Aquasoils and Active Substrates for Planted Tanks - Substrate 101 - Why They're so Good!
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- čas přidán 28. 08. 2020
- Welcome back to Substrate 101 where we'll be covering active substrates, most commonly referred to as aquasoils. There's a reason they're so popular and I'll explain it all in-depth.
Excited to pick up some aquasoil for your tank? You can find several kinds here: amzn.to/2QAbLxM (paid link)
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What a wonderful video! So informative! I have been doing planted tank for four years and used Eco Complete, Seachem Flourish and Fluval Stratum and not knowing the difference... 😅🙄🤣
This video was extremely interesting. I love researching things that I'm currently addicted to in a lot of detail. So far, this channel gives the most detail from the ones I know. Thanks a bunch!
These series on fertilizers and substrates of yours are awesome. Thanks!
Great info. I’m enjoying this series very much. Thanks
Great content, my friend! I’ve watched, and rewatched, this video, and every time, I learn something else.
Loving this series Bentley some of your best work. Thanks for the great info, keep it coming 👍😀
Bentley crushing it with another GREAT video! Thanks again for all the work you put in!
Very helpful information! This cleared up a
lot of questions that I had.
What a great video! Thanks Bentley for helping us be more successful.
Ok i need to be watching this in order and watching vids over and over until i get it till i move on the to next. this is absolutely packed with game changing info.
Thank you for sharing! Love your channel Bentley! - Little Bobby
Always super informative. Love it.
Thanks Bentley! I’m really enjoying this series!
Bentley love ur substrate series bro been learning a lot appreciate it :) keep up the good work
"I have used a dirted tank...... I am never going back"
Subscribed lol. I've not been back into fishkeeping long but doing planted tanks this time, tried dirt and pool filter sand, gravel+root tabs+loose osmocote, Stratum, aquarium sand and omsocote balls jammed into the roots of plants. I had so high of expectations of dirt with PFS as a cap, it was so far my worst disaster of a tank.
Thank you for this series. I am newly addicted to planted tanks and am so fascinated by learning all I can to be successful. My first tank was set up with just gravel with root tabs. my second tank has been set up with eco complete because I had learned a little more. I am having significantly better plant growth with my second tank. Enjoying getting to know all of the wonderful folks on the CZcams fish community!
Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience BP
This video is very useful. I'm learning about planted tanks and this was exactly what I needed. Thank you sir
Good stuff Bentley! Looking forward to your recommendation. Planning to setup a fluval flex and plan on using an active substrate.
Nice upload mate, super informative as usual 👌
Always look forward to your videos. I currently use Stratum topped with either Eco Complete or Flourite. I am going to give Landen a try in the near future.
Thanks for sharing this to the world. I am taking down notes and am looking forward to.watching about your explaination about dirtied tank garden soil next
Great video thanks for the info 👍
Always a pleasure.
I used to live in DULUTH MN I did dirted tanks to lower pH. Now I live Knoxville Tennessee I just used safy T absorbent and loving it. My crypts and swords love it. It reminds me of seachem flourite
Thank you so much for this
very well-explained :)
Thanks for the share!
Your content is awesome! Easy to understand, comprehensive and enjoyable. So, I’m an “old school” (undergravel filters etc… ) I kept tanks professionally at university zoology labs (mostly marine) and my own freshwater tanks. I’m about to set up my first high tech (co2, aqua soil, high tech light UNS system). I’m excited. I’ve done dirted tanks with a deep substrate and a sand cap, all sand and gravel. This video is exactly what I’m looking for. By the way, no one likes undergravel filters but I’ve kept marine invertebrates and you name it with them. I’m ready for a canister now. Thank you!!!!
I run low tech tank & plants. EcoComplete mixed w/ gravel works for me - came to plants later! Really interested in Safe-T-Sorb after seeing your discussion. Agree that aquasoils are not attractive as a natural-looking substrate. Waiting to hear your layered approach! Great job, loving the series. 👍
This was really interesting. I had no idea how active substrates and aqua soils worked. All I knew is that they had nutrients in them. Earlier in the year I decided I wanted to get back into fish keeping. Never had a planted tank and decided to go for it.
I have a small 3 gallon planted tank with a betta. Initially, I was going to use sand but my local fish store recommended UNS Controsoil. I'm really glad I spent the money.
I've been learning as I go. I'm certain I would have struggled more if I was using sand. Plus, my well water is very hard. If I test water with Tetra strips right out of the faucet, the PH, hardness, and alkalinity readings turn a color not even shown on the chart. The soil brings my pH to 7.2 and the hardness to 150, and alkalinity to 120.
