Substrates

[group_therapy]

Does anyone have experience with using any of the following substrate items/supplements in their marine plant and macro tanks? Some of these are marketed for FW.

Brand-------------------Product Name-----------------------------
Red Sea.................... Flora Root Substrate Enricher
Red Sea.................... Flora Base
CaribSea................... Mineral Mud
CaribSea................... Refugium Mineral Mud (same as above or diff?)
CaribSea................... Eco-Complete Plant Substrate
?Volcanit?................. Volcanit
Seachem................... Flourite
First Layer(API)......... Pure Laterite

Would any of the above be considered unsafe for marine use?

Also, are the generic laterite tablets that I used to stick into the substrate in my old FW tank safe for marine use?

Any risk to corals, inverts, or fish that might be inline in the same water if any of these are used?

Does anyone have any recommendations for wet muds like Walt Smiths, specifically are there any others out there in addition to his?

Thanks!

 

[piercho]

A thread considering gravel, including iron-rich fired clay gravels. My conclusion is that I'll stick with marine substrates that are primarily calcium carbonate in composition. There are iron-rich and magnesium-rich marine substrates, check out Seachem's "Grey Coast".

What I have seen in my limited experience is that sea grass adapt faster to fine substrates than to course substrates. So if seagrass or algaes growing in lagoons are your objective, I would select a fine sand substrate instead of a gravel substrate.

The FW fertilizer tablets I've used on occassion have not had any noticeable detrimental effect on coral and clams, and have not fueled any noticeable algae blooms.

I have not found it necessary to purchase miracle mud or similar products to grow either sea grass or sand-associated algaes. These type products might give a transplant a boost over plain aragonite, though. An aged sand bed with a lot of detritus accumulation would be my recommendation if your objective is to grow plants in it.

 

[group_therapy]

Howard, thanks for the link! After digging further I was able to find some analysis of a few of the substrates. Seachem's site gives a nice breakdown of flourite for ex. I was a little surprised at the contents, which included very high aluminum. So I think I'm going to stay away from the man made stuff.

But I did find SeaChems "Grey Coast" and "Kona Coast" to be interesting. They have a high Iron and Magnesium content but without so much of the other garbage, and they're also natural. The grey coast is calcite and the kona is crush shell stuff. The mineral content can be found here:
http://www.seachem.com/products/product_pages/KonaCoast.html
And here
http://www.seachem.com/products/product_pages/GrayCoast.html

So I think I've decided that my 'blend' will be fine grained aragonite, with some grey and kona coasts mixed in, and a little of walt smiths mud that I have had sitting on a shelf for too long. Those additions should provide some good mineral supplementation and the crushed shells will also help the substrate be more supportive to a burrowing fish or two that might find there way into the plant tank eventually. I'll probably also add a couple of the laterite fertilizer tabs too, sparsely, in some sections of the tank that I intend to have dense plantings.
Thanks!
-Garrett