Which substrate would everyone recommend - ADA AS, Eco-Complete or Flourite and why? I'm upgrading tanks soon and trying to decide. I appreciate your comments.
Thanks - Jeff

Sort of depends on methods used to scape and plant.
Each takes some getting use to get the most out of it.

I like the ADA AS.
And flourite.
EC nice because no washing, but is lighter weight than flourite Black.

I have a large amount of Black flourite and sand. This is very nice and has a good color like EC. You have more consistent grain size and it's heavier(maybe 2x). It has two sizes: gravel(like plain flourite) and sand which is a bit larger than Onyx sand, which is just right.

Trade off?
You have to rinse it, there's some tricks that make life easier there though.
EC you pay more and you pay to ship water, always a bad idea, we can rinse, it's not that huge of deal.

Aesthetics, you could have argued in the past for EC, but not now.

Regards,
Tom Barr

I had noticed Eco was a bit more than the other two so I had narrowed it down to AS and black Flourite. My concern with AS was the ammonia produced on set up and whether my schedule would allow for daily water changes.

No, you do not need daily water changes.

You can do several large water changes per week in the start......or not.........you can use Zeolite in the filter, that last about a month, you can add some media from an established filter etc, old established vacuumed dirt/mulm to a new tank, lots and lots of plants. And water changes............

All of these resolve NH4.

Doing all 3 and maybe 2x a week water change of 50% to start is a good method.

Regards,
Tom Barr

I have all of those so AS is sounding better now. My lfs has Eco but I think it might still be cheaper ordering whichever I choose online depending on shipping charges.

I haven't used EC, but I love my aquasoil. I did have a lot of ammonia and organics leaching into the water, but like Tom said, use those methods to reduce the ammonia, and you will be ok. Just dont add a bunch of livestock right away. I'm glad I went through the initial hassle with aquasoil, because now everything looks great. But like I said, I don't really have anything else except plain gravel to compare it to.

I ordered my aquasoil from ADGShop and it really wasn't too expensive. Plus, I think a good substrate is one of the more important places to invest your money in. My opinion.

Good luck!

-Mike B-

If you cannot get it locally, shipping and buying from ADG is about as good as you'll find.

Regards,
Tom Barr