Substrate Question -Fluorite/Ecocomplete/PFS

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nzafi

Goliath Tigerfish
MFK Member
Mar 14, 2008
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I am running a 180g with 3 AC110s as a bare bottom tank. I am thinking of putting a substrate in there. In the past I have done standard gravel and black diamond blasting sand. Here are my questions:
1) Do I really need to worry about syphoning flourite/ecocomplete? I want as little maintenance as possible. In my barebottom I pretty much just change water and once in several months do actual siphoning.
2) Can I get away with PFS with AC110s? I believe the grain size is big enough that it should not be an issue. The only inhabitat is an aimara which does not really sift through sand. As the aimara grows he makes substrate cleaning a problem hence my point above
3) Is the grain size of the ecocomplete and fluorite so large that it will work like gravel and have tons of gunk fall between the grains?

I really wanted to do a natural dark red hence the red flourite or red eco-complete. I think it will really bring out the colors of my aimara. Currently with the back of the tank and bottom of the tank painted black, it makes the tank too dark.

I know PFS is the cheapest by far, but I can probably do a 1in layer of the other two for about $80-100 as I don't think I will need more than 80-100lbs of it.
 
Check out red garnet sand 30x40 grit.

Its fine but really heavy. Any debris will sit on top. I actually never gravel vac all the gunk ends up in the sump lol20170223_113232.jpg
 
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How hard was it to clean? How much did you use? Hopefully it's not as hard to clean as black diamond blasting sand.

I read some threads about it looking more orange than red though.
 
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duanes duanes only reason I like the fluorite and ecocomplete is they have the nice red that I think will make my aimara's colors pop. I need to see if I can find place that carries something you have.

J jaws7777 i guess you got yours from tractor supply or something?
 
The other thing is with the ecocomplete it's supposed to be ready to add. No need for washing and read a lot of people were able to add it like that.
 
nzafi said:
duanes duanes only reason I like the fluorite and ecocomplete is they have the nice red that I think will make my aimara's colors pop. I need to see if I can find place that carries something you have.

J jaws7777 i guess you got yours from tractor supply or something?
Click to expand...

I got it from a sherman williams. LCruz@barton.com can find a distributor in your area
 
nzafi said:
duanes duanes only reason I like the fluorite and ecocomplete is they have the nice red that I think will make my aimara's colors pop. I need to see if I can find place that carries something you have.

J jaws7777 i guess you got yours from tractor supply or something?
Click to expand...
Here's red fluorite with red flint gravel 50/50 to help keep cost down

IMG_0355.JPG
 
J jaws7777 What size tank do you have this in and how much did you use? Was thinking 75-100lbs should be plenty. I dont think I would want more than 1in in depth.
 
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