said the pioneer.One of the pioneers I believe has a pumilio enclosure with clay that is somewhere close to a decade now with no declines...
Ed
Turface can be another great choice, but don't fool yourself. It does NOT have any of the calcium supplimentation benefits that a good, calcium based, homemade clay has.In my experience, infield conditioner (Turface brand, I think) is the best possible substrate. You may get many of the benefits of a hand-made clay substrate (although that's not yet totally clear), but without the unbelievable pain of making it yourself. It's cheap, widely available, looks good, never breaks down...
Most importantly, microfauna seem to go absolutely crazy on it. I have switched over almost all of my tanks to this substrate, and I use it exclusively now for culturing springtails. I've never had more productive cultures. I use 3-6" of infield conditioner, topped with just a scattering of peat/sphagnum/organics, topped with several inches of leaf litter. Can't be beat.
There are people that preceded me..... Brent Brock preceded me in these trials and has great succes with his pumilio enclosure.said the pioneer.Wow! I didn't realize it was going on a decade!!
Turface can be another great choice, but don't fool yourself. It does NOT have any of the calcium supplimentation benefits that a good, calcium based, homemade clay has.
I like to use an inch of Turface under my real clay substrate.
Oh, so the 10 year old tank is one of Brents tanks. Brent Brock and Matt Mirrabello, followed by Ed and Scott, were 4 of the many people whose earlier work made it possible for me to put my guide together.There are people that preceded me..... Brent Brock preceded me in these trials and has great succes with his pumilio enclosure.
Ed
Ahh, I stand corrected. Thanks.I'm not willing to go that far with respect to Turface. It is partially calcined and it has been anecodotally reported that it has good ion exchange capabilities from people that used it in planted fish tanks. This means it could have mobile calcium which would allow active uptake by the frogs but it may not be as good as calcium as a passive uptake (particle ingestion during prey capture or ingested by the microfauna).
Ed
Actually you don't need to use ABG.. if you want to make a planting pocket just about anything organic works the same.. a little sphagnum, cocofiber, crushed up leaf litter... I usually don't add make a little organic planting pocket.One thing on clay substrates, I think you still need some ABG to make "planting pockets" so plants can establish...
I have no doubt it's not good for calcium uptake insofar as passive uptake of particles is concerned. There just aren't enough small particles. Although, there is a lot of dust in the stuff, so who knows. I similarly can't speak to the ion exchange capabilities of the substrate, nor the soil geology with respect to calcium chemistry within my vivaria that utilize it as a substrate. I'd be interested to hear what you know about this from the fish world, Ed, if you have time and/or the inclination.I'm not willing to go that far with respect to Turface. It is partially calcined and it has been anecodotally reported that it has good ion exchange capabilities from people that used it in planted fish tanks. This means it could have mobile calcium which would allow active uptake by the frogs but it may not be as good as calcium as a passive uptake (particle ingestion during prey capture or ingested by the microfauna).
Turface does degrade over time, over the course of 20 years less than 4% is supposed to break down so there is some slow degredation. see http://www.turface.com/sites/default/files/MVP Data Spec Sheet.pdfI have no doubt it's not good for calcium uptake insofar as passive uptake of particles is concerned. There just aren't enough small particles. Although, there is a lot of dust in the stuff, so who knows. I similarly can't speak to the ion exchange capabilities of the substrate, nor the soil geology with respect to calcium chemistry within my vivaria that utilize it as a substrate. I'd be interested to hear what you know about this from the fish world, Ed, if you have time and/or the inclination.
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