Reply With Quotehmm...when you say layers what do you mean exactly?
I believe ADA has power sand, aquasoil powder etc.
Do you mean different layers of substrate or just another top off layer of normal gravel?
Substrate
Hi everybody!
At present i have 3 ft planted tank with discus & neon tetras.
I am planning on rescaping the tank & changing the substrate to Aqua Soil Amazonia II, since it will help in better plant growth.
Was wondering should i fill the entire substrate with aqua soil, or layer with the other gravel.
Whats the advantage /disadvantage of doing so!
Thanks!!
hmm...when you say layers what do you mean exactly?
I believe ADA has power sand, aquasoil powder etc.
Do you mean different layers of substrate or just another top off layer of normal gravel?
The different between the ADA soils is the grain size. I don't see any advantage/disadvantage for using 1 type of ADA substrate for the entire tank.
Unless the big grain cannot hold your plants, or you don't like the color of the ADA soil.
I have read that some people add layer of powersand with ada aquasoil. Since the soil is light in weight.. worried if i could hold my plants.
Another question is my tank floor space is 31inch X 18inch which means a bag of 9L of aqua soil will fill only 1 inch high...
Would that be enough?
Power sand should be at the bottom followed by Aquasoil and not the other way around.
What type of plant you want to have? 1 inch most likely enough for foreground plant like HC or Glosso. However taller plant like Crypt species, Echinodorus species, stem plant, etc need deeper soil to grow well
If i put power sand on the bottom & the aquasoil on the top.. wouldn't they mix after some period of time...during maintenance & during gravel cleaning!
Was checking the price of the product in my LFS
Aqua Soil Amazonia II-9L X 2 Bag= 38X 2= SGD76
ADA Powersand - SGD 81
WOW DAMN EXPENSIVE CHANGING TO A BETTER SUBSTRATE!
nope. It will mixed up when you pull out your plant.
Yeah It is not a cheap soil but proven to be good
so expensive??Originally Posted by sanjaypills55
I had the impression that it was much chepaer than that. How heavy is a bag of Amazonia II at $38?
Yeap...that is roughly the price for ADA soilhaha!
Maybe you can consider other substitues like GEX, Magic soil etc. Much cheaper alternatives
As bro sanjay indicated it is a 9Litre bag~so expensive??
I had the impression that it was much chepaer than that. How heavy is a bag of Amazonia II at $38?
well if you go to NA or C328 you can get couple dolars cheaper
GEX is not much cheaper, infact, you can get better price for ADA then GEXYeap...that is roughly the price for ADA soil
Maybe you can consider other substitues like GEX, Magic soil etc. Much cheaper alternatives
As bro sanjay indicated it is a 9Litre bag~
Oh~My bad then haha...always thought GEX was cheaper
My!!....I have to spend $157 & then worry about not mixing up my gravel..that doesn't sound fair.
Anybody has experience about using only one type of substrate i.e. Ada aquasoil
Suppose i just by 1 or 2 bags of ADA aquasoil & forget about the bottom layer of powersand. How good will my substrate be?
BTW: GENEX is $40 for 8 kgs
So not exactly cheap
Last edited by sanjaypills55; 6th Jun 2009 at 12:33.
I also want to know the pro & con of using only one type of ADA amazonia II. I'll be tracking this thread to learn from experts...by the way, my tank is 3ft too like sanjaypills55. for 3ft, need 3 bag of ADA 9L. So the price will be around $120..
Even though my tank is 3 ft the floor space in the tank is 31in X 18in because 5in is used up by the internal overflow chamber.
I did my calculations & found that to fill 2 inches of ADA aquasoil i would require 18L i.e 2 bags.
i have just started my 1st scape with only Amazonia II... now monitoring to see how it goes.
Hi there....mathematically your calculation is correct, 2 bags (18L) of soil should be enough to give you 2" of thickness for your tank.
but from aquascaping point of view, you will need AT LEAST 1 more bag (9L) to give you some minimum slope, 2 more bags if you want your tank to look better.
just for your reference, my 3ft tank (90x45x45) use 6.5 bags of Amazonia, excluding powersand, rocks and other decorative sands.
you will need at least a 1:2 ratio of height between your foreground and background to have a nice looking slope. 1:3 is better
alternatively, you can either opt for a thinner foreground (1") or use some lava rock to make your background higher to save some expensive aquasoil.
just my personal opinion.
good luck.
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