I bought this because I wanted a live plant take with Live bearing fish. I'm new to this but I just wasted money on this because it lowers the PH and KH to the point my fish couldn't breathe. I just tossed it all and have a huge project ahead of me and more money spent. Only get this if you know what your doing. It's probably only for shrimp.

This substrate seems great! smells like dirt, it will make ur aquarium cloudy even if you rinse it. Heres how I went from the first picture to the second picture. First I took everything out of my current aquarium, yes everything including the gravel- you need to start bare with no water. I took an extra metal dog bowl and poured the substrate in gradually and gently rinsed it three-four times with cold water. After this I put it at the bottom of my tank and gently flattened it out with my fingers. Do not press on them, it is dirt in a ball form, it will break, leading to cloudy water. Once I had all the substrate in, I capped it off with black gravel. capping it off will help keep your water clear. After this, I put the dog bowl in the tank to help displace pouring the water in. You don't want to pour it directly on the substrate because it will cause it to cloud up again. After this you should have a decent look, but when you put your plants in it will bring some of that dirt back out from you pushing your fingers into the dirt. What you want to do from this step is get some seachem purigen. It comes in a big bag, but you can cut it and put some of it in an organza bag, then put it in your filter. This stuff is a life saver and will clear up your water within a few hours. I put the substrate in last night, and this morning woke up to a clear tank because of this stuff! Happy aquascaping, I will try to update in the future with plant growth.

I bought this a few year ago. I know people complain a lot about it turning the aquarium water black, but if you let the sediment settle, plant, and cap with sand ( great barrier to keep the sediment trapped) it works great. I don’t mind the cloud because it’s a nice and nutrient rich substrate. Everything else gets snagged in the filter. Really great stuff.

Hard to find, but Petco had it. Plants all doing well.

Works as direction specified for use. Plants are theiving

I like the product very much! Hate that PETCO now charges for plastic bags.

I bought this in September and rinsed it before putting it in. The water was cloudy for a few hours until my filter made it crystal clear. My plants are thriving in it and are even propagating themselves. No issues at all.

I use this substrate in all my planted tanks. The plants thrive and have brilliant colors.