# Looking for natural substrate



## shellybee (Jan 25, 2010)

I'm looking to get some natural substrate for a 30 gal planted tank. I'm considering something like Flourite, or Caribsea's Floramax or Super Naturals. I didn't want anything with coatings.
Does anyone know of any other products out there, and maybe where would be the best place to get it?


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## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

are you thinking gravel or sand? if you want sand, just go to the closest beach.


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## kaegunim (Jan 15, 2010)

Depends on how much you are looking to spend - those are all pricey~

Rather than a midnight raid on the local beach (which would probably need a pickaxe this time of year anyway), I bought a 4$ bag (50lb) of play sand at either home depot or canadian tire (can't remember which).

There are nice bits of small gravel in it that are dark brown and black, and overall it looks much darker underwater than in the local park. Very natural look overall~


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## DaFishMan (Dec 19, 2006)

Welcome to gta aquaria, we're glad to see another plant enthusiast joining our ranks 

Natural look would be sand or small-grain (2-4mm) river rock pea gravel.
Both are cheap.

Flourite regular gets my vote for somewhat natural looking plant substrate. If you want to go darker substrate, flourite black, or eco-complete. Check a substrate calculator to give you an idea of amount.


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## qwerty (Dec 15, 2009)

Well... If you really want to go hardcore "natural"... Topsoil is probably one of the best planting substrates you can find... If you can't find topsoil you can always substitute with potting soil, as long as it's all soil with low organic composition, and doesn't contain any sort of additives or chemicals. 

The advantages of a soil substrate is that it's great for rooting plants, it can hold a higher bacterial population, and soil also is loaded with nutrients for plants. Combine the two, and you have a substrate that's excellent at decomposing fish waste and turning it into nutrients that your plants will thrive in.

It's worth reading into.


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## PPulcher (Nov 17, 2006)

qwerty said:


> The advantages of a soil substrate is that it's great for rooting plants, it can hold a higher bacterial population, and soil also is loaded with nutrients for plants. Combine the two, and you have a substrate that's excellent at decomposing fish waste and turning it into nutrients that your plants will thrive in.
> 
> It's worth reading into.


Walstad's book The Ecology of the Planted Aquarium is a good read for anyone interested in plants and it outlines this method. I'm slowly getting a soil based tank together myself. The current recommendation is 1" of potting soil (Miracle Gro Organic Choice potting soil is the current favourite) under an inch of aquarium gravel.

Be warned, the MGOC that I found locally has lots of stick and bark in it. I'm laboriously sifting it to remove them.


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## bae (May 11, 2007)

Be cautious if you want to go with a soil layer in your substrate. You really should read Walstad's book in order to understand the system first.

Even if you do go with a soil layer, you still need a couple of inches of more inert substrate on top, sand or gravel. It's easy to find suitable sands, but you do have to wash them, and you really don't want to run the wash water down a sink drain. Generally speaking, you want a coarse or 'sharp' sand, sometimes called concrete sand or construction sand. The smooth particles of some beach sands may pack too tightly.

One disadvantage of sand is that unless you get that blinding white silica sand you have no way of knowing the lime content, unless you can test it with vinegar or other acid. A high content of limestone can defeat your efforts to soften or acidify the water, but it's good for fish that prefer or don't mind harder water -- rift lake and central American cichlids and most livebearers.

Another inexpensive and more or less natural looking substrate is Turface. It's a calcined clay that's pretty much the same terra cotta red color as aquatic soils in the tropics. It's sold in large bags by Plant Products in Brampton as a soil amendment or to spread on playing fields to dry them up for games. It has good properties for growing plants (high CEC) and the only disadvantage is that it's lighter than gravel so you may have to weight rooted plants down with pebbles until they get established.


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## qwerty (Dec 15, 2009)

I've got a copy of Walstaad's book, and it's a good read for ANYONE growing aquatic plants, as all the principals she covers would apply to any planted aquarium with any type of substrate.

As a side note to Walstaad's book... Walstaad mentions the addition of iron-rich substrate to cause toxic levels of iron... Well, I've seen the Walstaad method being combined with a layer of layerite beneath the soil, and heating cables, with great success... So if anyone's feeling adventurous, there's something to think about...

Personally I think the Walstaad method is the best way to grow plants. It's the lowest tech, and cheapest solution. But it also has the flexibility to be applied to the higher light CO2 injected aquariums, and ultimately creates a very stable aquarium over the long term.

Also, your don't really NEED to use the layer of gravel... That's actually more for aesthetic purposes because all that mulm really starts to build up and look awful if you just leave the soil uncovered... It's better to use gravel because a layer of sand compromises the effectiveness of the soil layer. I think the magazine was Popular Fish Keeping or something, but they did an article on her method, and she gave some great feedback to some of the questions and experiences they had. One of which involved covering the soil with sand.


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## shellybee (Jan 25, 2010)

Well I decided on Flourite. I mixed regular Flourite with Flourite red and am thrilled with what it looks like. The Flourite red gives some larger pieces than just the Flourite regular. Have a bit left over...ready for my next tank  
Got it for a great price too, at a place in Hamilton. They are an online store but you can drop in to pick things up at their warehouse which helps with the shipping costs. I was in the area anyways so it worked out well. The place is called MOPS (mail order pet supplies) website is mops.ca.


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## mauve (Apr 12, 2010)

DaFishMan said:


> Natural look would be sand or small-grain (2-4mm) river rock pea gravel.
> Both are cheap.
> .


Hi, would you have an idea where to look for small-grain river rock pea gravel?
I am having hard time searching for it in GTA. i went to home depot and a few gardening places but no luck..


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