Well I went to That Fish Place on a mission to get the rest of the eco-complete that I needed for my tank. I just needed 2 bags and I was done. Well I started off walking through the plant section to see what selection they had, I was disappointed there. I continued to venture to the lighting section to look for any deals since I want to upgrade my lights sooner or later too. Didn't find anything that caught my eye. While I was doing that Jason walked back to the substrates to grab the 2 bags of eco-complete that I wanted and came back to me and told me they didn't have any. I found this odd because any other time when we were there they had a very large stock of it. So I walked back with him to see if I could possibly prove him wrong, well I couldn't! I looked and found "clearence" signs for the eco-complete plant and eco-complete african cichlid. So we went to the register to pay for the food I got and I asked the girl if maybe they had some in the back because it was on clearence. After a few minutes of looking we were told that it is discontinued! My jaw hit the floor, considering that this is a very popular product and their only other plant substrates are floramax and florite.

Anyhoo long story short I'm continually disappointed with That Fish Place and I figured that I would fill anyone in that maybe would have wanted to use this product in the future.

Right now the only places that I found that still carry the eco-complete is Dr. Fosters & Smith and Petstore.com.

Oh cturner, that sounds like my typical visit to the LFS around here. Sorry you couldn't find anything that you needed or wanted. Do you have any other fish stores nearby?

Later today, I'm going to go up to Seattle to check out a fish store there that I really like. They actually have some African cichlids there and a decent plant selection. I know I should stay away from those live plants, but I can't stop myself. worry wart!

Well I wish there was something better around me. All I have around me is Petsmart & Petco. Guess I'll have to start branching out. The one mom and pop shop in york that I used to go to closed their doors last year. Uggg I'm so upset.

Don't worry Aura, you'll get those plants figured out! I have faith you will!

Well, I think I just have to find the right kind of plants since I don't want to get too technical and add any equipment.

It's funny because all those years ago when I first started fishkeeping, I had live plants growing like crazy. They were floating all over the top and I'd have to cut them back. I did absolutely nothing to take care of them - they just grew. :FAINTLY:

Don't forget that Petsmart will price match if you take a printout of their online price. I do this all of the time for buying supplies. I hope you can find that substrate somewhere, but I think the tank looks nice the way it is also. My little 10 gallon tank is like that too. It's half aquatic potting mix and half pool filter sand.

A LFS here is Lousiville (home of heartbroken Cardinal Fans as both the men and women lost in the NCAA basketball tournament yesterday), has ecocomplete in his planted tank with T5 or T6 ligth (no CO2) and they do great. I bought some crypt there the other day and the root system was huge! Even if you have to go online buy it. My next tank will have it for sure.

I can relate to dissapointment with LFSes, here they are too expensive or have poor selection, which is why PB bought all his fish in Indiana.

Good luck as you continue to work on that great looking tank of yours!

Petsolutions.com

I've used these people for a while with no problems. Customer service is great.

Thanks Dave! I have ordered smaller things from them and have had no problems with their products or service.

Did a quick check at CaribSea. ( There is nothing there to indicate they are stopping Eco-Complete )

First answers were these:

Did a search on local (to PA) suppliers...

PS I wrote them and asked if they were discontinuing this product line.

Thanks Lisa keep us updated. I don't know for sure if Caribsea wasn't going to make it anymore or if That Fish Place just didn't want to deal with Caribsea anymore.

FYI Tony's Tropical Fish closed it's doors last year.

Here's the reply I got (FAST!).

Wow Lisa, I would like to commend you for the amount of effort
you made in helping Cturner find the substrate she's looking for!

We appreciate people like you here on the forum!

dont you just hate it when that happens?
you go to the store to buy something, they say they dont have it.your 100% sure they always have it and you check and its not there!

this always happens with me at the live stock section. very poor selection in my LFS. and when something good is there, its gone..

I appreciate all your efforts Lisa! I will be visiting the store in lemoyne to see what they have in the future since I ordered from Dr. Foster & Smith for now. Where did you find all those stores? I didn't even know the one in Lemoyne existed!

No problem. Maybe one day you can do something nice for someone else.

I got that list right from the Carib-Sea website. It gave me an option to find local vendors. I looked on the profile, noticed the PA addy and did a search on that.

Forgot to look for Ontario though... Giggly