So well put together. Crazy knowledge here. I just did a basic test on eco complete because I got in this hobby with people saying it is inert, but its not.
It most certainly is not, not as high CEC as stratum/Amazonia etc.
Bentley Pascoe I used to use just that, but now I’m slowly ponying up for aquasoil.
This is a fantastic video Sir.
Just to get super deep in the weeds. Technically, most of the inert substrates you're discussing also have a level of CEC and are not truly inert. Even silicate sand has some level of CEC. Only a chemically neutral compound, with no ionic surface charge will be truly inert. It's just that most sands and gravels have to small of a surface area to be of any chemical significance. As you go down in grain sizes to silts, and then clays; the surface area increases exponentially, and the CEC increases with it. It's why the active substrates generally have a large clay or organic matter compositions, those two categories have the highest degree of CEC.
However, for the level of discussion you're concentrating on; you are entirely correct in how the scientific theory is applied to "active" and "inert" substrates. I'm talking at a deeper level because I enjoy the topic, and you're quite correct in bypassing this level of detail in your video. But seeing a content creator dig this deep into substrates is great.
And to touch on a very specific point as a soil scientist (14:00). Fired clay never "dies". From a chemical perspective, two things can happen to degrade the aquasoil.
First, your binding cites (the CEC sites) can become saturate with less useful ion and essentially become "full". This is based on the chemical charge of the ions in your water. For example something like K+ which has a +1 charge is more likely to be easily lost and re-gained over time. However, something like Mg2+ has a stronger ionic charge, and so it is less likely to be "knocked" off the exchange site. Thus, if your aquasoil becomes inundated with ions like magnesium and calcium, over time the CEC sites are less likely to bind lesser charged ions like potassium or sodium. They effectivly become "clogged". While they're not dead, they become less able to readily exchange ions, and thus exchange a more narrow (and less desirable) number of ions.
Second, Organic matter (OM) tends to slowly break down over time. highly decomposed OM like humus is quite stable, and it too has a very large amount of CEC. But it too slowly breaks down. Thus any aquasoil with a large OM constituent, simply lost it over time. which lowered the overall amount of CEC available in that soil.
The third issue is a physical property, and that has to do with compression and compaction. These aquasoils can simply loose shape over time. Or they can have their pore space clogged due to erosion of the aquasoil, detritus, mulm, or polymeric films (bacterial bio films). This cuts down water movement and diffusion, leading to anoxic and even anaerobic conditions. While not "dead", if these aquasoild compact it can lead to conditions that are far below a desired aerobic soil.
Barring those 3 things, generally speaking: aquasoil should be able to last for decades! Fertilizers, fish food, & nutrient cycling (form invertebrates and bacteria) all renew the available ionic nutrients the plants generally need.
I hope that helps answer that point of discussion.
In Europe, some people use akadama, a japanese clay used in bonsais. It works fairly well once it is saturated, because it's an inert clay in the begining
I'm always trying different substrates but my favorites are eco complete and fluval stratum. But I haven't used them that long, not even a year yet and I was always told to replace the stratum every 2 years or so, well now I know, that's a dang Scam! Lol great video!
I have modeled my tanks using Kevin Novak's advice of setting up a plenum, and baked clay (cat litter in my case) with a sprinkle layer of Florinbase laterite powder. I also use a thin layer of aquarium gravel for aesthetics and I found it helps to keep stem plants anchored better. So far so good
This is great. I have stratum in a 5 portrait, and in part of my divided Custom lab/bench tank. It has one section of the eco complete super natural light color sand. Things that root have strong roots. Another section has stratum. I want to add the supernatural red, it's red clay I think. Then I'll have three sections in the same column, but I don't know about adding that super natural to a existing tank that has livestock in other sections of the same column.
I personally use dirted tanks because I treat my tanks as an extension of my outdoor container garden, combined with Ms. Walstad’s research. I’d done lots of research on soil ecology, container soil structure and CEC, so running systems like small ponds with some of the same tools I use outside is convenient and logical.
All that said, I get the downsides, but I still think the diversity of microbiology that deep substrate beds provide is important and often overlooked. Especially with an outdoor container garden; I already do a good bit of work to overcome the challenges of growing plants disconnected from the soil food web.
Bentley really enjoyed the video and watching your Dojo loach ( Aka danger noodle ) in the background. Looking forward to the rest of the series. Have 2 Dojo loachs my self one of my favorite fish . What do you think about mixing Eco Complete and gravel do you believe it would work well?
