Is flora base a long lasting substrate for a planted srimp ten gallon ?

[marko]

Or should I go with something else any help would be great I am good with fish tanks but new to planted substrate materials.looking for something that would last a long time, maybe keep crs .

[JTang]

I have had Florabase in my 20gal for over 2 yrs now n still looks ok. However mine is only a low tech setup so plants grow very slow. If you have a high tech setup and lot of stem plants then you might have to replace/add after a year or 2.

I have attempted to breed CRS with no success with this substrate (Heard of some successful stories tho...) The failure could be caused by the low GH in my tank since that's something that I've never looked at before. Lot of pro shrimp keepers recommend ADA and that's what I have used on my new 20gal long setup.

[effox]

Depends on what shrimp you are keeping. If CRS or other more expensive shrimp, I'd recommend ADA, if its just cherries florabase will be fine.

[neven]

The difference between florabase and ada is not as vast as many make it out to be. ADA is the brand name, florabase is pretty much the generic alternative. Both were based off the same clay type mined from the same location and also from the same manufacturing plant, but their formulations do differ a bit. Both buffer the PH with peat. What ADA has over Florabase is Ammonium, Whether thats a pro or con depends who you ask. Both can kill your fauna if you disturb the substrate too much after letting it compact. I much prefer non messy innert substrates with water column dosing and filter buffering (or co2 buffering) to keep things stable.

[marko]

Hmmmm you make a good point that's kinda what I am worried about after two or three years would the flora base be totally used up would I have to replace it or could I supplement with fertilizer , doing a substrate change on a shrimp tank is what I would be trying to avoid .

[Tn23]

Florabase is a decent substrate, its good for planted tanks. I have it in one of my 10 gallons and my crystals are doing fine and breeding great in it. You'll need to raise the gH however with other chemincals.

[neven]

yes you can marko, you can root tab, some people will mix their own mineral enriched clay mud ice cubes (w/ osmocote) to spike the substrates. But the most easiest is water column fertilization, EI dosing to be exact. Once you let the tank settle in and its cycled you can do an EI dosing regime and the substrate will last a lot longer than without. If its a heavy root feeder, just root tab it anyways.

[Kei]

i had florabase in one of my tanks before. the dirt turned to poo in like 2 years
i use ada now, 3 years it still looks like pellets. my bro also doesnt use florabase and uses ada as well