past few weeks as some of the information I've found has proved invaluable. However, I'm wondering if there's anyone out there who can help. I'm currently cycling my first 64l aquascaped tank using: Interpet fish box 64l Fluval 106 canister filter...

Hello this is one of the very few substrates available here in Malta , I cannot find any reviews so If anyone has any experience with it , please reply http://www.aquatic-nature.be/eng_fertisoil.html

Hi there I am planning a low tech tank with heavy planting from the outset, and I am intrigued by moler clay. I will be attempting to use a nutritent rich base, like JBl Aquabasis, and then cover with Moler clay. I was just wondering if moler clay needs to be capped? I will be trying to get...

Hi I’m setting up a new planted tank using a 2cm layer of Dennerle’s Deponit substrate topped by a 5cm layer of gravel (all straightforward so far) and would like have an area of sand for corys approx 2cm deep. To keep the Deponit/Gravel separate from the sand I’m planning to use a strip of...

Hi, guys! I'll reset my algae infested tank this week. So, I'll take this chance and to change the substrate. I was using only very thin quartz gravel (like a sand). Now I've treated a great amount of earth worms humus to put in my tank. It has 200 cm x 40 cm x 45 cm (height) and I have about 15...

Hi everyone, So I'm thinking its about time for a re-scape of my 330L. It's been up now for a year, hi-tech using solely cat litter as a substrate and I've had no problems whatsoever. Toying with the idea of going down the play sand route to change things up a bit but I'm not sure whether I...

Hello I've seen a lot of post of people using cat litter as a substrate for their tanks, i decided that i want to replace the gravel in one of my tanks so wanted to see some pics of your tanks using cat litter as its something i never used or seen before, if you could post your pictures and...

Please help!!!!!....I have 10 fantastic boesemani rainbow fish and I want to create a lush planted 300 litre tank for them (I wasn't planning on using CO2). Ideally ph neutral-7.5. I currently use Bristol tap water, not as hard a London water but is alkaline (TDS ranges 200/260). I was...