Eco Complete vs Flourite?

[douce101]

Hey hey people.
I have a 20 gallon (soon to upgrade to a 55) that i have a few low light plants in. I want to make it a highly planted tank, and was wondering what would be the best substrate for plants. I currently have play sand, and have 2 juvie angels, a severum, and 4 corydoras. (like i said, these fish will be in a bigger tank in the very near future, and the severum is going to a friends tank soon). In terms of appearance (i want a black substrate, which i can get with either type) which is best? What about any other factors?
Thanks in advance for the help.

[rich311k]

I have eco and I like it a lot. Looks good and does not cloud at all. I have never used Flourite so I can not comment on that.

[MCHRKiller]

Eco is usually less dusty from the start IME, but Eco has gone down in quality lately as well...youll find bags where your substrate is large chunky bits and some where its almost sand...and then alot of people have been having issues with getting bags where its color is pretty off. Seems to be hit and miss for alot of folks on Eco these days. I sat up a small tank at my LFS to sell a few live plants and used a bag of Eco in it...good thing I was only using a 10G because there was a large rock in it...like it didnt get crushed or whatever.

Thus I use Flourite in my personal tanks, its alot more uniform and a very consistant substrate both in apperance and quality. I added a new bag to my 55G planted after about 8 months and the new bag matched perfectly to the old. However Flourite tends to be a bit more dusty...but your going to have to rinse the h*ll out of either one in all honesty so a little extra wont make that much difference.

Otherwise the 2 substrates are honestly about the same both are clay based and will absorb nutrients from the water column for your plants to use at the roots and naturally contain iron.

[PostalPenguin]

I have eco in my two tanks and love it. They include a bag of clarifier in each bag so once you're done filling just dump it in and voila clear water. My 29g went from cloudy to clear in 12 hours. But I have heard of people having problems with the stuff so Fluorite may be a safer choice.

[Wild Turkey]

I also use eco and love it. Quality control problems are its only downfall. Fluorite is, well fluorite.

Both are about the same, if you shop around EC is actually a little bit cheaper at 1$ per pound. Petco now sells eco complete in my area for 19.99/20lbs

[Z Fish Man]

I used eco in mt 10g and my bag had a bunch of white dust type stuff that formed a film on top of the plants and substrate. It did go away after a little bit so it's not a much of a problem now. It also had some white chunks of rock mixed in which kind of ruined the uniform color. My plants seem to like it though.

[douce101]

Price wise, the closest store that sells both is an hour away. They sold the Ec for about 38$ per 20lbs while the flourite was 32$ish for the same amount, if i remember correctly. I'm personally leaning to flourite so far, just because it seems more uniform and consistent, but im not sure yet. These oppinions are deffinatly helping though.

[Z Fish Man]

Eco complete is meant to be nonuniform in size ranging from 1-3mm (though the actual range is probably bigger. The smaller size pieces will work their way to the bottom while the bigger pieces stay on top. Ends up looking pretty decent if you can find a bag without the white pieces.

[douce101]

I hate to ask, but don't suppose anyone can post a few pics of their tanks with either of the substrates? I know you all love the chance to show off your beautiful tanks ;)

[Z Fish Man]

I hate to ask, but don't suppose anyone can post a few pics of their tanks with either of the substrates? I know you all love the chance to show off your beautiful tanks ;)


Here's a few of mine with eco complete

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aquariumforum/showthread.php?t=40988

[MCHRKiller]

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f137/Needle_Slave/100_0057.jpg
Right half of the tank
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f137/Needle_Slave/000_2617.jpg
This shows what it looks like close up....mines Flourite Dark

[Wild Turkey]

It looks a lot rockier once it settles.
The compaction is supposed to be good for breaking stuff down into mulm, since the smaller particles stop the stuff from getting down under the substrate while the larger particles form little pockets to "catch" it. The bags also contain heterotropic bacteria, so if you add it after you dechlor the tank, it should take a lot less time for the process to begin.

[PostalPenguin]

http://i496.photobucket.com/albums/rr327/postalpenguin/20g/IMG_0354.jpg

Journal: http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aquariumforum/showthread.php?t=43678

You can see in the progression shots how the water cleared up. My 29g was even faster. Eco-Complete Black

[Zilla]

I have Eco-Complete in my 55 and I wish I never bought it. It has chunks of stuff in it ( can't figure out what they are / were supposed to be originally) and it's mostly sand. The only thing I don't have is the color issues that lots of people have been mentioning. I was under the impression that it had some beefiness to it, but it doesn't. The only beef is the mystery chunks.

Other issues include what looks like dust plumes if it's disturbed for any reason. I had to take water out my tank today to pull it out from the wall (hubby did it, not me! LOL) and the water is still murky and I did that hours ago. It should be fine come morning, but blech!

If I hadn't bought and poured 40 pounds of the stuff, I would have waited and bought Tropica's version of substrate instead. It's not worth the $20.00 a bag IMO...