# Aquatic Planting Media



## sinsoi (Apr 20, 2009)

I just bought 2 bags this stuff at my local petsmart for $5 each. I'm new to this hobby so not sure if this substrate is a good start for a newly planted tank. Have anyone try this? Any input would be highly appreciated.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Yeah, it should be fine. Rinse it first so it doesn't cloud your tank too much.

Don't forget to provide fertilizers & CO2 for the plants. Read up on the articles on this site. Substrate is only part of the equation.

It's funny, I saw this at a local landscaping/pond store for $26 a bag. I laughed at the marked up price.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

This looks pretty good for a substrate, if you like the appearance of it. However, anything that isn't sold to be used in an aquarium may have some surprises waiting for you. At that price you can probably accept a few surprises.


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## sinsoi (Apr 20, 2009)

Still deciding wherever i should stick with my oil-dri substrate or switch to this....


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## Rod Hay (Feb 11, 2006)

I think this is extremely similar to using an Oil-Dri substrate. Both are a fractionated, kiln-baked clay product, both with high CEC capacity.
Depending on which Oil-Dri product you have, the difference may be in color and grain size.

Also, this product has zeolite - the tiny white chips - which will initially adsorb ammonia. Although, not sure I'd like looking at tiny white speckles in a display aquarium. Used in a pond basket, viewed only from the top, you wouldn't see these. Viewing an aquarium from side-on they may be much more apparent. Generally to use zeolite in an aquarium, they are inserted into the filter in a bag, then removed after your bacterial colonies are established. IOW, used out of sight.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

Some newer pool filter sands are zeolite, and they have been found to work fine as a substrate. Zeolite can be other than white, ranging from greenish white to tan, just from those I know about. Zeolite has a very high CEC, so whatever good effects CEC has for a substrate should be maximized with a zeolite substrate.


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## bradac56 (Feb 18, 2008)

Rod Hay said:


> I think this is extremely similar to using an Oil-Dri substrate. Both are a fractionated, kiln-baked clay product, both with high CEC capacity.
> Depending on which Oil-Dri product you have, the difference may be in color and grain size.
> 
> Also, this product has zeolite - the tiny white chips - which will initially adsorb ammonia. Although, not sure I'd like looking at tiny white speckles in a display aquarium. Used in a pond basket, viewed only from the top, you wouldn't see these. Viewing an aquarium from side-on they may be much more apparent. Generally to use zeolite in an aquarium, they are inserted into the filter in a bag, then removed after your bacterial colonies are established. IOW, used out of sight.



If that's the case then it's very similar to the new formula for Schultz Aquatic Soil which has little blue balls of zeolite in it. I would even suspect that Oil-Dry is probably manufacturing this product for the company as they do SMS/Turface and Shultz as well.

- Brad


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