# substrate foam, or growstones?



## konton (Nov 17, 2010)

I wanted to get some opinions here about a substrate. I personally do not like false bottoms made with egg crate because the roots of my plants have nothing to keep them in place. I ended up working with hydroton for the last few years because it's lighter than rocks, and I can see the roots of my plants appreciate it. However, as I'm working on 24 new cube tanks on a wood rack, I'm trying to find other lighter alternatives.

Frograck suggested the Reticulated Filter Foam he's now selling, which I've been thinking about for some time. It's porous so I know it will drain well. And it's pretty sturdy so I know it will hold the weight of everything I plan to have above it. The down side is it's pretty expensive, and doesn't exactly look natural. Then again, neither did hydroton. I hope to see some examples of it's use, but searching here, I see some people say roots do great with it.

My other thought was the use of Growstones. Basically superlight looking porous stones made of crushed recycled glass. And it's about 37% the weight of Hydroton. A 35L bag of growstones weighs 11lbs. a 35L bag of hydroton weights 31lbs.










Anyone have experience with both? Any info would be appreciated. I'm going down to the local hydroponics store to check out the growstones later this week.

Jae


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## heatfreakk3 (Oct 15, 2008)

A local plant store I go to get my hydroton had these. The lady showed me them and I was very interested in them. She actually said she heard a rumor that the company that makes hydroton stopped making them, so it might be hard to find. I was seriously thinking about getting those growstones. Now I think about it I should of, because they really are super light. I might try those next build.


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## konton (Nov 17, 2010)

Is that why you bought the hydroton rather than the growstones? Yeah, I just talked to these guy from San Jose Hydroponics who told me they stopped selling hydroton. Apparently their suppliers have discontinued selling it about 2 weeks ago. They didn't know why, but mentioned a couple alternatives, the growstones being the lightest on the list.

At the end of the day I think we're really talking about the substrate weighting 2-3lbs rather than 8-9lbs. Foam would probably be under a pound, so that's a plus for foam.

Jae


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## stemcellular (Jun 26, 2008)

I've been using the growstones for a while now, pretty good. Black Jungle sells them.


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## Judy S (Aug 29, 2010)

Called Featherlite...good stuff, very light, relatively inexpensive...will not wick upwards, porous for beneficial bacterial growth...Black Jungle has it


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## tachikoma (Apr 16, 2009)

Hi Konton,

I am just copy and pasting my post from the other thread here so it shows up in future searches. In my experience using the foam, it's worth it man. It's only a couple of ounces in weight and it looks clean and does it's job well.



tachikoma said:


> It was brought to my attention some people are viewing this site on their phones and what not so clicking external links isn't the ideal solution so I am going to embed some examples of my tanks using this same foam.
> 
> The build about 3 years ago.
> 
> ...


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## konton (Nov 17, 2010)

Thanks for the feedback. Both look good. I finally saw the growstones. They are light! And they look like stones which is a plus to me when you see 1.5" at the bottom of the tank. Still waiting for the foam to come in so I can see how it would look.

Jae


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Maybe I'm missing something here, but I'm not sure I understand what you mean about not holding the roots in place.... In my egg crate false bottoms, I have roots grow through the screen into the bottom and the plants are very heavily secured into place....When I strip the enclosures down, I have to remove the screening to be able to remove the plants from the enclosures (and they are very firmly rooted into place). 

If you don't like how it looks, you can just cover it with contact paper..or paint it. 

Ed


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## parkanz2 (Sep 25, 2008)

Ed said:


> Maybe I'm missing something here, but I'm not sure I understand what you mean about not holding the roots in place.... In my egg crate false bottoms, I have roots grow through the screen into the bottom and the plants are very heavily secured into place....When I strip the enclosures down, I have to remove the screening to be able to remove the plants from the enclosures (and they are very firmly rooted into place).
> 
> If you don't like how it looks, you can just cover it with contact paper..or paint it.
> 
> Ed


I'm with Ed. The egg crate false bottoms I've made, the roots grow right through the screen and dip into the water and the terrestrial plants I've grown have all done really well. Plus... air is lighter than any other filler you can put in there


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## konton (Nov 17, 2010)

Well you're not really talking about the roots being firmly rooted. They're floating in water. So if you're floating, you can't really be held firmly in place. But I understand you're saying part of them get's stuck in the screen or around egg crate. But once the roots make it through the screen, they just float in water.

I'd prefer my plant roots to have some type of growth media to firmly root themselves rather the float in water. It's not necessary, but some believe having a growth media like hydroton, or growstones, or a foam growing mat will create better oxygenation and help to prevent root rot.

I tried the egg crate false bottom, but wasn't comfortable with it. Just my preference.

Jae



Ed said:


> Maybe I'm missing something here, but I'm not sure I understand what you mean about not holding the roots in place.... In my egg crate false bottoms, I have roots grow through the screen into the bottom and the plants are very heavily secured into place....When I strip the enclosures down, I have to remove the screening to be able to remove the plants from the enclosures (and they are very firmly rooted into place).
> 
> If you don't like how it looks, you can just cover it with contact paper..or paint it.
> 
> Ed


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Technically, in this case, water is a growth medium. If you set up the false bottom properly, there is substrate ontop of the screen in which the plant can root and then further support is gained by the screen and the egg crate. The only real risk of rotting or insufficient oxygen causing insufficient support is going to be from allowing the water level to get too high. I keep an air gap between the bottom of the false bottom and the surface of the water (my tanks are all drilled) and I even have bromeliads rooted into clay which have then rooted through the false bottom into the water layer (see these pictures http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/parts-construction/55550-clay-background-vert-8.html#post484793 for example). 

Keep in mind that regardless of the substrate (hydroton etc) that if the water doesn't change over at all, it will deprive the roots of oxygen and can prevent the plant from rooting down into the layer where the water layer is found. 

Some comments,

Ed


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