# Setting up BDBS substrate



## The Big Buddha (Jul 30, 2012)

Be careful, I did that and put a little too much and had some crazy ammonia, luckily no fish in the tank though. Since then I've gone back to using the capsules in a 6 inch radius rule.

You can also cut the end of a 5 ml syringe, put about 1ml of osmocote in and just inject it under the black diamond where needed.
I use a syringe like that to inject my capsules deep into the dirt layer with minimal disturbance of the substrate.


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## Freemananana (Jan 2, 2015)

Ok, thanks for the heads up. I was going to use the granules. How would you inject osmocote? Is there a liquid form? A 6" radius doesn't seem hard. I may just count out a couple balls of osmocote and do a grid pattern, but without the capsule (I have some for reference though). The capsule is just unnecessary since the tank isn't flooded.


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## Raymond S. (Dec 29, 2012)

I have placed one bead or two of them under each plant with tweezers before.
I do have 10g tanks so it not that big of a deal.
Placing them while it's not wet yet is fine for now, but then what are you going to do later when you replace them ? It may be why they come in capsules.


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## The Big Buddha (Jul 30, 2012)

Freemananana said:


> How would you inject osmocote? Is there a liquid form?


By cutting the end of the syringe right off, ( so that the opening is the full width of the syringe ID) you can just load a few beads in the syringe, hold your finger over the open end so they don't fall out, bury the syringe in the substrate and inject all the beads to very bottom of the tank without a large substrate disturbance.


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## Freemananana (Jan 2, 2015)

Alright, alright, alright. I get it now. I will definitely keep that in mind if I do decide to inject them post flooding. Seems like a good alternative to gel capsules.

Also, a pack of gel capsules is $5 for 500 shipped online. So combined with my $10 of Osmocote I bought, I may just make my own root tabs for future use. Also, I read the instructions on the osmocote and it said 1 cap for every 4 sqft. So a cap and a half on my 75g isn't that much. I'll use that and the root tabs I have for reference on how much to spread amongst the bottom. A 6" radius wouldn't use very many for the whole tank either.

I've had a few balls surface in my 30g and I just push them down with tweezers. So that is something I'm comfortable doing.

I'll proceed with caution and go lighter to not overdo it. I also have some very well established media, so it should handle the ammonia if there is any.


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## The Big Buddha (Jul 30, 2012)

I think those instructions on the osmocote are for terrestrial purposes though, not aquarium.


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## Freemananana (Jan 2, 2015)

The Big Buddha said:


> I think those instructions on the osmocote are for terrestrial purposes though, not aquarium.


Most definitely. I'll space out some root tabs and see how many granules I am looking at though.


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