Substrate suggestions, please.

[C3H6O3]

I have a 150gal planted. I used seachem's flourite with black gravel on top. I've had it this way for almost 3 years, and the black gravel is losing it's "color": some of them are showing their true colors like white and light brown. I also have trumpet snails, which I'm keeping under control with assassin snails and siphoning.

I have another planted (55gal), with which I used Eco-complete. It was set up about 8 months ago, and it looks great. I like it -- since it is the only substrate in there, with the multiple-sized gravel beads. It has settled nicely, with the larger gravel beads on top. I've noticed that the substrate is more dense with the eco-complete as well.

I'm thinking that if I started from scratch again with my 150gal, perhaps I should go with eco-complete. The density of the substrate might make it easier for the assassins to hunt down the future population of trumpets. I'm sure I'll get trumpets again -- snails are almost impossible to get rid of once you get them.

Any input on eco-complete substrate?

One more thing: I didn't put thermal cables in my initial setup. I'm thinking that I'll do it on this go-round. Any suggestions on cables to use?

Thanks for your input.

[hedut]

sorry but did you already thinking what kinda fish that you will get? when you think about dark substrate you should start thinking what kind discus you will get. Wild or domestic, pigeon will be peppering and some others not and Albino is good with dark substrate and dark back ground.

[PC1]

I agree, My 150 planted that I recently took down had black sand. Allthough the contrast was beautiful majority of my discus peppered up quite a bit. I wont go with dark substrate and discus again

[C3H6O3]

Thanks for your input guys. I forgot to mention that I have 16 adult discus in the aquarium. They have all been in there for 1.5+ years each and are all doing great. I'm not worried about what discus to get -- they are there. Just wondering about starting over with new substrate. A friend of mine will be willing to house my discus for me while the substrate and water stabilize.

[PC1]

You could always do half then the other half in a few weeks. If you do it that way with the fish in go to home depot or what not and get 1.25 or 1.5" tubing and suck out the substrate at the same time as a water change. Keeps most of the yuck out of the water colum :)

[C3H6O3]

Hmmmm . . . didn't think of that option!

So . . . what about the eco-complete: good choice?

[PC1]

Ive personally never used it but most people like it

[atitagain]

I just changed out my 150 and did the whole tank at once but had two large cycled filters running on it.

I drained 40 gallons into a brute trash and added a heater and air stone. I pulled the water out using a python cleaning the old gravel just to get out as much waste as I could and then emptied the tank.

Washing the new gravel incredibly well I rebuilt the tank and added the fish. The water was cloudy for about an hour and because of the two cycled filters I had no spikes.

It went reasonably well and took about an hour once the tank was drained.

[pcsb23]

I wouldn't bother with the thermal cables, I have tried these in the past and tbh they are a royal pain, and I never saw any benefit in terms of growth at all. Save your money for fish or plants :)

As for eco complete, it is a good substrate, bit dark for my liking, but plants do well in it. Nowadays I use pool filter sand and use root tabs & a product called JBL Kugeln (they are clay balls!!) around the roots of heavy root feeders like swords etc.

Another product to consider, but is fiercely expensive, is ADA Power Sand & ADA Aquasoil combos.

[C3H6O3]

I wouldn't bother with the thermal cables, I have tried these in the past and tbh they are a royal pain, and I never saw any benefit in terms of growth at all. Save your money for fish or plants :)

As for eco complete, it is a good substrate, bit dark for my liking, but plants do well in it. Nowadays I use pool filter sand and use root tabs & a product called JBL Kugeln (they are clay balls!!) around the roots of heavy root feeders like swords etc.

Another product to consider, but is fiercely expensive, is ADA Power Sand & ADA Aquasoil combos.

Eco complete comes in red as well now! :-) I currently have black gravel, and like it, so it's wouldn't be a bummer for me to use eco-complete. It works well to contrast the brightness of the fish.
67288
I'll look into ADA as well.

[tacks]

Hi I also have a 150 planted tank. I use red flourite and it looks great with the plants. Just my 2 cents. thanks Ed

[C3H6O3]

Hi I also have a 150 planted tank. I use red flourite and it looks great with the plants. Just my 2 cents. thanks Ed

Ed,

Do you use 100% flourite? If so, how well does it clean up? does it tend to siphon up too easily, like sand?

[greengreen84]

I have ADA amazonia II it has had great growth in my tank and kept the ph at 6.4 so I'm very happy with it, just not the price lol

[JustinKScott]

I always use sand for sub straight. I personally prefer white sand, it shows the dirt very well... So it's perfect for a discus tank. It makes you want to clean it everyday, no ignoring the problem.

IMHO, if you fertilize with tabs or flourish, have proper CO2 levels, and maintain light of 2.5-3.5w/g. (No more no less...). You'll grow like the dickens.

[Joander123]

I use ADA river sand, a little expensive for an inert substrate, but with root tabs under heavy root feeders, it works great and looks great..

[Apistomaster]

I used 20/30 grit silica sand when I revamped my 125. Only $7.00 for the 100# bag is hard to beat and it is closer to what is found in wild Discus habitats. I also used substrate fertilizers.
The argument for substrate heating cables are very weak. There is no significant difference in the temperature of the water and that of the substrate. I believe these systems are a wast of money and add unnecessary maintenance head aches.
The two types of EcoComplete are both fine for growing plants but too coarse grained for Discus to sift the surface of the substrate as is their natural foraging behavior. At at leas $20 a bag it is very expensive compared to silica(quartz) sand from the hardware store.
But if you care more about plants than fish perhaps the expense of EcoComplete is justified.
I tried Heckels over Black EcoComplete but they turn very dark over it so I changed to white quartz sand. That made them look much better. I don't have enough experience with many of the fancy domestic strains to know how the different strains look over dark substrates. I only keep wild or wild type Discus.

[laborelch]

I used pure black eco-complete for about a year. Plans grew well but in the end I didn't like it (too dark and algae really gets a good hold there - had some issues with clado and switched the substrate to a layer of eco-complete topped with play sand. No more issues with algae and the tank looks much brighter now.
Here a picture of the early setup with eco-complete.

[C3H6O3]

I have no wilds in the tank, and I'm thinking (after all I've read and your comments) that I'm going to go with Eco Complete red.

The black has worked very well in my 55, so I'll give the red a shot.