It can work yes of you can use gravel like a cap.
I'm starting up my first planted tank and following your lasagna method!!👍👍🍻
Hi Bentley. Enjoy your videos and info very much. Is there anything you can do however to improve the 8 bit sounding audio quality on your vids?
Part of this has to do with how I film. It should get a lot better when I convert my garage as I can insulate a lot of excess outside/road noise away that is nearly impossible to clean up in post production
Thanks so much for doing this series! Going to set up a new 90p with stratum base and eco complete cap. Hopefully get benefits from both.
I've done this in a few tanks, works well!
@@BentleyPascoe Thanks. Open to other ideas. In Western NC on well water. Fortunately it's not too hard. I'm with you on the MC. No luck at all in straight Stratum. High energy system in the new tank. Going to try some Cuba as carpet.
@@gsmhnc12 you might look into a cap of the Amazonia powder type or Brightwell Rio Escuro VF to help hold the carpet in
2nd....Thanks Bentley, great info...
Hey Bentley, great videos on substrates. I recently finished building a 42 gallon lowboy tank and decided to try active substrate (stratum & eco complete 50/50) Its lightly planted currently as I'm waiting for more plants to come in and it has plenty of aged wood. I'm starting to get some algae on the front of substrate where the filters push the water down against the glass. I'm using a large sponge filter from another tank and media as well from another tank to seed it. I'm wondering if I should do more water changes to get the nutrients out of the water column as the tank goes through its cycling process.
I would water change a little more until you have all the plants in
I have flourite, flourite red, flourite black, and eco complete. Jury is still out on my preference, but they are all noticeably better than my gravel plants.
I love the way you explain things from a practical, this is how "I" got good results - your mileage may vary - relevant to your style & some basic variables. without needing a science degree. I do like some of the deep details also. but I basically sift through all that to develop my own practical version of "this is how to get good results". I've watched a bazillian videos. checked out web sites. and got lot's of different information and "opinions" lol :) .. so far I've got 4 inches of CaribSea Echo Planted. a Fluval 3.0 light & a Tidal 75 filter. on a 20 gallon tall. the only plant I have so far. is a terrestrial Spider plant on some floating drift wood. it's growing like a weed under that 3.0. with long roots in the water. I'll be getting some Pathos & Philodendron to .. just cuz it's easy & it'll look cool .. I'm saving up for a Co2 Art Pro SE complete system. & I'm planning to try Florin Multi to start with. I like the idea of it not having any Nitrates or Phosphates. I'm thinking I should be able to provide those with livestock and not have to worry about a drastic algae outbreak from too much Nitrate before my plants get going. I can always adjust or change to a different fert. if that idea doesn't pan out. I plan to start with super easy plants. a couple small Amazon Swords, some Jungle Veil & maybe a Cript or 2. I've grown Swords & Jungle Veil with really bad florescent light and inert under gravel filtration years ago. so with good light, active substrate, easy plants + low & slow Co2. I think I'll be pretty well set up for instant success .. then once I've gotten familiar with how to "tweek in" all of that. I can move up to what ever plants strike my fancy .. Thanks So Sooo Much for sharing all the great content & (super helpful) information ..
Great job Bentley! You know me... just plain gravel lol.
Great channel, Bentley!! currently cycling a heavily planted 10 gal tank with Fluval Stratum substrate. I’m 3 weeks in and my ph is so heavily buffered that it’s hanging around 6.2-6.4 😱 I don’t think my betta is gonna care for that! My nitrates are still off the chart high in spite of the plants, but not getting whole lot of growth yet. Hope it settles down
It should, just do regular water changes.
Hey Bentley, thank you for this video, it's very informative! I'm going to be upgrading two of my smaller tanks and I'm doing some research on pros/cons of different substrates since these new setups will be planted tanks. My question to you is, if my well water is very hard with a high pH (kH 10, gH 9, pH 8), if I were to use something like aquasoil or akadama that would lower the pH, would water changes pose a danger to my fish because theoretically their water would be softer/more acidic and I would be adding hardness/alkalinity to it from my tap?
The capacity to buffer will only go for so long in such hard water. It should not bring it down enough to cause problems.
I have a 55g with home depot river gravel. I love the look of my tank, going for a North Georgia creek bottom look. Should I redo it and add aqua soil under the gravel, and how can I do this the easiest way possible.
If things are going well, don't change it. You certainly can use gravel, it just takes a little more work to keep plants happy in it. If your plants and fish are healthy and show good color, you're fine!
