Safe-T-Sorb charge or not to charge?

[Jabberjaw]

I'm thinking about starting a 55 gallon using safe-t-sorb. problem is, i don't want to charge the substrate for 2 mos or so. can i just put it in and dose the heck out of it with ferts both in the substrate and in the water column or do i REALLY need to charge it with ferts for a couple mos?

[Fish Folk]

Heavy fertilizer will affect your water chemistry drastically. I think this is part of the reason for slow charging. If you move too fast, you’ll be dealing with a tank of liquid nitrate. Fish will suffer, and algae will explode. I recommend using loads of root tabs, and planting that thing full with a wide assortment.

Lighting will be your constant battle. A 55 gal. requires adequate light penetration. 

[Pepere]

I used Safe T Sorb and placed mesh bags of Aquasoil in areas.  I caped with a coarse black sand.

 

I also have undergravel filter plates installed.

 

I did not charge with fertilizers.

 

the biggest thing I noticed was it soaking up KH aggresively and having to dose with Alkalinity booster repeatedly for days…. I really didnt notice Nitrates being depleted significantly faster than expected though…

I planted same day as I started the tank up, and waited a couple of weeks before adding livestock.  I added filter squeezings that rapidly boosted tank cycling…

 

perhaps the filter squeezings and dosing with ammonia and quick cycling and converting that ammonia to nitrates is what made it appear that the easy green were not being excessively depleted…

 

In any event, that was my experience…

 

as an aside, Safe T Sorb is one of the easiest substrates to put plants into and have them reliably stay put…

Edited April 25 by Pepere

[Tommy Vercetti]

I have used safe t sorb right out of the bag without charging it. It worked pretty good for the plants, no issues. That tank was up for about 13 months before the wife took it down and put together a new aquascape with bagged aquasoil capped with tan sand and pebbles.

[Jabberjaw]

The tank is currently planted and has gravel in it, I'm re-scaping it and adding different fish. was thinking switching to SafeTSorb. It would be heavily planted with 2 cycled HOB and an in use fluidized moving bed filter. I have o use tons of root tabs and ferts now, figured it would be the same no matter what. i didn't intend to cap it with anything, or use it with any other substrate. 

[Erik G]

I've used SafeTSorb in a couple of tanks, I charged the first one with some ferts in it when I set it up, but not my current one. I haven't really noticed a difference.

[BuzzDaddy21]

On 4/25/2023 at 5:15 AM, Jabberjaw said:

safe-t-sorb.

I used some type of this and hated it, nothing but problems. (Weird junk coming out of it all the time)

Using kitty litter now with no problems.

[Jabberjaw]

On 4/29/2023 at 12:46 PM, BuzzDaddy21 said:

I used some type of this and hated it, nothing but problems. (Weird junk coming out of it all the time)

Using kitty litter now with no problems.

So with the kitty litter did you have to charge it? Do you have it capped? 

On 4/29/2023 at 10:00 AM, Erik G said:

I've used SafeTSorb in a couple of tanks, I charged the first one with some ferts in it when I set it up, but not my current one. I haven't really noticed a difference.

Do you use a lot of fertilizer now?

[BuzzDaddy21]

On 4/29/2023 at 3:59 PM, Jabberjaw said:

So with the kitty litter did you have to charge it? Do you have it capped?

No, just straight kitty litter, getting ready to setup a 40B (Got rid of all the gravel and will only use a particular brand of kitty litter now that reminds me of gravel.)