Substrate Help

[Jay1983]

Hi everyone

I am looking for some advice on Substrates. I am probably going to buy some ADA Aqua Soil Amazonia today for my 110 litre. I have a few questions, and any help and advice would be amazing.

1. Does it need to be capped?
2. Can it be capped? if so can I use the sand I already have in the tank?
3. If I use sand will it stop nutrients getting to the soil?

At the Moment I am not running any CO2 but I have a bottle ready and just need to buy the rest of the equipment. I have an over tank lighting system 2 x 39w t5's.

Thank you in advance

Jay

 

[BigTom]

No need to cap it, and personally I wouldn't as the grain size is great for encouraging root growth and plant spread, and aesthetically it's pretty good too.

Due to it's lightness it will probably end up poking through the sand sooner or later anyway if you do cap.

 

[Jay1983]

Thanks for that mate! How much do you think I will need for 110 litres? is a 9 litre bag going to be enough?

Jay

 

[stu40]

Hi
don't know the footprint of your tank, but i think you're going to need more.Ian used 2 x 9L bags on his 125L tank, though it was a different substrate & is quite deep.
i guess the area of the footprint x how deep you want it, will give you an idea of the litres needed.?

 

[mishmash]

Thanks for that mate! How much do you think I will need for 110 litres? is a 9 litre bag going to be enough?

Jay

Depends on the footprint dimensions of your tank and your intended scape. I.E. Are you going to go flat, or sloped, or have undulations etc.

There is a basic calculation which can help....


length x width x desired depth (in cms) / 1000

I.E. 80 x 45 x 5 /1000 = 18L

You can work back from that to estimate the depth that a particular bag will give you.

I.E. 9L bag for same size tank in above example...

9 / (80 x 45 /1000) = 2.5cm depth

Remember to calculate the section in brackets first

 

[Jay1983]

Yeah the Ada is quite expensive. Could I use it with another type? Or could you recommend an alternative?
Not sure on total dimensions its 80cm long though

Jay

 

[Jay1983]

Thanks for that mate! How much do you think I will need for 110 litres? is a 9 litre bag going to be enough?

Jay

Depends on the footprint dimensions of your tank and your intended scape. I.E. Are you going to go flat, or sloped, or have undulations etc.

There is a basic calculation which can help....


length x width x desired depth (in cms) / 1000

I.E. 80 x 45 x 5 /1000 = 18L

You can work back from that to estimate the depth that a particular bag will give you.

I.E. 9L bag for same size tank in above example...

9 / (80 x 45 /1000) = 2.5cm depth

Remember to calculate the section in brackets first

Thanks for this. My tank is 80 x 35 so looks like I will need around 14l.

Can anybody recommend an alternative substrate to the ADA one?

Thanks
Jay

 

[mishmash]

Thanks for that mate! How much do you think I will need for 110 litres? is a 9 litre bag going to be enough?

Jay

Depends on the footprint dimensions of your tank and your intended scape. I.E. Are you going to go flat, or sloped, or have undulations etc.

There is a basic calculation which can help....


length x width x desired depth (in cms) / 1000

I.E. 80 x 45 x 5 /1000 = 18L

You can work back from that to estimate the depth that a particular bag will give you.

I.E. 9L bag for same size tank in above example...

9 / (80 x 45 /1000) = 2.5cm depth

Remember to calculate the section in brackets first

Thanks for this. My tank is 80 x 35 so looks like I will need around 14l.

Can anybody recommend an alternative substrate to the ADA one?

Thanks
Jay

No prob An alternative to the ADA could be Colombo Florabase. It comes in 10L, 5L and 2.5L bags. The grain size in the small bags is smaller than the big ones. You could get one large one and two small ones if grain size makes a difference to you. Some people seem to like the smaller grain depending on what plants they are planting in it, but I believe its pretty good all round regardless. Like a lot of taylor made nutritious substrates it can leach ammonia for the first week or two, but if you stick with frequent large water changes during that period and are planting heavily all will be good.

 

[Jay1983]

I like the idea of small grain size. Also I have seen a few threads about using organic garden soil, is this a good option as it would seem to be a lot cheaper!!

Jay

 

[mishmash]

I like the idea of small grain size. Also I have seen a few threads about using organic garden soil, is this a good option as it would seem to be a lot cheaper!!

Jay

Its a totally different course of action and requires a different approach to the tank setup and maintenance (some would say an approach which involves far less effort too). If you use organic garden soil be careful what you choose. Search for miracle gro organic on here and you will find threads relating to that and where you can get it. Primous has used it with great success. Don;t forget it needs capping. It is definitely a cheaper option than the taylor made substrates but not necessarily better.

 

[Jay1983]

I like the idea of small grain size. Also I have seen a few threads about using organic garden soil, is this a good option as it would seem to be a lot cheaper!!

Jay

Its a totally different course of action and requires a different approach to the tank setup and maintenance (some would say an approach which involves far less effort too). If you use organic garden soil be careful what you choose. Search for miracle gro organic on here and you will find threads relating to that and where you can get it. Primous has used it with great success. Don;t forget it needs capping. It is definitely a cheaper option than the taylor made substrates but not necessarily better.

Thank you, another question if I may... If I went with the miracle grow and use sand to cap it... would nutrients be able to reach the soil through the sand.

Jay

 

[mishmash]

I like the idea of small grain size. Also I have seen a few threads about using organic garden soil, is this a good option as it would seem to be a lot cheaper!!

Jay

Its a totally different course of action and requires a different approach to the tank setup and maintenance (some would say an approach which involves far less effort too). If you use organic garden soil be careful what you choose. Search for miracle gro organic on here and you will find threads relating to that and where you can get it. Primous has used it with great success. Don;t forget it needs capping. It is definitely a cheaper option than the taylor made substrates but not necessarily better.

Thank you, another question if I may... If I went with the miracle grow and use sand to cap it... would nutrients be able to reach the soil through the sand.

Jay

Yip You would be amazed how much water movement there is through the substrate

 

[Jay1983]

Thank you for all the info!!

Jay

 

[mishmash]

Thank you for all the info!!

Jay

Well to be honest most of what I have said has been said before so I cannot take the credit for my part, lol. However, I would not like to be responsible for encouraging you one way or the other. Take a look at another thread, one started by yours truly. It is intriguing how things can swing in one way and then another. There is so much information to assimilate !!!

Other school of thought


Just putting this into your melting pot so you can see all sides of the equation.

 

[Jay1983]

Thank you again yes I've been watching that thread too, been very interesting!!! I decided to get some Eco complete as it was cheaper than Ada hope its half decent will need further info on co2 and plants when u get to sorting it!!!

Jay