# What is the difference between Eco-Complete and Flourite in terms of plants?



## Sandy Landau

For a small low-light tank, what would be the difference between using Eco Complete and Flourite in terms of nutrition for plants? 

I know that Eco-complete changes your water hardness or pH for a few weeks while Flourite needs rinsing, but I don't know how they compare as "food" for plants.

Thank you for the information


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## Diztrbd1

I'm no expert but I did a bunch of research on these before I went with the flourite , since it doesn't change the water chemistry. Seems they are about equal as far as plant growth from what I have read. Rinsing the flourite isn't as bad as most make it sound, best to do it in a colander/strainer in smaller amounts as opposed to doing a whole bag.


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## CRS Fan

Eco Complete is enriched (it will act as a nutritious substrate out of the bag). Flourite (red or black) is an iron enriched clay. It can also absorb nutrients from column dosing with fertilizers (added fertilizer to the aquarium), however it does not supply enough nutrients in and of itself for most plants.

Hopefully that helps,

Stuart


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## teija

I haven't used Flourite, but LOVE my EcoComplete. I didn't have any problems with it other than it was TOO good, I didn't have enough plants to eat the nutrients (what I did have went crazy) and then I didn't have a good enough clean-up crew for the eventual algae outbreak.


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## Blackbar

I've used ecocomplete and Seachem's fluorite sand. The sand is amazing (the black sand also looks very slick), plants with delicate roots take to it very well. I found eco grows algae, and nothing too spectacular with growth. Tho I also know people who have had great results with eco. The benefit of these two is in a low tech tank with either of these subtrates you probably won't need any fertilizers.


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## Acipenser

I have been doing everything I can icluding using sera soil, root tabs and dosing the water colunm , plants are quite happy I pulled up one of my plants after a week to move it to my 5 gallon and the root ball was huge.


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## EDGE

A substrate loaded in nutrients such as eco complete should have a well planted tank to start; otherwise, you will be dealing with non stop algae battle. 

On the other hand, If you want a low maintenance tank, a substrate that is loaded with nutrients will cut back on the fertilizer dosing so long as you are not going with a high tech setup with high light, co2 injection, etc.


low to mid light set up such as cryptocorynes, ferns, anubias or very slow growing plant

regular red/brown Flourite will need a bit of nutrients. They don't provide enough nutrients as a stand alone product. Onyx sand or black flourite provides a source of Ca and Mg. Onyx sand acts like calcium carbonate and Magensium carbonate. 

Aside from the pre-soaked in nutrients (in different ratio), substrate is substrate. The main difference is the porosity. 

If you can find a place for diatomite, they are quite good. but not many places carry them and the color is yellowish white like a sandy river color. very porous and heavy enough that it will not float away when disturb. pH stable at 5.7, provide a source of silicon, trace elements. The price per 15kg (40 liter) bag works out to roughly $50+.


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## Treasure chest

I only have experience on Flourite. Here is what I think.
Pros
Natural color looks nice. 
Iron enriched.
Good grain size for planting.
Does not enrich water chemistry. You have more control over what to add into the water column.

Cons
Makes water very cloudy first time. Need to prewash a lot.
Price is not cheap
Need root tab for root feeder
A little too light for small carpet plants like HC. If you have fish digging, there is no way to keep the plants down before they root.


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## EDGE

Here is a photo of HC grown semi submersed in flourite onyx sand mixed. They rooted really well and was hard to pull out. This was done back in 2006. I don't have HC anymore nor the space to grow them. I was adding fertilizer every time the water was below the substrate. Ran this at around 600 uS electrical conductivity over 2x 54 HO T5.


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## Treasure chest

Nice HC carpet, I have also successfully grown HC in Flourite in my shrimp tank. What I mean is if you have fish digging or even disturbing, Flourite does not do a good job keeping HC down. If you grown them semi submersed, then I do not see a problem at all.


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## EDGE

There is a high tendency for any substrate we used for fine root foreground plants (glosso, HC, hair grass) to be uprooted unless the mat is well established before adding inhabitant to the tank. 

I find ADA soil and turface MVP far worse than flourite or plain gravel. Of course, Turface is way too light to use in the aquarium. I can't even do gravel vac without taking up 1/2 the turface with the suction. With ada soil, I find that when I plant the foreground near the surface they get uprooted, but if I buried them, they start growing underneath the substrate.


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## teija

Actually my biggest complaint about Eco is that I manage to remove a ton of black sand from my tank every time I do a water change - it just sucks up into the siphon SO easily.


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## Morainy

This was a really interesting thread. I missed it somehow. Thanks for refreshing it, Teija.


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