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RE: Roger on mixed substrates



Roger Miller made a very good point about mixed substrates - some things
might be incompatible. In my case, I used Duplarit G, Terralit, Peat
Granules, Red Art Clay, and probably a few other things. According to
Roger's post, the Peat and the Laterite might have "gone to war" chemically
speaking, and caused the problems I experienced. Makes sense to me anyway.
Thank you Roger!

Hopefully, I don't fall into the category of -

"proponent who is successful using the substrate and well known for their
advise; those proponents aren't as willing to provide advice when problems
come up with combinations of two or more of the basic recipes".

I'm more than willing to tuck my tail between my legs and plead guilty when
I foul up, as I did when I initially setup my big tank. I have been at this
for over 30 years, but there is still a lot that I don't know. When trying
new things, we are _all_ beginners.

But there is an additional point which can be made in favour of proper
experimentation. Last fall, I got very interested in actually trying Steve
Pushak's soil method for myself. I read through all of the material which he
has on his site, and followed all of the URL links which he has gathered. In
the process, I learned a great deal which was previously unknown to me.

When I was ready to actually go out and get the "dirt", I was at a loss
because I live in a high rise in a major city. Just where was I going to
find uncontaminated soil in the middle of 3,000,000 people?

So, it was back the the Internet - I started searching local sites on the
Geology and History of both Toronto and Southern Ontario. I was literally
blown away by the amount of information I was able to discover, and the
stuff that I was able to learn about the area in which I live. It might not
have all been applicable to my aquarium, but it was very good for my mind.

Oh, and by the way, I WAS able to locate two sources of very different
uncontaminated soils (one a sandy topsoil, one a clay subsoil) within
walking distance of my apartment. I got fresh air, sunshine, exercise, a
history and geography lesson all rolled into one. Not a bad deal. Hope my
fish and plants appreciate the lengths I'm willing to go for them <g>.

James Purchase
Toronto