arrggh - didnt buy enough flourite sand

[fourmations]

hi guys

i have just received my order from aquaristic and I didnt buy enough flourite black sand
(kinda knew in my heart of hearts but the package was getting too heavy)

i was going to have the flourite under a dorset pea gravel top

what can i do?
Could i mix the flourite sand with say 30% regular sand to bulk it up
would it still have enough nutrients?

other option would be to get a bucket of the tetra soil in the local lfs
and put this under the flourite layer, but i dont know if this mix
of two different products would work okay or would they react or anything like that

any advice welcome,
i hope to set this tank up asap as my plants have arrived after a week of travel
and i want to get them into the tank

Regards and thanks

4

 

[ceg4048]

If you dose the water column adequately you never have to worry about the substrate.

Cheers,

 

[fourmations]

hi ceg

you're educating me again!

i was under the impression that you need substrate for the roots

i am planting hc, hairgrass and a tall vallis
and am using EI ferts, so is the substrate irelevant?

so are people wasting their money on ADA AS?

rgds

4

 

[aaronnorth]

hi ceg

you're educating me again!

i was under the impression that you need substrate for the roots

i am planting hc, hairgrass and a tall vallis
and am using EI ferts, so is the substrate irelevant?

so are people wasting their money on ADA AS?

rgds

4

Just cap it with a substrate to build up the height.
People buy AS because it is a complete substrate (can be used on its own), generally regarded as the best substrate, it has a high CEC and it's ADA

 

[ceg4048]

4,
It's always an ideal situation to have a nutritious substrate as well as a rich water column. That is because aquatic plants feed from both root as well as the water. Having a nutritious substrate reduces the pressure on the plant to feed from the water column alone and vice versa. A nutritious substrate also allows you to occasionally miss a water dose, but you can grow fantastic plants on nothing but inert sand. Nutrient uptake is much more rapid through the leaves than the root so really it's not an absolute requirement. Many people simply can't afford products like Aquasoil, which is nothing but clay pellets soaked in nutrients and baked by the way, so they simply dose EI and never really look back. The most important and visibly effective component you will add to your tank is CO2. The relevance of the sediment has more to do with the CEC as Aaron pointed out as well as being a home for the bacterial colonies. You don't really "need" expensive substrates.

Cheers,