# Substrate for planted apisto tank



## middlearth (Dec 30, 2009)

I thought I was all set to pick up some Eco Complete for the 46 gallon bowfront I'm setting up for apistogrammas "and friends". But I just saw a post that says it makes the water too hard and alkaline....! Sad

I am planning a moderately planted tank. What substrate is recommended?

I have some dark colored smallish gravel I plan to put on top if possible.

Thanks for any suggestions!


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

Pool filter sand or play sand is best. I have a moderatley planted apisto tank that has a very fine river gravel substrate. The subtrate is still a little large for the apistos to propperly sift when looking for food. Instead of using a plant substrate I use Seachem root tabs and dose a small amount of Seachem excel and flourish. Plants grow fine, and there is almost no algea. I do have about a dozen otocinclus in there though.


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## hollyfish2000 (Aug 23, 2007)

There are two kinds of Eco-complete. One is a plant substrate that is a mix of sand and small gravel. Black. It's fantastic and I highly recommend it. It makes planting easy (holds the roots) and provides nutrients that allow you to not fertilize the water column as much.

There is also an Eco-complete African cichlid substrate in either crushed coral or sand. Both would raise pH/gh and would not be appropriate for an SA cichlid tank . . .


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## adam79 (Jun 27, 2007)

I've never heard of eco-complete raising alkilinity or hardness, but I've never used it. It seems a bit counter-productive if its true. Most plants won't due as well in alkaline water. I use a mix of turface(a cheap alternative to specialized plant substrates) mixed with pool filter sand. Works good for me.


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

It seems there were some batches of the planted Eco-complete that were contaminated with something that did raise the pH and hardness. Mine never raised the pH at all, but would be much too large for geos or apistos.

There is a black sand flourite substrate from SeaChem that is a nice, small grained sand.


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## HiImSean (Apr 5, 2007)

if you're planting heavily have you considered aquasoil?


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## middlearth (Dec 30, 2009)

Thank you for your suggestions! 
I don't like the look of sand so much, so I've been looking for a gravel I can use...the Flourite black sand looks like that might be ideal. Is it heavy enough that I can vacuum a bit where there aren't plants?

(...Now that the semester is finished, I can get back to setting up my tank!)


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

To give you an idea, the substrate in this photo is a little too large for most apistos to sift adequately.










P.S. don't enlarge the photo.


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## middlearth (Dec 30, 2009)

I love that picture, DFF...I've got it set as my desktop background 

I found some very fine gravel that I thought would be perfect, and now that I look again at the picture, it looks very similar to what's in that picture! So, I guess it's not as fine as they would like, but it will have to do...

I've got the new tank set up with some plants, 5 congo tetras and 5 dwarf gouramis, and seeded with filter material from my smaller tank. If all goes well, how long will it take to reach "established tank" status, and be ready for apistos? ...A couple of months, maybe?


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## HiImSean (Apr 5, 2007)

on the "established tank" park, it depends. if you're moving existing media over to the new tanks filters then you should be good to go pretty quickly. if you're starting from scratch it just depends...


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

hahahaha, nice one *middlearth*.

Unfortunately I can not claim the credit for the photograph. Long time members here will know I have no photographic skills what so ever. A friend of mine who also keeps apistos and geos took the photo. He only visits C-F infrequently, but many people rave about his photo's. His name is *japes* on the forums.

He took some photo's recently of a couple of new purchases of mine. I recently bought another trio of Apistogramma cf. agassizii ("Netz", Alenquer) as well as a trio of Apistogramma cf. agassizii ("Pastell", Peru). I also own a couple of Apistogramma agassizii "Flamenco" (Rio Tigre) and a trio of Apistogramma gephyra "Yellow".

Male Apistogramma cf. agassizii ("Netz", Alenquer) displaying to one of his females. This photo was taken half an hour after they were put into the tank. 









Male Apistogramma cf. agassizii ("Pastell", Peru).


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