First time using Safe T Sorb

After seeing Bill's tanks I finally decided to give it a try. Yesterday I set up a 75 I had laying around and drove down to Tractor Supply. Couldn't believe how cheap it was. About $5/bag so I bought two bags. Only needed one bag for the 75 and plan to use the other bag on some other tanks. Rinsing this stuff is an absolute must. After adding some water it looked like mud. Rinsed the substrate about seven times and the water was still cloudy but at least didn't look like muddy water. Got three canister filters running and it cleared up in a couple of hours, but still has a bit of haze. This week I'll start planting and post some pictures soon.

The tank will be a high tech setup. Haven't decided if I want to use a 48" 4xHO T5 fixture or use 2x250 watt MH. Going with pressurized CO2 and feed it into a magnum 350 canister filter filled with bio balls. I still have two other canister filters for filtration. Once the plants start setting roots I'll get some diy dry ferts and additives. Going to use a UV inline to one of the filters to keep the water crystal clear. May go with an emergent tank with a few plants growing out the sides, but will depend on the lighting I choose. Fish selection will depend on what I can catch if I ever go on a collection trip. This weekend was too busy to go fishing. Hoping to find minnows, dace, darters, mud puppies, and anything that won't eat plants or other fish.

I still need to buy ferts, drop checker, better regulator than what I have, and some more plants. If you have anything I might need, at a good price or willing to barter, let me know. Thanks. I'm thinking of doing a group buy for drop checkers on another forum but will notify anyone on here that may be interested. I'm looking at http://greenleafaquariums.com for the group buy.

Not easy planting in this stuff. As soon as some of the plants start pearling they tend float up. About ready to start super gluing them to small rocks.

safe-t-sorb is the way to go now a day.

Does anyone know if I'll have any problems with keeping cory catfish on this substrate? Doesn't feel sharp but its hard to judge how sharp small edges feel to a fish's barbs and belly. Also plan on throwing in some shrimp and see how well they do on this.

Amp.. what is that plant posted at 9:54? the hair like grass? The one that is pearling so bad you need to "super glue" it.

Not sure. It was labeled as dwarf hair grass. Came in a small bag prepackaged and hung on clip-strips at Petco. Inside was a piece of paper with scientific name but was wet and couldn't read it. Next time I go to Petco I'll check it out and let you know.

I've been hesitant in buying packaged plants.... if ya get it multiplying, please keep me in mind...

I owe you some plants in return for all the plants you set me up with. I'll come up with a reason to stop by soon and bring some trimmings with me.

Amp.. I don't keep score!.. .Bill

Here's a video of some fish I added today. Tank needs some work but good enough for posting a video of it.

https://youtu.be/dw4wKiFcuHY

Vic.. .make sure your weed-wacker is tuned up! Looking good!

Looks great!

It's been a little over six months since I set this tank up and noticed lately that the gravel is getting soft. Is anyone else noticing that the Safe T Sorb is getting soft and easy to crumble into mud? I didn't notice this until I did some aquascaping and at first the substrate felt like rubber when I pushed my fingers through it. Then I picked up a few pieces and could rub them in my fingers until they fell apart into a cloud of muddy water. He plants are still doing well. Did have a problem with some duckweed getting out of control. Didn't realize how much damage the duckweed was doing till I cleaned it out. Lost a lot of different types of plants and there's BBA growing on most of my plants that survived the ordeal. Basically I neglected the tank for two months with no water changes, fertilizers, and allowed the CO2 tank to run out. My last job kept me too busy to have any time and my tank suffered. But now it's turning around, and I plan to continue trading and collecting more plants for it.

The longest I kept running safe-t-sorb was like 3 to 4 months and I didn't have any issue. I think bill will probably be able to give a proper response since he kept this the longest.

Vic.. I think my STS tank has been running over two years maybe... I've not experienced what you speak of regarding the break-down.... course all I do is harvest with NO scaping...