Vermiculite Underlayer Under Peat.

[Homer_Simpson]

In a planted forum someone stated that they were going to underlay peat combined with vermiculate under Eco-Complete. The poster claimed that they had read several articles supporting that this would work.

I know that vermiculate is supposed to have a very high CEC but it is also known to quickly breadown and float to the top when submerged for long periods of time in water. Schultz Aquatic Soil is also supposed to have high CEC but is not known to break down like vermiculate so I don't follow the benefit one would gain underlaying vermiculate under Eco-Complete vs Schultz Aquatic soil under Eco-Complete, although I would do neither but just the peat as the Eco and Schultz are likely to mix over time.

The only thing I have read was this old article by Jim kelly where he claims success using a combination of vermiculate and soil as substrate.
Aquarium Plants on a Student Budget

I would really be interested in your take on this concept Tom, based on your many years of monkeying around and trying different substrates. Anyone else with experience with this stuff, I would be curious to know.

Thanks.

OOps: sorry I was unable to edit. The title should read Vermiculite underlayer under Eco-Complete.

 

[Tom Barr]

Vermic= a huge mess.

You can figure this one out on your own

Plenty of ways to do things, this is not a good one from a mess perspective.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[Tom Barr]

It's weird to add this under EC, why be cheap?
If you want to be cheap, use soil and sand.

EC cost more than ADA AS, so if you want a richer sediment with macros etc, use ADA AS.

Seems simple enough to me.


Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[Homer_Simpson]

Many thanks Tom for the response and clarification. That makes a lot of sense. I would definitely not go this route myself, but was curious as to other's experiences, espcially yours as I have no doubts that you have probably experimented with every kind of substrate out there and then some.

And I agree with you totally about not being cheap after seeing first hand differences in plant growth in two high tech tanks(under the same conditions) between Fluorite and ADA Aquasoil. I would certainly spend the extra on the ADA Aquasoil and would have no reservations. But there is still that annoying part of that is still obessed with experimenting with different substrates, lol