Re: Soil Substrates, Gravel or Laterite

[JoAnn VanDersarl <jmarella at attbi_com>]

Rich said:

>Reading through some old issues of The Aquatic Gardener, I found lots of
>suggestions to use potting soil covered with a little gravel as a good
>planted aquarium substrate.  On this list and it's archives I haven't
>heard much of that approach, and many books I've looked at have
>suggested gravel & laterite.  Has using a soil substrate gone out of
>fashion, or have people fund that gravel & laterite is better?


Rich, I thought the idea of using a soil substrate sounded more 
natural, so it appealed to me in that sense. I experimented with that 
using a small tank, proper lighting and co2 injection. To make a long 
story short, it produced a smelly, messy disgusting pool of 
glop...lol. Every time you want to uproot plants or change things 
around it causes a cloud that seems to take forever to clear. When I 
finally decided to get rid of the soil and had drained the tank, I 
noticed that the soil had a sulphur smell similiar to rotten eggs. 
That can't be good.

Soil is definitely not something I would use again.

I've used Profile soil conditioner with good results, although the 
Profile is a little light and tends to move around alot. Most 
recently I've been using Flourite. It seems to be an excellent 
product and I prefer it over anything else I have tried.

My $.02.

JoAnn


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