[jdigiorgio]

Has anyone used this gravel before. I am redoing a tank and would like to acquire some. I will need about 200lbs and DR Foster's wants 16.99 plus $5 a BAG for shipping. I live in DC and have tried the LFS. ANY help on where I can acquire some plus feedback from anyone who has used it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Raul-7]

George Williams uses this product and says it's just like Eco-Complete in that the roots hold on to the granules. But why pay that much when you can aquire zeolite from any industrial warehouse, and just soak it in a nutrient broth.

 

[jdigiorgio]

volcanit

Well, isnt zeolite white in color? How would I go about soaking it? I am looking for a very dark based gravel. I have flourite now, but i am redoing the tank and wanted to go with s much darker gravel that would be great for plants

 

[tsunami]

Eco-complete is black in color.

Onyx looks silver-gray underwater.

Carlos

 

[jdigiorgio]

eco compleate

But eco compleate cost more than the volcanit? Any suggestions?

 

[aquaverde]

Eco-complete is only one buck a bag more than Volcanit at Drs. F&S, both have the same $4.50 per bag shipping. I just bought both last week. Not a lot of difference, even with a large buy.

 

[jdigiorgio]

volcanit

is the volcanit lighter than regular gravel? I am doing a 150gallon tank so I am assuming 10 bags should be enough, but at 22. a bag????

 

[aquaverde]

Yeah, it gets $$$. I bought 6 bags, and that gave me a bit of a nosebleed.
I think all this stuff- Flourite, Onyx, Eco, Volcanit- it's all lighter than "regular" gravel. And IME Profile is the worst (lightest), but it works great under a heavier gravel.

edit- oh, and it may be expensive, but one bag of Onyx at Pestmart set me back $27. So, even with freight charges, online is the only way to go for me.

 

[jdigiorgio]

volcanit

So six bags got you how deep a gravel bed in a what size tank????

 

[aquaverde]

It's not in yet, but it should give me 3-1/2". Your 150 has exactly twice the footprint of my tank, assuming it's 72"x18". A bag of Eco covers a little less than a bag of Flourite, supposedly. I got these figures using a substrate calculator on another site, so will post back what I really get later. Hey, I have one bag open now, I'll dump it in a spare 10 and see what it gets me, then post back.

 

[aquaverde]

OK. I opened a bag of Eco and dumped it in a clean 10g leader. Got a lot of water in it, and the depth was about 1-3/4", or 350 c.i. volume altogether. Cleaned it out, opened a bag of Volcanit and did the same. The Volcanit is dry, made about 1-1/2", or 300 c.i. I would imagine if it had a few quarts of water in it like the Eco it would have settled even lower. I would have done the same with Onyx, but my bag was already partially used. Have attached a pic to give some idea of the color and texture of the 3 substrates.

Volcanit is advertised as black and red. That's even a farther stretch than saying Onyx is black. Marketing. Also, the Volcanit is very inconsistent in particle size, and the larger particles are bigger than any other commercial substrate I've used. It looks sort of like dirt. Unattractive. Won't be buying it again, even if it beats the Eco for growing plants. In the pic of bags it's Volcanit, Onyx, Eco clockwise from the top. The handfuls are Eco, Volcanit, Onyx.

 

[hubbahubbahehe]

volcanit looks like lava rock.....is it lava rock?

volcanit , volcano? from volcano?

 

[Raul-7]

It is a porous volcanic rock known as zeolite

 

[hubbahubbahehe]

zeolite? isn't that a gardening additive?

 

[Raul-7]

It is used primarily for it's high CEC

 

[hubbahubbahehe]

what's the importance of CEC anyway? if you look up "Substrates in the planted tank" in google, you will find an article that compares all the substrates...if you notice....flourite and onyx have like 1.6 CEC ...... whereas others are at 20-30...