[mommyeireanne]

I first used EcoComplete as a topper first, because I had it on hand. It looked great, but because it was light, the soil came up every time I worked in it. I still have soil exposed in there. Luckily my soil is old enough that it sticks together now instead of making muddy water. I get some cloudiness when I uproot a lot, but that settles. I have heard other people here say that they didn't like the Shultz Aquatic Soil for it's lightness, but not sure of the details. I have a bag of the Quick Crete sand (about 2mm) for use next time. It's a good color, the MSDS says it's silicate (real sand, so hopefully it won't increase my already high hardness & alkalinity). I haven't bottle tested it, as I don't even have a tank to use it in yet. Also, it was like $5 for 50lbs. It's very dusty out of the bag, though. I know some people don't rinse in El Natural tanks, but I generally give my gravel a quick rinse. The last tank I did with the smallest regular aquarium gravel I could find, but only about an inch. It's doing well. I have plenty of MTS in there. I tried sand in two Nanos, but just made a mess. I had to redo them.

 

[mommyeireanne]

The Quickrete sand is a good size, but it's light: greys and sandy browns. They have QUIKRETE® Pool Filter Sand (No. 1153) listed on the website, but appears to have the same MSDS as my all-purpose sand (No. 1152). Wonder if it's less dusty or darker? They didn't have this option in the local stores when I was looking for it. Not sure of the price. All of the tanks I've seen pictures of with pool filter media had darker sandy brown and black mix. Hope this helps.