help needed, new tank

[davescube]

so here is what I got..
A 9 litre of ADA Amazonia II and a 5kg sand of AQUABASIS plus

So I have two question here..

I made a threat a few days ago about new substrate and all told me that I have to wash it before putting it into the tank.. And now i read from the description at the packaging, they say "DO NOT WASH BEFORE USE".
I have two kind of thinking in my mind..
what do they actually mean?
wash it when I want to use it?
or
dont wash it if I dont intend to use it.

The second question is do I need to use a soil plate/ gravel plate??
is it a need?

I have no experience in aquasoil..
I used those normal gravel only..

[Salphur]

Hi,
If I am not wrong, there is no need to pre-wash the ADA aquasoil. It is not supposed to be washed as well, cos you will end up with brown water and little soil (if disintegrated) for planting. ADA aquasoil is soil with ferts in them, so just 'plug and plant'.

We normally wash gravel, sand.. etc.. but have to differentiate whether these gravel/ sand will still need base ferts to kick start a planted tank though.

I'm not too sure about Aquabasis though. It sounds like JBL base ferts to me.

Maybe others can help you on this.

Cheers!

[davescube]

Maybe you could help me about the second question?

[Salphur]

Hi davescube,
just pop by your other thread and have seen your soil. The Aquabasis is referred to as base ferts - just fertilisers and will cloud up your water if in contact.

What i did in my tank was - spread the Aquabasis as the most bottom layer, after which you can pour the ADA aquasoil on top. There is absolutely no need to wash any of these two packs.

About the gravel plate, i think it is not necessary in this substrate combination. Unless you have other purposes for it.

Cheers!

[davescube]

Yeah.. I intend to use the aquabasis as a bottom layer..
The LFS guy said they do it like that..
But I just want to double check how thing work..

I am thinking of the gravel plate because it helps to trap the very fine particle at the bottom?
But at the same time. the aquabasis is a sand which is pretty fine I guess..

Maybe with this kind of combination, I should not try to move them too much..

[Salphur]

Sure, no harm to double check. ! At least you are well informed by your LFS who sold you these products.

The only reason why i did not put in a gravel plate is because i am afraid the plate will affect the growth and establishment of the roots of stem plants, or in other words any plants that extract nutrients and depends mainly on the substrate to grow.

Cheers!

[davescube]

I will see the advice from the other people as well..
Hopefully will get the substrate in my tank by today..
Thanks Salphur..
You are such a helpful guy..