Benefit of Powersand

[octopus]

I have been enjoying my planted tank hobby with mixed result so far. Looks like retirement is around the corner and plan to devote more time and effort in this hobby. For a start i wish to get my basics right. All this while thought soil alone is sufficient till i started coming across a plenty of posts using powersand as the base for fertilisers. What are the benefits of using powersand and in what ratio to the soil?. Where could i find more details on powersands.

[aquarius]

ADA powersand is actually pumice stones mixed with some black stuff (organic soil??) onto it. You can buy pumice stones from the landscape shops/nurseries or in LFS. I was quite surprised to see it at Clementi Blk 328 (if I remembered correctly) quite some time back. It looks exactly the same as the ADA powersand with the black stuff also mixed into it. I can't comment whether or not using pumice as the bottom layer before adding soil on top is better cos I don't have much experience in this area. Maybe the more experienced soil users can comment on this.

[Urban Aquaria]

I've tried out powersand special as base substrate in one of my tanks before... it had mostly crypts and echinodorus so i did notice improved growth for those heavy root feeders, when i removed the plants their roots were larger and stronger (compared to another tank with the same plants started at the same time with only aquasoil).

Only problem with powersand is they tend to pop up above the soil substrate whenever doing re-scapes and eventually when de-comm the tank both the powersand and aquasoil all mix up together so more difficult to recycle them.

You can refer to this guide page from ADA to gauge how much powersand you need for your tank:

http://www.adana.co.jp/en/products/n...te/power_sand/

Hope that helps.

[bennyc]

Overtime aqua soil with disintegrate into power form. Therefore, it becomes more compact and water flow maybe low or non existence. Without waterflow to bring oxygen, the base of the soil (provided it is of certain depth) becomes anaerobic. Plants roots will be harm by the anaerobic enironment. Another issue being as the soil becomes more compact. Plants roots will find it difficult to grow downwards.
So the pumice stones act as a column for water flow and since it is difficult for it to breakdown, the cracks in between the stones serves as space for roots to grow.

[octopus]

I've tried out powersand special as base substrate in one of my tanks before... it had mostly crypts and echinodorus so i did notice improved growth for those heavy root feeders, when i removed the plants their roots were larger and stronger (compared to another tank with the same plants started at the same time with only aquasoil).

Only problem with powersand is they tend to pop up above the soil substrate whenever doing re-scapes and eventually when de-comm the tank both the powersand and aquasoil all mix up together so more difficult to recycle them.

You can refer to this guide page from ADA to gauge how much powersand you need for your tank:

http://www.adana.co.jp/en/products/n...te/power_sand/

Hope that helps.

I lack creativity thereby resulting in frequent replanting. According to your experience powersand might not be suitable for me as it clouds water easily during replanting. Thanks for the sharing. But have not ruled out the option yet. Still open to other opinions.

[furyprix]

Overtime aqua soil with disintegrate into power form. Therefore, it becomes more compact and water flow maybe low or non existence. Without waterflow to bring oxygen, the base of the soil (provided it is of certain depth) becomes anaerobic. Plants roots will be harm by the anaerobic enironment. Another issue being as the soil becomes more compact. Plants roots will find it difficult to grow downwards.
So the pumice stones act as a column for water flow and since it is difficult for it to breakdown, the cracks in between the stones serves as space for roots to grow.

any other way to slowdown the degrading and compacting action of the aquasoil? how about stuffing filtration media/ceramic rings? does it work too? anyone tried?

[Urban Aquaria]

I lack creativity thereby resulting in frequent replanting. According to your experience powersand might not be suitable for me as it clouds water easily during replanting. Thanks for the sharing. But have not ruled out the option yet. Still open to other opinions.

Its not that bad... if the powersand pieces pop up, just push them back down under the soil.

[Shadow]

if you rescape frequently then you might better off without it. I never use powersand and yet I can grow any plants regardless, even with 6 years old aquasoil. You want see the prove on my blog, all those scape was using same Aquasoil since 2009.

[bennyc]

Shadow, ADA hear what you say. And they feel very sad, so coming next month they are going to increase their aqua soil pricing already. hahaha.

[aquarius]

Actually you can use the smaller sized lava rocks instead of ADA powersand (pumice) and use those green colour "netting" over it before pouring in the soil. That way when you do rescaping, you won't pull out the powersand or lava rocks as well. This was what I did but I remembered reading somewhere that lava rocks will disintegrate and break into very small pieces over time. The principle of using lava rock in place of powersand is the same but it costs very much cheaper.

[Urban Aquaria]

Using netting or mesh to separate the base powersand and top aquasoil is a good idea, i've seen some people use that method and it does make recycling both substrates much easier.

The only issue is if there are alot of rooted plants in the tank, the plant roots would tend to grow into and entangle in the netting or mesh, so it could make uprooting of rooted plants for maintainence and propagation more difficult and messy.