Seattle_Aquarist

Hi Vadimshevchuk,

Wrap the bag in a plastic garbage bag, it keeps forever!

rjfurbank

I have used Flourite black sand in a few of my shrimp tanks and have really liked it. Have had good growth of plants (w/ regular fert dosing) and it is cool to watch the RCS sift through the small grains of the sand.

Vadimshevchuk

thats why i wanted a sand type substrate... will i need to put anything else like root tabs and such for turface?

rjfurbank

I haven't added any root tabs-just water column fert dosing. If you have a bunch of heavy root feeders you may want to add some from time to time but I have not found it necessary. However, I am keeping mostly stem plants and crypts.

Vadimshevchuk

well im gonna have only 19w on the 10 gallon. So only ferns crypts and anubias. I am gonna go with turface i think since i can only geteco complete in my city and i dont want it since i have some in my 29 gallon and i want to try diffrent things. I would try seachems black sand but they dont have it localy and i dont wanna get it shipped.

Diana K

Turface will remove the KH from the water. In my tanks it goes from around 5 degrees out of the tap to 0. This also crashes the pH to 6 or lower.
Add some coral sand mixed with the turface, or in a bag in the filter to prevent this.
Turface and Soil Master Select have a very high cationic exchange capacity, so are very good in a planted tank. They tend to be rather light, and do not hold the plants down very well.

3M Colorquartz is a sand-like product that is available in many colors (including black). Google 3M and use their dealer locator. This is a swimming pool product used to give a different color of finish to swimming pools. It is inert, fish and shrimp safe, heavy (easy to clean) but has no significant CEC, so is not so great as a soil. Local swimming pool supply stores and contractors will probably be a good source for this product. It is available in 2 grain sizes.

dawntwister

My favorite sand substrate is river sand. Cost only $3 at landscapers. I use it to cap topsoil.

Vadimshevchuk

Well i used eco complete. =/ and its a white cloud minnow tank for updates. =D

El Exorcisto

I'd personally go with Miracle Gro Organic Choice, capped with whatever sand you can get your grubby paws on. My 55 uses it capped with Black Diamond, a blasting grit available at Tractor Supply for $9 a bag. My little 10 uses it capped with Lowes' "multi-purpose" which was $6 a bag. All told it cost me $21 to put substrate in two tanks and I doubt the tanks will stay up long enough to burn out the substrate (meaning the tanks will be changed inside maybe 5 years).