Substrate Mess need Advice

[cubano076]

Hello,

I tried to layer my substrate with 2" vermiculite, 1 " of Shultz Profile aquatic soil, and around 1 " of sand.

Everything looked ok until after I filled up tank 1/3 of the way with water.


Then the Profile migrated through the sand. Now I have a mess as the various layers are mixing up.

Is there any way to recover from this without having to throw out the entire thing and start over?

[|squee|]

No way really, unless you run the thing through a sort of sand seperation device.

You must have filled up the tank with water splashing on the substrate. To prevent this, place a plastic bag or a few layers of newspaper on the substrate and direct a gentle water flow on them.

[cubano076]

I actually siphoned water through a gravel cleaner from a bucket and let if flow onto a large dinner plate I set on top of the gravel.

I guess that I could add more sand to the top, but then I will be pushing 5 or 6 inch substrate on a tank that is only 16" high (kinda ugly in the long run)

Do you think that I should just scrap all that material and start again?

[|squee|]

Well then I have no idea how the substrate messed up!

I'd change it all over if it really bothers me. Personally I will, because I'm a cosmetics person. Maybe omit the sand and go for pure aquatic gravel and provide fertilisation through liquid.

[mtanec]

substrate is the most crucial part of the tank and it spells your success in long run if u do it well..

so it is better to redo if you want long term solution.. otherwise, very likely there will be problem down the road and it will be more tedious to restart then..

a quick solution if you are tight on budget or want to save trouble, but sacrifacing height of tank is to top up with another 1/2 - 1 inch of sand.. that will help a bit and if you are worry the fertiliser layer is not evenly distributed, you may supplement it with inserts sticks if you ever notice any plant in certain part of the tank is not looking healthy enough (unlikely if your fertiliser dosing regime is good).. to play it safe, you may still want to insert the fertilisers insert..

hope this helps..

[cubano076]

Thanks for the replies and advice. I think that I will go for one of the conventional type substrates such as Eco Complete or Flourite. Which is what I should have done in the first place, but was trying to save a few bucks.