# Aquasoil/substrate alternatives - Turface, Can Dry, SafeT Sorb, etc ?



## Bunny (Oct 13, 2013)

Hi everyone,
I'm looking for cheap substrate alternatives. Does anyone have any experience with the Black Pro League Turface? It looks really nice in pictures and very similar to "official" aquasoil types.
I also saw someone linking to this: Can Dry Absorbents - Environmentally Safe Granular Absorbents Can Dry stuff. That sounds like it would work as well but I would ideally like to hear some first hand experience on how it works and what it does to water quality.

My current community tank just has washed play sand on the bottom and while it works... its not great. my shrimp tank has Ecocomplete which is really nice but also way too expensive to cover an 80 gallon.


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## bonsai dave (Apr 21, 2010)

Surface doesn't sell the black or grey coloured soil any more there was a few issues with it . You can only get the red coloured soil . You can get a 50 lb bag at direct solutions in Vancouver on Manitoba street for about $ 23 .


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

You can also try Akadama soil. I've seen results of it and in low tech tanks in the future I plan to use it as it doesn't break down like ADA or Florabase. The caveat is that it's brown like Florabase so it may not be the look you're going for.


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## Bunny (Oct 13, 2013)

Thank you for the info. Does the red turface change the water chemistry much/at all? any experience with putting it into tanks? does it cloud the water much? how is it to plant in? how do the plants do?

Akadama looks fairly nice but seems as expensive as the eco-complete or flourite and I'm trying to go a little cheaper


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## bonsai dave (Apr 21, 2010)

I have used it on my wife 90 and my 170 tank and didn't have problem it won't change the water chemistry. You just need to give a good rinse when you get it. Akadama is good but is expense and is getting harder and harder to get out of japan.


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## Bunny (Oct 13, 2013)

Awesome with regards to stable water chemistry. I was reading that some of the baked clay substrates (safe T sorb) would suck all the KH/GH out of the water and make it soft and acidic.

How does it compare to sand with regards to plants/rooting?


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## randylahey (Jun 25, 2013)

I linked the candry stuff and used it in my 90. It was alright. It does a have a high CEC and sucks up a lot of nutrients . It looked nice but, I found it to be too soft. Everytime I would pull some plants and rescape a little, it would create a huge dust cloud which means all that dust is going straight into my filters. I had to clean my filters fairly often to keep up with it. Everything inside was coated in dust sludge. Because its so soft, it was a little tough to plant in it. While trying to push the tweezers down into it, the candry would compress and dust up. You would have to wiggle the tweezers around pretty good to get a stem in deep enough. I broke off many a stem trying to replant. When I switched my 90 to a new 75, I went with eco-complete. It might cost a lot more but, it will last a lot longer.


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## AccidentalAquarist (Sep 11, 2013)

Bunny said:


> I'm looking for cheap substrate alternatives.


Being the cheapskate that I am, makes those some of my favorite words... 
The cheapest (and best IMO) plant substrate is good old garden soil capped with playsand. To do my 90g it cost me about $10


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## corrie (Aug 10, 2014)

i used organic potting soil in my 55gal with playsand over top it cost me about $12 but i put about 4" of the soil in my tank them 1" of playsand my few plants i have in the tank are growing like weeds


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Soil is a good medium, but only if you never/rarely replant. If you have to pull up plants then it's going to be a mess and could potentially foul the water.


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## Bunny (Oct 13, 2013)

I was initially planning to go with soil but I have no plan for the scape and will be moving things around frequently as I plan to buy plants in fits-and-spurts to keep the initial cost down.
I also read that soil needs an initial "gassing off" period where ammonia and the like leech out and once the tank is full I need to transfer my fish soon/same day as I don't have space to have two tanks running even for a few days. The new tank needs to be in the same spot my old one is...

I am really leaning towards the red turface... red is not ideal but it is cheap  If I could afford it I would go with eco-complete in a heart-beat but... thats not an option. 

Anyone have experience with putting turface into already running tanks? Wondering if I could start the tank with floating plants and a bare bottom and add the substrate over the course of a few days without clouding the water too much for the fish.

The biggest question though (if anyone has experience with this):

How does turface compare with play sand for plants rooting. 

I have play sand currently and its a pain to get plants to root... Probably my low light and practically no ferts doesn't help matters though....


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