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32Bit_Fish

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I was watching some YouTube on rainbow fish aquarium. There is a guy has several large planted tanks in his basement. All his tanks are looking good, like jungle. The guy doesn't use CO2. Only good lighting and good soil.

Is soil the best substrate for a planted tank?
 

bertyboy69

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You need sunstrare with high cec rates , i used flourite and loved it, the problem with soils that have fertelizers in them is they eventually become used up and then you have to dose or use root tans anyway so its just way cheaper to buy a regular subtrate

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When I used to have a planted tank, I've used a mineralized topsoil that a friend of mine made. It's a type of soil that has been mineralized (bacteria turns organic compounds into bio-available minerals) by exposing it to oxygen and sifted through fully. That was a bottom layer covered with small gravel. It gave me great results. I really miss this tank. Here are couple of pics when it was in it's best days:







 
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32Bit_Fish

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Everyone seems to has their own opinion on what is their favor substrate. I guess I would have to continue to do my research on this topic and eventually buy some and try it out.
 

bertyboy69

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At the end of the day it really just comes down to the look your tying to achieve and wether or not you will have slopes , some aubtrates wont hold a slope so youll have to add rock iundrr it so it doesnt collapse, and all substrare will require you to eventually fertilize them so i woukdnt waste money on something like ada aquasoil and just a word of advice aquasoil leaches ammonia and alot of it idk why anyone would buy such an expensive complicated substrate

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32Bit_Fish

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Does anyone have any experience with using HomeDepot's Miracle Organic potting mix as a substrate? I saw someone on YouTube has been using them. Maybe use Eco-Complete as a top layer?
 

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