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Of plenums, substrates, laterite and things....
Hi All,
I have a 60 gallon tank with a Jaubert-style plenum under approximately 3
inches of 2-3 mm gravel. The middle inch or so has Dupla laterite mixed
according to instructions. At the time I set it up, I was concerned about the
laterite falling through to the plenum, so I added about three handfuls of
garden store peat moss mixed in with the laterite layer. I am fertilizing
using the PMDD regime, CO2, 2 watts/gallon and everything is doing well so far
(about a month). The plenum is intended to create flow through the substrate
rather than the denitrification that it was intended for in reef aquaria. Not
wanting to debate the merits of the plenum (the plenum IS the experiment here)
or restart the substrate wars, I'm wanting to set up another tank and I am
wondering if there is a better choice of material to keep the laterite fines
from being washed out of the gravel and into the plenum. I'd like to keep the
compostion of the substrate as simple as possible so I can understand what is
happening. Vermiculite looks like a possibility - is it inert? Or is the peat
okay? It's annoying to pay Dupla to refine the laterite, only to pollute it
again. I've read the archives and there seems to be a mild disagreement as to
whether the peat serves a positive or negative role. <g>
Thanks,
Tom