Eco complete IME has lasted over 2 years. Florabase is recommended by Red sea to be replaced every year.
Eco Complete
- Thread starter Nate77
- Start date
Just because it lasts doesn't mean it is still effective. Lights last for years but are not any good after about a year or so. My flora base is older than that. I just put little peat pellets in the substarte by the roots and the plants shoot off.
Never said that they are effective as long as they claim, but IME flora base was more hassle than the others. THe red sea rep told me that they don't last more than a year before being exhausted. The best way is proper fert dosing to maintain levels, and using the substrate to help keep levels more constant.
exactly, no substrate lasts more than 6 months to a year. After tahat it is just rocks or clay. Thats why you add nutrients like you said. To the sub for the roots and to water for plants that absorb it that way. Flora base was no hastle just rinse and dump in. Besides I talked to 3 people that got algae infections all through their eco complete and had to rip their whole tank down and start over. Thats one reason I went with what I did.
I have heard to many people that have had problems, and I myself have had this happen twice on tanks I maintanced. The flora base gets into the filter, and gums the impeller and shaft. If not caught within a few days of it happening, the flora base can make one big brick of your impeller. When this happened to me the first time, I didn't even know to check on the filter, and when I was told and did I had one big nasty gnarly brick in the housing. I ended up soaking it in a bleach water 1:1 solution until it became a little easier to work with, but ended up throwing the impeller away and getting a new one. The second time I checked a couple days after the tank was setup, and it was hard, but not to the point of buying a new impeller. I have had great success with eco-complete, but better success with flourite and laterite. Have yet to do the peat moss sub layer.
I've only ever used the eco complete. Never had any major gripes with it. Seems to work fine for me in my 29 gal.
Good luck!
Good luck!
