Ultum Nature Systems Controsoil - Freshwater Aqua Soil Substrate for Fish, Shrimp, Live Plant Propagation and Aquascaping - 6.8pH Low Ammonia, Volcanic Ash - Black, Extra Fine (10 Liter)

Amazing substrate! Can’t go wrong with it! The substrate when rinsing it off is very dirty and messy so keep that in mine! It will also make your tank very cloudy but it clears up within around 4 hours (if you have your filter going, in this case I have a sponge filter) or overnight without a filter. The next morning the water was crystal clear, I’ll probably update within a couple of months to see if my plants are doing any better than the gravel they were in but I have high hopes for this soil. This soil does great for bottom feeders! I have cory catfish and a betta in a 10 gallon tank and my cory’s now love to lift their behinds up to dig into the soil because it’s so soft and light weight. I’d highly recommend this for any bottom feeders that aren’t rough with the soil because the pellets CAN break and turn into little crumbles of dust or dirt. UPDATE: Still a really good substrate! I added Ludwigia Repens to my tank and they grew so fast along with the hornwort which I added a couple of weeks ago. My betta fish loves resting on it and weaving through the overgrown plants BUT the only thing is that the darkest shade that it comes in is two or three shades light so black is brown and brown is tan. I got the black/brown and it’s a dirty brown-tan color. It’s perfectly fine because I’ll be topping it off with Fluval but this is a better bang for your buck if you wanted Fluval but wanted a big bag. Update 2023: It’s still going strong and continues to help my aquatic plants thrive! I did realize that you need to wash the soil out a lot and wait a good amount of time for the black to really set in. After a few months the color changed from brown/tan to black with spots of brown throughout. It’s been a minute since I’ve bought this soil and the price has gone down drastically (by $30) so I’ll definitely be buying myself another back to touch up on the old soil.

I bought the Xfine Brown and very happy with the color. It appears darker brown, but under water and my ONF Light, the color takes on a lighter tone. This works extremely well with Dragon Stone. It is indeed very fine and so easy to work with. I did NOT rinse it. I placed my hardscape in, then planted into the substrate dry, misting the plants. When I filled the tank, there were floaters, but the moment you placed your fingers on them, they sunk. None of my microsword plants floated to the top, or other plants. The next day, the tank was completely clear, I was astonished actually. In fact, I'm ready to release my Betta as all my numbers are spot on and the temperature is perfect. I highly recommend for its fine texture, ease of planting, no rinsing and finally, it really looks amazing !

Ultum Nature Systems Controsoil works amazingly well for my Alocasias. The texture and moisture retention are just right, helping new roots develop quickly and evenly. It’s clean, lightweight, and doesn’t compact easily, which makes it perfect for tissue culture plants and freshly imported specimens that need a gentle but stable medium. I’ve noticed much faster root growth and healthier leaves since switching to this substrate. It also drains well while keeping enough humidity around the roots, preventing rot. Even though it’s designed for aquascaping, it performs beautifully for plant propagation and acclimation. Highly recommended if you grow tropical plants or start delicate TCs.

I've ordered some Sakura (Cherry Red) shrimp. While I wait for them to arrive, I'm preparing my aquarium. The aquarium has been established for 20 years, and the water parameters are excellent, but the pH is 8, which is at the top end of what Sakura shrimp like. I read that UNS Controsoil reduces tank pH, and I also wanted to cover my gravel substrate with something smoother for my two goldfish's sake. (Not that my goldfiah ever seemed to mind the gravel, but I've read that a smoother substrate is better..) By the way, one goldfish is 20 and the other is about 10 years old, so they are well cared for.) For these reasons--the incoming shrimp and the goldfish, I bought a 3L bag of Controsoil. I've attached a photo of my tank immediately after I added the Controsoil. The water is a bit cloudy, but it cleared within a few hours. (I have a Fluval 305 on a 55-gallon aquarium, so the tank is over filtered, which is perfect because of the goldfish.) Pardon the messiness; the bag I bought wasn't enough to cover everything deeply, and I got some Controsoil on my anubias (in the rock on the left). When I incautiously lifted the anubias' rock to pour off the Controsoil, I discovered that my anubias had gorgeous, healthy, long roots that I had just pulled out of the substrate. I only planted the anubias a bit over a month ago, so I didn't expect roots that long! When I gently replaced the rock, I scooped gravel and Controsoil over the roots, and that made a mess in that area. I've ordered another bag to more completely cover the gravel. The one thing I'm going to keep my eye on is ammonia. I've read that all active substrates like Controsoil produce some ammonia for a few weeks to a month or more after being added to an aquarium. Mileage varies; some people report they didn't have any extra ammonia in their tank after adding the Controsoil, others, in older reports, say ammonia spiked high. Before I added the Controsoil, my aquarium's ammonia tested at 0 (using my API test kit). Because ammonia is toxic to fish and shrimp, I'll test the water every day for a week, then every few days, to make sure the ammonia doesn't spike. I have fresh zeolite in my filter, and the plants in the tank will also help. Cute note: My golfdfish seem to like the Controsoil addition. They starting checking it out before I finished adding it.