# Mixing substrate with eco-complete?



## cruizer (Jan 8, 2004)

I've heard some people mention they are using tahetian (sp?) moon sand, or regular sand with eco-complete. I have a couple bags of eco-complete on it's way, is this good enough to use alone? Would I want to mix it with another substrate? What are your suggestions, or what are you using?


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## manderx (Jan 5, 2004)

i'm going to mix mine with the moon sand, but only because i happen to already have some from another tank. i am a bit worried about it being too sharp for cory cats. the stuff is obsidian, so it's very sharp.


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## Raul-7 (Oct 17, 2003)

People usually mix with the sand for the sake of their Corys or simply for the look...but Eco-Complete will do better alone, as the sand will slowly find it's way to the bottom


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## Rolo (Dec 10, 2003)

How about layering, not necessarily mixing eco-complete with some other substrate. I was going to buy a bag each of fluorite and eco-complete for my 20 gallon – combined they will give me ~3 inches. The reason is, I can’t decide which color I want, so when I finally do I’ll just place one on top of the other. Sound practical or stupid? Otherwise to save money, I will get regular old expoxy gravel for a bottom layer in place of either eco or fluorite. Or should everything really be mixed?


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## Raul-7 (Oct 17, 2003)

If your going to mix for experimenting, then go right ahead...but people usually mix when they can't afford that many commercial substrates, so if you wan't better plant growth stick with one, anywayz the black always looks nice..:wink:


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## cruizer (Jan 8, 2004)

See, I was thinking of mixing sand with eco-complete before I put it in the thank. This way the premix fills in most of the gaps where sand would normally fall into. Then put my unmixed sand on top.
What type of sand, I still don't know what I want.


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## SCMurphy (Oct 21, 2003)

What happens to a carefully layered substrate when you uproot plants?


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## Rolo (Dec 10, 2003)

I really need to save some money so I was planning on using a base layer of Schult's Profile Aquatic Soil, and than placing a final top layer of eco-complete on that. 

First, has this profile stuff been on overall good subtrate for aquariums? Does it mess with water parameters? What color is it, at home depot it was kinda grey and I'm not sure if thats the same profile everyone talks about here.

Secondly, how un/effective is layerint, I'm not mixing because I want black only to show on top. Will their be problems with plant growth since the roots are in different substrates, and will the eco-complete be uneffective as the roots bury deeper into the profile?


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

SCMurphy said:


> What happens to a carefully layered substrate when you uproot plants?


The obvious answer is: It gets mixed up. However, it depends on what substrates you layer. Fine stuff ends up on the bottom, coarse stuff on the top. Example: In my big tank I used Profile/Loam on the bottom, and pea gravel on top. Whenever I pull up plants, or vaccuum too much, the profile comes up. Almost immediately it disappears again. I never see any Profile showing through in my tank.

If, on the other hand, the bottom layer is coarse, and the top layer fine, each time you uproot, plant, vaccuum, etc, coarse particle will come to the top and stay there. Example: Sand on top of anything else.

I don't know how fine/coarse Eco-complete is, so I am not sure if a layer of Profile underneath Eco will show up or not. The Profile that I am using (Schultz Aquatic Soil) has a reddish loamy color. Would not look good mixed with Eco...


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## Daemonfly (Oct 1, 2003)

I have 2 bags of Eco Complete mixed with one of Tahitian Moon black sand & it works very well, imho. My dwarf hairgrass is doing better where the finer sand particles are more abundant than compared to where it's more Eco Complete, plus the sand darkens the overall substrate more than just plain Eco COmplete.


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## Rolo (Dec 10, 2003)

Need some clarification, is profile and schultz's aquatic soil the same thing? Will a layer of schultz or fluorite stay under a layer of eco-complete?


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## HBK (Jan 20, 2004)

I was thinking of mixing the two, but I wanted to put a 6 by 6 section of just the moon sand as an open swimming area with no plants. It would primarily be for the benefit of the Corys. Does it sound like it would work?


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

That sounds like it should work just fine.


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