What sand/soil to get?

[plantz]

Thanks for all the the advices.
I got 22kg of 'economical sand' and plan to get 25kg of Aquatic Compost+ maybe some Root Monster loose form or JBL as supplement. Are these amt enough for my 4ftx1.5ftx1.5ft tank??

May I know the number for Far east Flora - one along Thomson Rd another around Queenstown?? Can't find them on the lfs list. And does qianhu or clementi florist have aquatic compostor anywhere else??

Thks for all the help. [:]

[PeterGwee]

You really don't have to be that anal with the substrate unless you are going the low light/no CO2 way. Most folks with high light and CO2 injected tanks focus more on water column fertilization instead as errors can be easily corrected with water changes and things can be monitored unlike the substrate way. If cost is the issue here, aquatic compost or cocopeat should fit the bill...JBL aquabasis is pretty economical as well...Seachem flourite is good stuff but might be a bit steep for a big tank.

[plantz]

Thks for the advice. But where do I get aquatic compost or cocopeat from. Best near the west. I am going qianhu in an hours time to get spare parts for my eheim 2215. hope can get some aquatic compost or cocopeat.

However can I know, as mention above, is 22kg of sand and 25 kg of compost enough?? And I have around 5kg of ada soil left from the previous packet i bought, can I put them to use?? How?? Btw the sand and fert??

Thks.

[budak]

It's up to you - it's YOUR tank. And what do you mean by "Btw the sand and fert"? I ain't no mindreader. Haven't you found any answers from all those replies??

Why on earth would you want to combine aquatic compost with JBL? They are fairly equivalent to each other, and for myself, I would think just JBL covered by the economical sand would be perfect....

If you are surfing the net and need to find addresses and numbers, there is this free thingie called the online Yellow Pages. Or Google.... And I thought young folks nowadays can dig up stuff from online fastest than you can type "common sense".

[vinz]

Go to the nurseries and ask for pond soil. Some I believe use generic potting soil, some use soil specifically mixed for pond plants.

I'm using "J Arthur Bower's Aquatic Compost" (same as Sherwin) which is a pond soil, available from Far East nursery along Thomson Rd. They have another nursery along Queensway too. New stock just came in a few weeks ago.

The diff between pond soils and generic potting soils is that the former specifically excludes excessively high levels of N and P sources and most importantly, exclude soluble N compounds like urea. They will also exclude chemical treatments like anti-fungus, insecticides, etc, which can be and probably are harmful to aquatic life. However, a few hobbyists are using generic potting soils (i.e. coco peat, peat moss, etc) without major problems. If you are getting something no one here has mentioned or tried, make sure you read the packaging carefully.

You can probably mix your leftover ADA soil into whatever you going to use.

p.s. Compost is a gardening term with 2 meanings. The first means pre-mixed potting soil. The second means the organic fertiliser created by allowing organic material (usually prunded/dead plants and leftover food, etc) to decompose. Never use the latter kind of compost, only use the first kind. To be safe, ask the nursery for pond soil.

If in doubt, don't risk it. Substrates are tedious to change/remove.