Think I’m done with Aquasoil

[alto]

I wouldn't touch Eco Complete with a barge pole. I have used it before. It is so sharp and abrasive that finally removing it is almost impossible without damaging the glass. It's a very hard mineral and will scratch glass easily.
This is the first instance that anyone has ever recommended it to me. I honestly thought that it had reached the dustbin of history several years ago.
Anyone who has done survey work on lava fields will know what I mean - that stuff will shred through shoes, clothing, equipment and tyres in no time. It took the barbules off my corydoras (even with a sand cap): I got those fish out and luckily they made a full recovery. When I started the hobby - Eco Complete was the first product that really wound me up.

Interesting experience

I’ve used Eco Complete in the past (nutrient rich base layer, topped with EC) - as I wanted a dark fairly uniformly coloured non-dusty substrate; it’s definitely less sharp than Seachem’s Flourite range, especially Flourite Red which I found to be a very natural looking substrate with its graded gravel size and range of colour (though local Flourite can arrive quite to extremely dusty re transport and storage)

I kept Corydoras on both substrates and never experienced any negative effects (over 2-3 years)

But, I’ve not bought or used EC or Flourite since the advent of Tropica Aquarium Soil 😉

(Note I did purchase some EC bags that turned out to have many glittery fines - Carib Sea instantly replaced these, including fast shipping over 5000 km )

 

[JPT1974]

I just posted this on another thread but it might be relevant here 😁?

“Wow it’s been a while. Hi Dedlus how you getting on? I went down your road a few years back. Although I was running Co2. I had some success and fails. The brand of aquatic soil I favoured after trying a few was Moerings/Velda brand.

Various things happened...’life’.... which ended up with the strip down of my aquarium. I set up again in January. This time I wanted a much freer substrate than purely aquatic compost with a sand cap. So I had the idea of using a couple of other Velda products. Super dense and Lelite

Super Densa is a light porous volcanic like grit. Lelite is an aquatic soil designed for use with greedy water lilies.

I mixed the two half and half, after giving the Super Densa a good rinse. I capped this with a fine washed gravel. I did put sand (sansibar river) down on the substrate at the front of the tank with the intention of carpeting. But my Cory’s loved playing the sand so much that I decided against it. Here the sand has worked its way though to reveal the substrate below. Worth keeping in mind if anyone tries this.

The results have been great. Lovely healthy root systems, happy plants and no algae. I do run CO2 at 1 bubble per second and dose daily with James C ‘all in one ‘ solution (recipe found at James Planted Tank)

I’ve set up a little, Very low tech tank at work with the same substrate with equal plants success all be it a bit slower 😁”
Anyway I hope this has been some sort of interest
John