4ft tank soil setup

[Toshika]

Hi guys, i read the thread regarding ADA Vs. GeX soil.alot to think about,but i think i will go for GeX. However for my 4ft tank, how many bags of soil should i use?how long should the water run before i add in the plants and fishes?thanks in advance for the answers.appreciate it.

[illumnae]

good choice on the gex

is it a 4x2 ft base or a 4x1.5 ft base tank? for the former, i'm using 5 bags and it's quite comfortable. some have said 4.5 bags (4 8kg and 1 4kg) is sufficient as well. for the latter, 4 bags should be comfortable

for planting, you can plant immediately. what seems to be the recommended practice is to fill the water till about soil level and do your planting before gently filling the rest of the water into your tank. for cycling, i'm not 100% certain as i use seeded media in all my tanks. to play safe, you can wait the full 6 weeks recommended period (ammonia dosing may not be required as i think gex/ada type soils release ammonia into the tank when first set up), or if you've planted densely you can probably shorten the time a little since plants do provide some ammonia dissipation as well. to be really safe, cycle the tank till ammonia and nitrite tests show 0

[EvolutionZ]

anyway, just a add on, if you are planting mainly crypts or heavy root feeders, its best you insert root tablets if you are using GeX..
as GeX is lower in ferts compared to ADA.

[illumnae]

i plant crypts, swords, criniums and lotuses in my GeX and they all show explosive growth without the use of root tabs. it is not lower in ferts compared to ADA as EvolutionZ wrongly claims.

P.S. Let's not start another Gex vs ADA thread here. Toshika has already stated he has chosen Gex after comparing the 2. let's respect his decision and not slyly try to sneak in "ADA is better than Gex in XX way" or "Gex is better than ADA in XX way" over here. There's already another thread on that topic. The question here is how many bags of Gex to put in his tank, not which is better or how XX method is needed to make his choice as good as the other brand.

edit: i will not be responding to any allegations, statements or defenses made by Evolutionz or anyone else about whether ADA is better/more fertile or whether Gex is better/more fertile. I made my statement to refute what I believe to be a wrong allegation by Evolutionz, but both our posts are grossly off-topic in this thread. I believe Toshika has his answer in my answer (post #2), any others with any opinions about the amount of Gex soil to use in a 4 foot tank please do contribute. Toshika and others reading this thread please forgive Evolutionz's and my grossly off-topic diversion. if a mod could delete both posts it would be best