The reason people say it dies after a year or two isn't because it won't grow plants anymore, its that it's buffering capability is gone. Big deal if you're using it for Caradina shrimp. I replace half annually.
Hey Bentley, thanks for the videos. I am trying to find what is going to work for me and I am leaning towards Active Flora. I am hesitant to try an aquasoil because, don't you have to replace the soil after a couple years? I hear it starts slowly turning to mud over time and needs to be replaced. I am looking to set up a tank and dose with root tabs or fertilizer as needed. Your thoughts?
I think that depends heavily on the aqua soil you use. I have tanks that have been going for well past 5 years at this point where there's no breakdown in the various aqua soils in use. So I've never replaced soil, the guppy mansion has soil from a tank previously run by a friend, that stuff is on about year 8 now and it's doing great
I really appreciate all of the hard work and research you put into your videos! Just a friendly suggestion... try to modify the colors on your introduction logo/banner, because your first name is unreadable on my computer.
I have a newer one that should be much easier
Hello Bentley, can I use aquasoil that has some mold or do I need to clean it before I put it back in the tank? I stored it in a bucket and without completely drying it but I did strain out all the water beforehand.
Clean it. You don't want the mold in your tank
I'm just using eco complete, but I'd like to try something else that isn't so sharp for the bottom dwelling fish.
Gidday Bentley, its john here from down under Australia i have a 5 ft tank .i am trying to aquascape this tank have put in the aqua soil in and capped it with coral sand - calcium carbonate by mistake do l have to remove this.? i want to have a planted tank with livebearers , my water already at ph of approx 7.5 and will be using co2. ;s it ok to put a small cap of gravel on top of the aquasoil for decoration. Enjoy your videos immensely.John
My apologies for the delay in getting back to you. Honestly that's probably not an issue. Just monitor your general hardness and as long as it's not getting too out of control the price should be able to handle it.
My go to is eco complete topped with fluval stratum. You see those M. Williams creeks finally on the market in the US?!? Oh boy those look beautiful and can't wait for more to be in the hobby.
Who put them up?
@@BentleyPascoe Roseline17
I'm going to try this. Do you rinse your eco complete?
great video love from india
Hey Bentley, always enjoy your knowledge. So I'm going to redoing my 125gal that is currently sand with CO2 and I am going to change to ADA and possibly not run co2. My question is how deep should I make the substrate and doyou grow AR'S and other reds without CO2?
thanks
I've only done AR with strong red color in co2, without it's a greenish, yellow top and pink under.
@@BentleyPascoe that's kind of what I thought, I just have not really impressed with CO2 since I added it. I guess using the ADA should make a difference. Is there any tips you have for CO2
also how deep should ADA be?
@@marshallroworth3850 soil depth 3" should work unless you have heavy rooters like swords or crypts, then you'll want 4" or more. Co2 is not about huge changes until higher concentration. I like low co2 for a small boost in growth and plant density without having the huge increase to maintenance
@@BentleyPascoe Yes I think I like low co2 as well because the fast growing plants just end up growing way too fast then you trim a d they don't look as nice.
Thanks for the reply I really appreciate it.
Do you gravel vac AN active substrate? Could an excisting heavily planted tank with rainbows and gravel as a substrate be mixed with an active substrate? I mean with plants stay in place and fish are in there?? I'm intending to do mix up my gravel with active substrate section by section, I hear it needs new cycling and sometimes leak ammonia?? Great topic Bentley. My issue now is that delicate plants do not root fast enough in my gravel( well established) to survive.
If you want to mix active substrate in, get Brightwell's Rio Escuro F, it doesn't leach ammonia, just make sure you rinse it well before adding it to an running tank. I don't typically gravel vac active substrate, but if I see large or thick area of mulm sitting on the surface, I will skim that off.
I’m planing a planted nano tank using Amazonia Soil Powder. Would there be any advantage to layering under or topping it?
Purely cosmetic
Would UGF help pull liquid fertilizer down to the aqua soil? Thanks
It can yes, because of how the flow is moving
This video is good and beneficial! Just a question, once you set up a tank with aquasoil, should you do water changes daily for 2-3 weeks to remove extra nutrients and ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates?
It depends on the aquasoil, some yes, but not all. Basically do a few, test the water and look for the usual signs: algae, have you had brown algae yet, is there green algae on surfaces? Plants: new growth? Etc
@@BentleyPascoe Should I also do some tests on the water quality? Also, I am planning to use ADA aquasoil.
