gforster

So, I was thinking about black substrates. You've got "spectra stone' (yeah, right), ADA Amazonia (expensive), Eco-complete (Expensive), Black Beauty Sandblasting sand (questionable properties), Onyx Sand (buffering capability not always wanted), and the elusive Black Flourite (are they really going to make it or is it just a dangling carrot?) -

Well, I was wondering - what if I had access to a large amount of activated carbon? Would that work as a substrate? I don't really know.

Another thing I was thinking was, "What are eco-complete and ADA Amazonia?" I mean, they have to come from somewhere. I know Eco-complete is mined somewhere in the USA.

Those are questions out of pure curiosity. Seriously, is there a viable, cheap alternative for black substrate?

John N.

I think Eco Complete is mined from some volcanic rocks, and ADA substrate is a magic manufactured mixture of clay, peat and whatever else. The one substrate that is dark, and you didn't mention was Soil Master Select Charcoal color or Turface. I believe aquariumplants.com packages it in red buckets called "Aquariumplant's Substrate." It's cheap and will do the trick. Or if you have a www.lesco.com or http://www.oildri.com/agri/turforn.htm distributer (maker of this gravel) around your area, you can pick it up yourself.



Though a massive amount of carbon is an intriguing idea which I think would serve just fine as a substrate, it's more expensive then purchasing a commerical planted substrate.

-John N.

MiSo

i picked up about 150 lbs of black 3m colorquartz t grade.

i'm going to redo my 75 gallon tank in about a week and its pretty cheap. about $20 per 50lb bag.

i've put a little in in a 20 gallon tank right now just to see how it would look.

Overfloater

I had Colorquartz in my Mbuna setup. It works great. I even used it in a planted tank for awhile and plants grew fine as well. Colorquartz is inert but it is a little dirty out of the bag. They also have an S grade that is similar to sand in size.

You didn't mention Tahitian Moon Sand. It's not as cheap as Colorquartz but looks nice.

mistergreen

if you can find espoma's products, I believe it is dark gray
http://www.espoma.com/content.aspx?type=asp

Newt

Eco Complete is man made from natural products. If you know how marketers think then you can decipher what they 'claim'. Its all natural but not naturally occurring. This is why they have had big issues with bad batches and leaching nutrients into the water column.


Seachem has released Flourite Black, Flourite Dark and Flourite Black Sand. This is a mined natural product. Look for it to show up in the online dealers any time now.

Carbon will release loads of phosphate into the water column and eventually will foul the water after it has absorbed all the nasties it scavenges.

gforster

You are right, i forgot SMS. There is a Lesco dealer not far from here and they have the charcoal stuff in stock. Very cool.

I also forgot about colorquartz. that is because i don't know where to get it. I think the closest place is in a different state, so i put it out of my mind.

Tahitian moon sand is another one that does not seem to be available near me. I've seen it in one lfs display tank, but none for sale there. They were sold out and would only make a special order.

The espoma dealer search is not working for me and I've not seen any that I can recall.

I had the leeching problems with a bad batch of eco-complete. It killed some great fish last year. They were very understanding/apologetic, replaced my four bags and sent a check to remburse for fish death. For customer service alone i give them an A+. Of course, we could have avoided the problems in the first place. . . It was during a phone conversation they told me they mined their material and hit some "contaminated" spots while mining. Maybe they refine that material and create a man-made material from it? I thought they just added the live bacteria and water.

Thank you all so much for your replies. I keep learning so much from you all.

rs79

Black sand blasting media works, it cheap and easy to get. I mean stupid cheap compared to all these designer substrates. Try Home Hardware.

gforster

well, i went to lesco today and picked up a bag of soilmaster select charcoal for $11 even including tax. Awesome deal, if i do say so myself. I will put it in the tank this afternoon. I've heard that SMS will absorb nutrients from the water. Should i dose the substrate then so that it will give nutrients to the plants or does it not really matter?

ingg

How do you find distributors of the Colorquartz sand? Would love to find this, but have never been able to figure out where to get it.