That's always an option, Ill try a couple different substrates and report back on my findings. I want to try black blasting sand, large grain natural looking sand from A place for pets and Safety Zorb.pbmax said:Well, if you don't care about looks or plants you could always just go with a pure sand tank or bare bottom with floating plants to keep up the water quality (Frogbit, water lettuce, etc.).
Alder cones, leaves, and moss would provide plenty of surface area for bio film.
Interesting, who makes the aqua sand?binbin9 said:wait so is the only problem with stratum the weight of the granules?
Sooo,, I have to take back what I said about the eco complete. I was able to figure out what was raising my PH. I had a bag of regenerated purigen which was causing the PH swing. As soon as I removed it, the PH dropped to where I wanted it. about 6.8-7ph
I actually combined my eco complete with some up aqua sand, (I know it isnt too cheap) but within a week, my fire reds blew up and I now have babies littering the tank.
Its alot easier to plant in as well and dont blow away under the HOB filter.
That is still pretty spendy, I may just mix stratum with black blasting sand.binbin9 said:upaqua - you can find some on ebay or amazon its still kinda pricey but there's no cycle time like amazonia. and I only use small amounts to do some buffering.
I havent had any issuses with stratum besides cost and the light weight of the granules. Yes Sierra has started carrying limited aqua soil. Why Africana over Amazonia? Why mix with Eco complete?binbin9 said:Im getting ready to rip out my fluval as well. I'm noticing that the breeding has slowed to nil and the mysterious disappearances happens much more with my fluval stratum tank.
I'm thinking about employing some old school UGF with some eco complete and mixed with africana.
I was at sierra today in renton and it looks like they are carrying ada aquasoil!
An under-gravel filter?? Why would you go with one of those?binbin9 said:I'm thinking about employing some old school UGF with some eco complete and mixed with africana.