I would yes, ADA tends to leech ammonia for a bit, so make sure you do several water changes early on and don't add fish right away
Am I the only one that's literally scared to hear that the next episode is going to bash on dirt?... Style tuned folks and hit that like button and subscribe if you haven't and that notification button seems like a reallllly good push right now. (Good luck Bentley). :)
My experience with fluval stratum is it buffered my ph dowm to 6 or who knows the bottom of my api ph readhings chart but i had a kh of 3 or 4 soo i compemsated with crushed coral in a media bad just in the back of the tank. Source water is over 8. I started adding ial and botanicals we shall sè what happens when i half the crushed coral now theres a sand cap and my readings went back to 8 so far. 😅 but my kh went to 7 so theres that maybe the shallow sand cap made a difference or the fluval stratum only does that temporarily we shall see i guess 😅
What is " mulm " ? I am setting up a 135 gallon tank . I am trying to go with substrates that don't effect the PH . I mentioned Activ - Flora Planted Aquarium Substrate . What's next . You said I could layer or mix it . Need names of products and how much .
Hi Bentley, something is not very clear for me. Do you consider Base layer fertilizing substrate as active substrates too ?
The base layer fertilizing substrate I'm guessing you mean is something like ADA Power Sand? If so, then sort of. It doesn't do quite as much of the CEC and buffering work and is designed mostly to begin the bacterial colony.
@@BentleyPascoe TYVM for your answer. I noticed you said aqua soil "buffers the pH down". Something is always foggy with the term "buffer" when it comes to aqua soil. What does that mean for you ? That the soil has the power to make the water slightly acidic or that the buffer has the power to prevent pH variations such as alkalinity ? Or both ?
Bentley, I need your help! I realize I am a little late to the party but I am crossing my fingers and I am going to just lay it all out. I have been a fish keeper of goldfish for a long time and want to try something new. For the past year I have been doing my homework to prepare for having fish such as rainbows, tetras, and angelfish ( I know they are not ideally compatible). I just recently bought a 125 gal tank. I am thinking of doing an anoxic bed utilizing an under gravel filter with a very low flow of 02. I was considering your idea of mixing ph lowering substrate with Flourite red on top of the plenum. My biggest issue right now is water hardness (8.5) and 30 ppm nitrate in my well water. My goal is to achieve about a 7 ph so I can have plants and fish I want. By doing a 50 % mix of soil, will I lessen the effect of the ph? I also heard that I will burn out the soil in a few months with a high ph. Like you, I do not want to have to tamper with the soil, especially in a plenum. I have also considered doing 50% ro water with my own, which brings it to great parameters (7 ph and 20 nitrate) but will be a big pain for a 6ft tank. What are your thoughts? Really need some direction and sound advice..
If we're looking at 8.5 pH I wouldn't stress too much. You could cut the water with RO to make it easier, but overall I don't think your parameters with what you've provided are that worrisome.
Bentley, do you wash your stratum? Thanks so much!
I don't, but usually I'm only adding it in brand new tanks
@@BentleyPascoe thank you, this will be going in a new tank with eco complete ( following your recipe lol) just seemed there was so much controversy on the ' wash / don't wash!! I love your video's btw, love the detail and how you are clear and stay on topic!! Great info!!
Used eco-complete because of the stories about clay substrate breaking down. What's the downside to it?
When the clay breaks down, like dirt it's super messy when moving plants
OMG... I through away my first amazon aqua soil thinking that it wasn’t good anymore. It’s not in my flower garden and has been for a 1 and a half years.... Can I still scoop it up, clean it and pour it in my tank? Would I mess up my tank if I did??? Not saying I’m going to but could I save the aqua soil? I still see it and it hasn’t loss it’s sphere shape... my Lavenders doing great.
I would have concerns over the potential microbes picked up being in the garden at this point and avoid it
I set up a 50g rubbermaid tub to grow out crypts and I put soil and capped with a mix of Flourite sand and pool filter sand. I thought that bc of the cec of the Flourite that maybe it would hold some of the nutrients leeching out of the soul even if it would be a very small amount. Is this true at all is my question lol
Some perhaps, but not enough to negate water changing
Okay thank you, my thought was to prolonged the life of the substrate but now I don't think that's really a problem in the first place lol. But the minnow/guppies in there are doing fine (idk nitrates can't test atm) even with no water changes yet after 2 months. I try not to change my water until my kh starts to dip but I'm in ohio and my water is very very stable so that helps a lot
@@BentleyPascoe thank you for helping and replying. It means a lot especially to someone who doesn't have anyone to connect on something like this. Thank you.
