Planted Tank - Substrate Additive

Hi Guys

I want to get started on a 260L Medium Tech planted tank. I'm going to go the PFP route, capped with fine gravel and infused with Nutrifeed / Chemicult. I'm still a beginner, and have read a lot on the forums and elsewhere, but I'd like your opinions on addeding the following to the substrate:

I'm thinking of adding the following to the substrate, but want your opinions:

Iron Nails for extra Fe
This seems to be standard procedure, so I don't expect any resistance to this idea.

Volcanic Rock Dust (http://turbo-grow.co.za/) for trace minerals.
This adds trace minerals and is generally beneficial to plant and root development. Will be spreading it on the tank bottom or mixing it in with the PFP and Nutrifeed. Is this necessary if I'm adding Chemicult?

Crushed Coral to boost the hardness a bit
Our water is generally soft (KH and GH below 6) and according to Prof Dirk's material harder water is beneficial for plant growth. I want to put this either just above or below the PFP. Good idea / bad idea?

Thanx!

 

I ran my tank for about 2 years with PFP+Nutrifeed and nails for a long time. It worked wonderfully for a cheap alternate to the expensive stuff on the market.

I wouldn't put Volcanic Rock Dust down, I would rather dose with a good quality liquid fertilizer.

Crushed coral you can put a bag into your filter. Just keep in mind that this is your insurance policy against a pH crash, and not necessarily the right way to buffer the kH. I buffer my kH using a product called kH Up that I buy from Dirk in Cape Town. If you are not planning on injecting CO2, I wouln't worry too much about kH though.

 

Place the crushed corel it in your filter.

 

@DewaldC & @Zoom - Thanx, I currently have the coral in my filter in a smaller tank, but was wondering if it will work as a substrate additive. I'll be using DSD as liquid fertilizers, but was wondering if I can use the coral as an alternative to the kH - one less thing to add and worry about.

 

No. Dirk always recommends the kH Up.

The Crushed Coral is basically your insurance against a pH crash, but does not entirely prevent the pH swinging. (By the way... we want a higher kH to prevent the pH from swinging so much). What happens with crushed coral is the pH drops a little and becomes more acidic. The acid react with the crushed coral, and then swings back up. And down, and up. And down and up. So it basically acts as a buffer to stop the pH from crashing altogther, however the kH up simply lifts the kH value, and thus the pH doesn't swing.

Go check out the article section... i wrote an article on pH, gH and kH

 

@Zoom Thanx, I read your article(s) over the weekend, which lead me to wondering if adding the crushed coral was a good idea. I'll leave it out of the substrate as it will be easier to control the "dosing" if I can actually remove it from the tank.

What you say about it preventing pH crashes makes sense, but from what I've read (mostly on the internet, so not all of it can be trusted) the coral also raises the KH as it's made from calcium carbonate. Is this true, or just perceived to be true because the coral works in the way you described?

If both are true, then CC looks like a good way to prevent pH crashes, as it will remove the acidity AND up the KH?

 

From my understanding, the Calcium carbonate is created from the acid reacting with the CC. So yes, it may raise the kH a bit if your water is on the acidic side of things. But in JHB, we generally don't have a KH problem. The only time we need to start worrying about it is when you start adding CO2.

 

@Zoom Ok. I might be adding CO2 at a later stage, which is why I'm looking at maintaining good KH levels.

 

Pfp is messy. I would rather spend money on decent substrate

 

@Ryno - Thanx, I've taken that into account. At the moment I don't mind messy or having to start over . Also, the PFP and Nutrifeed together cost me R100, which isn't a lot to throw away (or be used in the garden) should I decide to ditch it.

 

I only found it messy when replanting and rescaping. And to be honest with you, I'd go back to it at the drop of a hat compared to the stuff I have now. Clouds up TERRIBLY when I move a plant.

 

You could also try the tropica substrate as an alternative to the pfp. It is cheaper than the bigger brands and it is designed to do what you want it to do...


(I'm not a sponsor anymore, but this stuff works.)

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Sean, that is the one substrate I have not seen on my LFS crawls (always seems to be out of stock) - did find the Anubias at VIP on Sunday, thanks ;-) now go and hook Pet Hyper up with some tropica love so that I can clap my paws on a bag or two.

As for PFP .. the crypts seem to love PFP, some of the stems less so, but I found that mostly depends on what you cap the PFP with - I like diamond pebbles but if you get marble crush you might not even need the coral.

Run two tanks one with X substrate and one with your PFP mix .. BTW thanks for the link to the turbo grow was looking for the dust for a while - should work, whatever you do not get in the initial substrate doping you can always add with some DIY root tabs.

Later Ferdie

 

@Zoom Curious why you advice against Volcanic Rock dust, I'm a beginner to planted tanks but from what I can tell it's the ideal organic solution to adding trace elements. They are released naturally as Bacteria break it down and are used in fish farms.
I'm hoping to run my tank only with it so that's why I need to ask.