Aqua Soils

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Unexpected

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Is there an economical Aqua Soil out there I might be missing? If I went with Landen, I’m still looking at about 500 bucks. This is a tough sell to my wife, whom I promised we wouldn’t ever switch substrates again 😐.
 
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LOL - I too need to get spousal approval on larger purchases!

How much are you looking for in terms of pounds? I think Fluval's Stratum is cheaper per pound but I can't speak to how it compares to ADA Aqua Soil.
 
I’m guessing 120 pounds. I was looking at the stratum but couldn’t really tell if it’s a true Aqua Soil or a fancy Eco Complete type.
 
Hmm, can't help you there. Perhaps someone else with experience will chime in.
 
I used stratum for a few years in my tank before switching to Landen. I had pretty good results, however it is a lighter aquasoil so planting can be annoying sometimes. It does come with nutrients, it just has little to no ammonia and is not as rich in other nutrients as ADA or Landen.

Here are two pics of my tank with stratum -

68E9278F-35C0-47A5-B16A-3BE6645BFBAA.jpeg

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So if you don’t want to go with 100% of one of the richer substrates, your options are: 1) just do all stratum, 2) go with a layer of one of the richer substrates on the bottom like ADA or Landen and then cap it with stratum, or 3) do either option 1 or 2 and enrich the substrate somehow from the beginning by using either ammonia-based root tabs like APT Jazz or some of ADA’s substrate enrichments or hit up Tommy Ferragamo (owner of Aquarockscolorado), I’m pretty sure he has a substrate enrichment powder/product.
 
Thank you! I want to move into more challenging plants and I wonder if I go the cheaper route would just cause disappointment. How’d the more difficult plants go when you had stratum?
 
Thank you! I want to move into more challenging plants and I wonder if I go the cheaper route would just cause disappointment. How’d the more difficult plants go when you had stratum?
My stratum was already over a year old when I started keeping more difficult plants, so I can’t really say. However I think these are things that help provide some context:

-Marian Sterian, Joe Harvey, and some others like Rudy Mija have grown some of the most difficult plants in sand.
-The initial ammonia content and the extent to which they buffer down your PH are the main differentiators (besides aesthetic aspects and weight) among different brands of aquasoils which impact growing plants.
-The ammonia that the richer substrates come with fully depletes within around 6 months to a year. So no matter what, if you want to rely on the substrate to any significant extent, you will have to include some type of substrate enrichment protocol at some point, unless you plan on completely changing out your substrate every 6 months to a year haha. That can be root tabs, mixing in fresh aquasoil every couple months to certain areas with more difficult plants etc. If you go with a less rich substrate like stratum, the way I see it, you can just start enriching the substrate from the get go. All aquasoils have high CEC and will absorb ammonia, and I believe potassium, iron, phosphate, and other micros.

The other super important aspects to growing more difficult plants aren’t really impacted by the substrate - having a well maintained, clean substrate and clean conditions in general, good co2 level and distribution, and stability in parameters.
 
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Well said and thank you again.
If you’re going to constantly be wondering what if and you can afford it by just waiting a bit longer, then I’d say go for all landen or ADA or whatever for peace of mind and greater convenience. But I think I stated all incontrovertible facts that are worth keeping in mind haha.
 
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If you’re going to constantly be wondering what if and you can afford it by just waiting a bit longer, then I’d say go for all landen or ADA or whatever for peace of mind and greater convenience. But I think I stated all incontrovertible facts that are worth keeping in mind haha.
I can afford it but have spent so much already on the whole setup. I was just thinking if it was possible to keep the price down with a cheaper option. I’m pretty decent at getting good growth with pool filter sand and I’ve seen people use Safe T Sorb with good results. Safe T Sorb, I’ll admit, looks intriguing. Definitely a low cost option but i wondering how long before it turns to mush.
 
I can afford it but have spent so much already on the whole setup. I was just thinking if it was possible to keep the price down with a cheaper option. I’m pretty decent at getting good growth with pool filter sand and I’ve seen people use Safe T Sorb with good results. Safe T Sorb, I’ll admit, looks intriguing. Definitely a low cost option but i wondering how long before it turns to mush.

I personally can’t speak to STS, but a good person to talk to about it would be @Tsing. I know he has some experience with it. One thing I’ve definitely heard is that it’s very light weight-wise, which is a huge downside IMO.
 
I personally can’t speak to STS, but a good person to talk to about it would be @Tsing. I know he has some experience with it. One thing I’ve definitely heard is that it’s very light weight-wise, which is a huge downside IMO.
For planting purposes?
 
For stuff that big go with the tried and trusted. Its what Tom uses quite a bit and advocates often but falls on deaf ears. Vermicompost aka worm castings capped off with a large grained sand. Before you use them boil them then rinse multiple times. 4 or more to get all the nastys out.
 
For stuff that big go with the tried and trusted. Its what Tom uses quite a bit and advocates often but falls on deaf ears. Vermicompost aka worm castings capped off with a large grained sand. Before you use them boil them then rinse multiple times. 4 or more to get all the nastys out.
I feel like that would be really messy in a tank with a lot of uprooting, no? @plantbrain
 
For stuff that big go with the tried and trusted. Its what Tom uses quite a bit and advocates often but falls on deaf ears. Vermicompost aka worm castings capped off with a large grained sand. Before you use them boil them then rinse multiple times. 4 or more to get all the nastys out.
Back in the day, using base layers was very popular. Dupla has an iron powder (laterite) that you would mix with the base layer then cap it with something. Then ADA came up with Power Sand.

I used to DIY Power Sand using worm castings and other things. When properly set up, it can certainly be a very good combination substrate. My issues started when I started uprooting plants. The Power Sand would end up forming plumes in the water column and I realized all I was doing was inverting my substrate. No good.
 
I feel like that would be really messy in a tank with a lot of uprooting
Well, yeah its very messy but then again so is constantly uprooting ADA Amazonia. After a while it all becomes mush. Even my Tropica soil after uprooting 3 times its become powder. Mineralized Top Soil works wonders but its very messy. I guess in the end its all in the eye of the beholder.
 
Well, yeah it’s very messy but then again so is constantly uprooting ADA Amazonia. After a while it all becomes mush. Even my Tropica soil after uprooting 3 times its become powder. Mineralized Top Soil works wonders but it’s very messy. I guess in the end it’s all in the eye of the beholder.
When I had ADA Amazonia it broke down pretty quickly also. But my stratum I had in my 40 breeder for almost 3 years with over a year of heavy uprooting held up great. Landen so far is holding up really well 3 months in.
 
There is almost no aqua soil in my country, so I was using mainly gravel plus root tabs and liquid ferts, is this enough as I am reseting my tanks after neglecting them for months and want to do it the right way this time (hopefully)?
 
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