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Thread: wad's the best combination for substrate

  1. #1
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    wad's the best combination for substrate

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    wad's is a good combination, best combination for substrate?

    or is there any combination of substrate for like specific type of plants?
    e.g toninas will do better in amazoian than in normal substrate

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    Imo, there is no best substrate around. Generally we add peat, mulm and base fertiliser to the bottom of the tank, and cover it with a layer of substrate like Lapis sand or soil like Aquasoil or something.

    There is however some truth in that plants establish faster in soil substrates compared to sand ones like Lapis imho.

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    which is the more commonly used combination? but if u use peat and ada won't the PH be like super low?

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    JBL base fert and ADA AquaSoil? My previous setup combination.
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    I'm not sure myself For me I'd use peat/mulm and a coating of JBL base fert. It's then topped off with ADA Aquasoil.

    The amount of peat to add is actually just a sprinkle, just enough to cover pepper lightly the floor of the tank. The major pH-lowering will be from Aquasoil if you add it.

    Peter reccomends Flourite. Imo it looks good, and doesn't become mud like Aquasoil. You could try that in place of Aquasoil too.

    Also take a look at this thread.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Barr
    Folks have been asking what are mulm and peat are for and why add them.

    Mulm- this is the stuff that settles on the bottom after you vacuum your substrate after you pour off the clear water. Another source is from your filter sponge. It's mainly plant leaf detrital matter or also from driftwood decay. Acting on this detritus are bacterial and fungi and a wide variety of smaller microscopic associated organisms in the upper aerobic regions.
    This organic material is very labile, easy to breakdown and be reminerlaized for plant nutrients.
    The main purpose for adding this if for an inoculate for seeding the new tank with live thriving organisms that are present in a healthy mature tank. It's much more than simply bacteria.
    It has a great deal of surface area for the bacteria to live on, lots of the other associated organisms beside bacteria also but it also supplies the these organisms with a good food supply till the supply of detritus builds up enough in the new tank to supply these organism with a food source. The mulm also acts to protect the live culture when transferring. Mulm can be dried out and used in large amounts also when added the bottom layer of the substrate.

    Peat- (I use ground peat moss, 2.39$ at Home Depot etc) peat is moderately non labile, it'll breakdown, but it'll only happen very slowly. It can act as the carbon food supply but this is slow. It acts to bind and chelate a number of of nutrients and when used in moderate amounts can enrich the substrate. It also adds some reduction in the new substrate which is lacking initially.
    This moderate reductive nature allows better conditions that are similar to an established tank's substrate without waiting for the the tank to mature naturally. More Organic Matter(OM) will cause a mature substrate to have a greater reduction potential, Eh, and allow cations like Mn2+, Fe2+ to be released slowly but the trick is to have this reduction to occur slow and controlled. Too much labile organic matter wil cause the substrate to become too reductive for replanting and release all the cations to fast. You can add laterite, Flourite etc to buffer this OM reduction and this will work ar moderate loading of OM, but adding too much will be detrimental and cause too much reduction. The effect of the peat wears off after about 1-2 months and then your detrital OM cycle has already started and will maintain a good reduction level in the substrate.
    Good material for reading from Tom Barr extracted from APD.

    Aquasoil has quite a bit of peat baked into it...why would you want to add more in the first place? Peat isn't a miracle drug for plants. You only need to add a bit at the bottom of a substrate for inital startup and thats about it. Having it influencing the water column too much is going to cause problems with CO2 measurements which is the number one issue for folks who use carbon enrichment methods. You can get around that issue but newbies don't really know much and think the measurements are always accurate. Not always the case even with the best kits.

    Regards
    Peter Gwee

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    what else does bros out there used?

    any type of peat will do? those from florist also can?

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    I use peat bought from HomeFix or any DIY store out there..

    It's under the brand "Horti" and named Horti/Spaghum Moss.

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