I'm wondering what effect adding zeolite granules would have as an amendment to a substrate would have? I'm guessing that it depends on the substrate and other factors. Has anyone tried this to avail?
The short answer here is that zeolite is typically used as a short term solution to ammonia issues. As it's man-made, it's purely and absorbing compound that exhausts quickly. Long term you'd get limited, if any, benefit in your substrate.
@@BentleyPascoe Thank you.
"...it's all holding it's shape" do you gravel vac?
I rarely do.
After my first viewing of this video I started looking all over for more information. It just looks like such a great system. I was just wondering if this is more directed to people who are only interested in plants, and willing for really limit fish. I watched a video from ADA. It looked like an official company video, and when they got to the end the guy warned against using their aquasoil system if you were going to have any catfish in your tank.
Most of the active substrates are best for planted tanks, but you can have a higher stock of fish as long as you do correct maintenance and water changes
@@BentleyPascoe Thanks
I have a 75 gallon tank with eco complete and black gravel mix. The tank is now 7mths old and my Ph keeps crashing. My Ph was at 7.6 to 7.8 here in the Midwest with very hard water. Now when I test I'm getting 6.4 to 6.6. This is a heavily planted jungle tank with lots of mopani wood. I have it stocked as a community tank neons, corydoras, danios and 5 betta females and mystery snails. What can be causing this crash as my tap water is 7.6. What can I use to stabilize my tank naturally?
It's very possible that the mopani is softening your water because of the tannins and other humic substances that leech from the wood as the wood decays. Another way that we would help rectify this problem is by adding some sort of carbonate hardness to your water. Most likely what you're running into is a lack of carbonate hardness aka kH, so despite the fact of the water comes out of the tap at a higher pH without the carbonate hardness to maintain that pH you're seeing these crashes. We can do this by adding things like crushed, coral or aragonite. There's also buffering substances like something as simple as baking soda, or calcium carbonate and very similar things like that.
@@BentleyPascoe
Can I add crushed coral to my Fluval 407 filter. My Kh is only 6 when it used to be
12.
@@Stacyahmad99 yep, just put well rinsed crushed coral in a mesh bag and you're set
@@BentleyPascoe
Any certain brand that would work best? This won't drastically change my ph will it? This will be a slow release right. I don't want to stress my fish.
@@Stacyahmad99 it will increase your pH, but it adds mineral content which is healthy too
And also was that all in one take?
Oh no, there's a few verbal flubs I cut and had to re-say, but I don't use a full script. I basically run off bullet points
@@BentleyPascoe may we have the pleasure of a blooper video one day?
@@damiangrouse4564 perhaps! Most of it is small stuff where my brain is running faster than my mouth
@@BentleyPascoe 👍
💯👍👍
🙂👍
I like the results I get from aquasoils. I just hate the look of it. I can only use it in tanks in which I intend to do carpeting plants or just a lot of plants so I never see it lol
i actually hated the look so much i took it all out and threw it away. i didnt know how good that stuff was i just could not stand how un natural it looked so i went back to dirted capped with sand/gravel mix. i really wish i would have used it like i did the soil.
Why the dislike? Don't you like free help.
Yea u kept aqua soil and spent alot of $ on addatives. A proper mixed dirt substrate will not need ferts 8 to 12 months estanlished. With fish will not neeed ferts. Proper water flow . i use 1 power head and sponge filter. I only use power head on 30 gallons and up lighting is important i use grow lights that are full spectrem put. A good aquarium lights enjoyed this and all it posts on soil. I do watch ur vidieos
If you mean root tabs that was about $15. Water column ferts have a cost yes, but I would use those in any tank to ensure robust plant health.
What abou dosing ferts in water
@@mikefritz4111 I already said I use them, costs a out $30 a year for this tank. That's nothing.
Ok 30 per tnk ht not To bad but im on budget but thats nott bad i get it. By the way and i dont want to heatit i live in south 4ern ca. Maybe u could to a cold water vid. I always watch u
1st
Okay to hit thumbs down four times as well
Hey Bentley I was wondering if you think I need a base layer with uns contrasoil. If so would using Ada power sand cause algae spikes?
With most aquasoil there's no need for a base layer. The crazy high level aquascapes use it, but it's rarely something you need.
Great content, my friend! I’ve watched, and rewatched, this video, and every time, I learn something else.
Great content, my friend! I’ve watched, and rewatched, this video, and every time, I learn something else.