Substrate - Ada Aquasoil \ Tropica Substrate.

[cdb2]

Proposed new planted set-up is 4’ (L) x 18â€￾ (W) x 22â€￾ (H) - 75 gallons\338 litres approx, hardwater area.

1) I'm assuming 3" to 4" total substrate is required?

2) ADA : Can you confirm that Aquasoil is the top layer (i.e. your 'gravel') and Power Sand Special is your base nutrient layer?

3) ADA : It appears that you can use Aquasoil without Power Sand Special and even with other nutrient rich base layers but presumably these 2 options could potentially produce lesser results than in (2) above? Does the Aquasoil contain any nutrients itself?

4) ADA : Are the different types of Aquasoil (Amazonia, Africana) all the same apart from colour or do they contain specific chemicals to replicate that region? The pdf from the ADA Europe site is a bit scant in detail.

5) ADA : the same pdf describes how much Power Sand Special to use but doesn't say how much Aquasoil. How many litres of Aquasoil would you need in a 338l tank?

6) Tropica : this appears to work out much cheaper as the website says you only need a 1cm covering and then top-up with gravel. Is it really as simple as that and do you think the results would be as good as ADA given Tropicas good name?

7) I'm a bit of a purist personally and so if I went with ADA substrate I'd go with their ferts and if I went Tropica I'd go with their ferts as presumably everything is designed to complement everything else in the range. Is this the best approach?

Any comments welcome, thank you.

 

[George Farmer]

1. 3-4" is a good depth.

2. Power Sand (PS) is recommended by ADA as the base layer. Aqua Soil (AS) makes up the "body" of the substrate.

3. AS contains lots of nutrients by itself. The PS is designed to work with the AS but some have excellent results with AS alone (with a nutrient-rich water column). (Power Sand Special and Power Sand are different - the "Special" contains the other ADA subsrate additives).

4. I think the content of different AS region-types is the same. Not certain though.

5. Unsure. E-mail Aqua Essential - Richard should help you (give him the tank dimensions).

6. Tropica vs. ADA..... who know's? I'd be tempted to go with the Tropica if cost was an issue. The Tropica also doesn't affect water chemistry like AS (lower pH, KH, NH3/4 spike etc.) However the ADA product is very highly respected. It's too early to say which one is superior. My only issue with the Tropica would be if I ran a high-maint set up where lots of uprooting etc. may cloud the water.

7. Going for the ADA complete substrate/fert range would certainly work very well and this is how it is designed to be used. It would also be user-friendly. But relatively expensive. The Tropica substrate and ferts I have no doubt would work well. I think Oliver Knott uses their product-line now. Cheaper too. From my understanding from reading Tom Barr's work the best results so far have been ADA Aqua Soil (no PS) and Estimative Index water column fertilisation. 50% water changes may be an issue in a tank your size though.

Lots of options, all would work well!

 

[Silverlady]

I have two tanks with the Tropica Substrate, i didn't like it at first as bitts were floating at the top of the water.
The plants are growing well and the only downside i have found is that when you plant the plants the water goes White,this cleared up within 24 Hours though and it didn't effect the Fish in any way.
Also i have just taken out the Fluval 4+ that was included in the Tank package and it was really filthy, it was only in there for a week.

 

[cdb2]

Excellent feedback, thank you.