ADA substrate system.

5836 Views 10 Replies 6 Participants Last post by reybie, Oct 2, 2012

NWA-Planted

Discussion Starter · Sep 20, 2012

What exactly is the system? I have seen people just use straight aquasoil, putting down the powders etc first, topping with "power sands".

is there really a right or wrong way to do it?

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somewhatshocked

· #2 · Sep 20, 2012

Power Sand goes beneath the substrate.

ADG has some good examples and ADA itself has some nice tutorials of the complete system. Check their websites.

Some will say you need all of the bells and whistles. For most of us, though, you'll find we get by just fine for several years on just Aquasoil.

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NWA-Planted

Discussion Starter · #3 · Sep 20, 2012

Have to go hunt down some of those videos. just wondering if I had over looked something important

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Imi Statue

· #4 · Sep 20, 2012

There is also this Green Machine in UK but the vids are pretty neat.

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheGreenMachineLtd/featured

Imi

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plantbrain

· #5 · Sep 21, 2012

The videos tend to be ADA vendors, so they are selling everything, whether you need it or not. Amano states' the marketing guys goaded him into offering it, but it's not required. ADA aqua soil is a nice clay soil however and works well.

That is 99% of the "system" as far as plant growth is concerned.

It also last a good 10 years I'd say depending on how you trim and change things around, except....for Nitrogen will decline to limiting levels after 1-2 years' time. So you might slowly increase KNO3 dosing for maintaining the same rates of growth later. I just use the ADA AS personally, I tried the other stuff and then tried without, I've not seen any differences to date where I was fairly sure that there was a causal effect/helpful impact.

No one has provided evidence otherwise as well.
Talk, marketing, but nothing factual where many hobbyists see a difference.
Sediment systems/heater cables are difficult to add and remove, so it's not like say adding Excel etc........few hobbyists will remove it just to see.
Heating cables we can turn on and off however(and they do not work as claimed).

But some folks buy everything no matter what.
None of it will Harm the tank or the success, only the wallet is harmed.
But we buy all sorts of stuff like that.....everyday.

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Gafi

· #6 · Sep 22, 2012

perhaps you have experience with this Tom....Can you safely EI dose a heavily planted tank with the Aquasoil as the substrate....is there a risk of having too much nutrients in the water column? Does one need to make any adjustmnets to the dosing regime when using ADA Aquasoil....I am considering it for my 90 gallon over Eco-Complete

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NWA-Planted

Discussion Starter · #7 · Sep 22, 2012

plantbrain said:
The videos tend to be ADA vendors, so they are selling everything, whether you need it or not. Amano states' the marketing guys goaded him into offering it, but it's not required. ADA aqua soil is a nice clay soil however and works well.

That is 99% of the "system" as far as plant growth is concerned.

It also last a good 10 years I'd say depending on how you trim and change things around, except....for Nitrogen will decline to limiting levels after 1-2 years' time. So you might slowly increase KNO3 dosing for maintaining the same rates of growth later. I just use the ADA AS personally, I tried the other stuff and then tried without, I've not seen any differences to date where I was fairly sure that there was a causal effect/helpful impact.

No one has provided evidence otherwise as well.
Talk, marketing, but nothing factual where many hobbyists see a difference.
Sediment systems/heater cables are difficult to add and remove, so it's not like say adding Excel etc........few hobbyists will remove it just to see.
Heating cables we can turn on and off however(and they do not work as claimed).

But some folks buy everything no matter what.
None of it will Harm the tank or the success, only the wallet is harmed.
But we buy all sorts of stuff like that.....everyday.

thats good to know, so ultimately just the soil itself is substantial!

Gafi said:
perhaps you have experience with this Tom....Can you safely EI dose a heavily planted tank with the Aquasoil as the substrate....is there a risk of having too much nutrients in the water column? Does one need to make any adjustmnets to the dosing regime when using ADA Aquasoil....I am considering it for my 90 gallon over Eco-Complete

That's a good question... Never thought about that though, all my substrates have been sand for the most part with no cec capabilities

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somewhatshocked

· #8 · Sep 22, 2012

Most people with Aquasoil in high-tech tanks dose EI or a similar method. ADA sells a line of liquid ferts for dosing, as well.

With any tank, you'll only dose what your plants need. And with EI, you can easily estimate what you need to add to the water in order to achieve the growth you want.

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plantbrain

· #9 · Sep 22, 2012

Gafi said:
perhaps you have experience with this Tom....Can you safely EI dose a heavily planted tank with the Aquasoil as the substrate....is there a risk of having too much nutrients in the water column? Does one need to make any adjustmnets to the dosing regime when using ADA Aquasoil....I am considering it for my 90 gallon over Eco-Complete

See the 120 GAl Dutch something or another, see the video of my 180 Gal cardinal tank and the 70 Manzigumi, or any dozen or so other tanks I've done.

EC, Flourite etc are good if you make a mess easily and move stuff around, but if you are careful ADA As works nice also. I prefer it but it takes some getting use to, but it is worth the effort for myself.

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Gafi

· #10 · Sep 22, 2012

plantbrain said:
See the 120 GAl Dutch something or another, see the video of my 180 Gal cardinal tank and the 70 Manzigumi, or any dozen or so other tanks I've done.

EC, Flourite etc are good if you make a mess easily and move stuff around, but if you are careful ADA As works nice also. I prefer it but it takes some getting use to, but it is worth the effort for myself.

I would be coming from eco and flourite only tanks....is there anything else that i should be aware of when using aquasoil....what is a good amount of substrate depth? Do you recommend powder on the top layer? If so how deep? Also my water here has very little gh and kh.....will i have issues with aquasoil dropping my ph too low?

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reybie

· #11 · Oct 2, 2012

Does Aquasoil go bad over time, as in lose nutrients? I have been using the same soil for a few years now. There was good growth all around and suddenly, plants stop growing, not even marsilea! I'm dosing dry ferts EI method, providing CO2 and ample lighting, T5 lights about 6 hours a day.

This was a thriving setup but for some reason came to a halt.

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