eco-complete

[Angelfish12]

I have decided to upgrade my tank to a planted one. I have some questions about the plant substrate.

1. Is there more than one different type of eco-complete?
2. Is there one that is good for bottom feeders and plants?
3. Do you have to replace it over time?
4. How do you clean it? Wouldnt the syfin suck it up?


Thank you,

Kelly

[Diana]

Substrate.
There are a lot of substrates, and more than one sort of each.
For more info look into the planted tank sites such as
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/substrate/
and
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/substrates/

Substrate:
Finer material holds the fertilizer in a way that it is kept away from the water column, but is still available to the plants. Clay soil is very good at this, and clays that have been compacted into flakes or chips are still good at it without creating water quality problems. Look up Cationic Exchange Capacity for more info.
Turface, Soil Master Select, ADA products and others are very good that way. ADA products break down. I have been using SMS and Turface for several years and they do not break down so far.

Sandy sorts of substrates have particle sizes too large to help much with fertilizers, but are usually heavier and hold the plants down better until they root. Eco Complete is like this. These products do not break down.
Potting soil that is high in sand and mineral components, and low in organic matter is another option. It may have some CEC properties.

Flourite is another product line that is well thought of for plants.

Now... Loaches and cats, and these materials:
Soil Master Select and Turface: Not a problem at all. My Kuhlies and Yoyo dig into these a lot. The other Loaches seem not to dig so much. They will hide under driftwood and sort of hollow out a spot.
ADA products: I do not use them, but many do, and there are no problems with bottom dwelling fish.
Sand such as Pool Filter Sand: I have some in a few tanks, and my bottom fish seem to stay away from it. Is it the color? It is almost white, and the other substrates are darker. Is it the texture? I do not know.
Eco Complete: I have this (the black sandy looking one) mixed in a couple of tanks with Soil Master Select. It is a sandy sort of substrate. There are no problems, but the other substrate (Soil Master Select) is lighter, so is on top. The fish are not in direct contact with EC. Here is a chart of the related EC products, including comments on 'soft belly safe'.
http://www.caribsea.com/pages/products/ ... aquar.html
Flourite (Seachem) has several products with slightly different particle shape and size and color. Here is one of them. They are mostly a clay based product line, so are much better at holding fertilizers. Planted tank people who also keep bottom dwellers seem to have no problems, but in the planted tank club I belong to most aquarium keepers have Cories, not so many Loaches.
http://www.seachem.com/Products/product ... kSand.html

[Diana]

Oh, yes... how to clean them.

Don't.

Just barely tickle the top of the substrate to loosen the debris, and the debris will go up the siphon, and the substrate stays in place. Once the plants grow in you may not even be able to reach the substrate.

[Angelfish12]

Thank you so much!

[Angelfish12]

ABout the sand substrate. How do you clean the gravel with out sucking up the sand? If it stays on top of the gravel is that ok? Do you even need gravel with it? If you don't how do you clean it than?




Sorry!
Thank you

kelly

[Diana]

Sand will not stay on top of gravel. The 2 will mix.

To clean sand and other fine or light substrate:
Skim the surface with the siphon held at an angle. Barely touch the debris. This will loosen the debris and it will get sucked up the siphon.

If sand needs deep cleaning hold your hand over the outlet tube, ready to pinch it off. Start picking up the sand the same as you would gravel. Sand will get up pretty high in the tube pretty fast. Pinch off the water flow long enough to empty the tube of sand. Then release it and start picking up the sand from the next spot.

[Angelfish12]

All the watse and food will just stay on the top of the sand? Will you ever have to replace the sand? When you clean the sand, you just make it go half way into the siphon, than squeeze it shut..and ect

[Diana]

Larger debris will stay on top of the sand. If it is not planted then very fine debris, more like dirty water, the particles are so fine, will end up deeper in the sand and may cause problems.

Planted tanks:
This fine debris is becoming fertilizer for the plants, and vacuuming the sand too deeply disturbs the roots. So don't. I have not deep vacuumed my planted tanks since they were set up.

Non-planted tanks:
This fine debris is really not that much of a problem, but vacuuming the sand will get rid of it, and also aerate the sand. Do not make the sand more than an inch or so deep (2.5cm). Mostly just skim the surface to remove larger debris. When I had non-planted tanks I would deep vacuum them in sections, perhaps 1/4-1/2 of the larger tanks at one time, then the other areas next week, and so on. Net result was that the gravel or sand got vacuumed about once a month overall. Just divided a little each week.

[Angelfish12]

So about water changes... you just suck the water up?

[Diana]

Yes. Siphon near the bottom, barely touching the sand and it will pick up most of the surface debris.

If this is going to end up as a planted tank you do not disturb the substrate anyway.

Eco Complete is a heavy substrate, but it would get sucked up into the siphon. Sand does the same thing. If you feel you need to deep clean it then keep your hand over the outlet tube, ready to stop the flow long enough to drop the EC out of the tube.