hoppycalif

Soilmaster certainly looks like it is the same as AquariumPlants.com substrate, but I don't think anyone ever actually confirmed that it is.

CichPhreak

Thanks. After reading further I found out that is at least close enough for a number of people to use it. Will have to see if i can get some locally. Appears that could be a problem from what I've read.

naman

just fixing the link to 3M™ Colorquartz™ Crystals - http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3...ucts/Crystals/

MatPat

Out of the options listed so far, I've used the black 3m Color Quartz T grade sand, Soilmaster Select Charcoal colored substrate, and Tahitian Moon Sand.

My favorite so far is is definitely the 3M Color Quartz. It is a true black and that is my main reason for liking it so well. It holds any plant and is inexpensive as far as "Plant" substrates are concerned, ~$20 for 50lbs. It is also inert so it shouldn't affect the water parameters at all.

Next would be Soilmaster Select Charcoal. This is very inexpensive at ~$15 for 50lbs and one 50lb bag is enough for a 75g tank. It doesn't hold plants quite as well as sand but as long as I use tweezers to plant, the plants don't come up. This is economically the best substrate in my opinion and if it were black instead of charcoal color it would be my favorite. While the batch I have seems to be inert some have claimed it alters their KH which is possible since this substrate is hygroscopic and absorbs the water along with whatever may be in it.

Tahitian Moon Sand is almost as nice as the 3M Color Quartz but it is a much finer grain size. I have had this in a 10g low light setup for about 2-3 years now and it works well but I probably wouldn't use it in a larger tank due to it's cost, ~$20 for 20lbs.

The Black Beauty blasting grit is also an economical substrate but may damage the barbs on Cory cats or the mouths on other bottom feeding fish and possibly shrimp. I haven't used this yet and probably won't. It's hard to say what the composition of this is since it is used as blasting grit.

This past weekend I got an look at the new Black Flourite Sand. It is about the same grain size as Tahitian Moon Sand and is priced similarly when you add in the shipping costs. A SWOAPE member will soon be replacing his Onyx substrate with the Flourite Black Sand so the Jury is still out on how that will work.

As with all substrates, I tend to choose them by their look first. I no longer consider any of the plant specific substrates like Flourite or Eco Complete any more do to their cost. Plants grow just as well in sand as they do in products marketed for planted tanks as long as the water column is fertilized. I prefer to use the money I save on substrates to pay for fertilizers and more plants

El Exorcisto

I use Black beauty blasting grit in my 10 gallon and it's really great stuff. I swear it's the same stuff that's packaged as Tahitian Moon. Here is the chemical makeup according to the manufacturer:

Silicon Dioxide= 47.20%, Aluminum oxide= 21.39%, Titanium dioxide= 1.01%, Ferric Oxide= 19.23%, Calcium oxide= 6.80%, Magnesium Oxide= 1.47%, Potassium Oxide= 1.60% and Sodium Oxide= 0.62%

There's nothing there that scares me about it at all, and it holds plants great.

hoppycalif

That black blasting media has sharp edged particles, so it isn't good when you have cory catfish in the tank. When I used it I loved it, but I couldn't keep any cory alive for long. 3M Colorquartz Black is probably a better choice, if you can find it.

HockiumGuru

How much of the 3M Colourquart would be recommended for a 48x18x18 planted tank? 1 or 2 of the 50lb bags? I'm assuming 2, but want to make sure before I try to get some. I have a parent that works for 3M, so I can get it super cheap

marrow

Buy two bags. One bag wont do it. I recently did a 125 and was surprised how dense this stuff is. I predict that you will use all of both bags. Some people complain about cleaning it but I just put it in a big rectangular (40 gals. or so) tupperware container added a little detergent, shoved a hose to the bottom of the container and gave it a bit of a stir and left the hose on low so there was a constant but slow overflow. I checked it a few hours later and it was clean. They spray it with a light oil to reduce dust and the detergent takes care of that. It holds plants extremely well especially if you are used to SMS or Schultz AS.