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Re: Soil Substrates, Gravel or Laterite
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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