Aquasoil Amazonia!!!

[travis simonson]

I've already got an AH Supply hood over the tank with a single 96w fixture that has served well for almost two years but I think it's time to try something more extreme. I can't wait to see if I can balance a tank with 6+ wpg

 

[evercl92]

Does anyone know of an online retailer for the Aquasoil? None of my lfs carry it.
What should I expect to pay ?

 

[travis simonson]

Deja vu. You can buy it from www.aquariumdesigngroup.com in Texas or you can get it (czcz) from aquaforest in CA. I would go the czcz route because I hear it's a lot cheaper

 

[JRagg]

I can't get there from the link you posted travis. My browser locked up when I hit "shop".

http://www.adgshop.com/Aqua_Soil_Amazonia_p/104-021.htm

There's the actual stuff.
What's the differnce between the normal and the powder?

 

[travis simonson]

The normal is fairly large-grained and regular. The fine (my personal favorite) is somewhere in between sand- and gravel-sized. It is so nice to work with - absolutlely the best substrate I've ever used

 

[Plantbrain]

UPDATE:

I have not been dosing since I'm using both Powersand Special and Aquasoil and have been told that will provide all necessary nutrients. I was worried so I tested the water this morning with my LaMotte kits. Holy lords of perfection!!! NO3=10 ppm and PO4=.2 ppm. Without dosing! This stuff is not only the nicest substrate I have ever played with but it maintains nearly perfect nutrient balance in the tank without dosing. What could be easier. I am dumbfounded . . .

You can use EI dosing with Ps and AS, or with AS alone also.

Plants will do better than without any dosing/trace dosing.

Some folks have supported the myth that adding ferts will some how hurt or otherwise harm the tanks with ADa substrates and that is plain rubbish.

This is simply not true.
There is no reason why that would occur.

The NH4 is removed if you plant heavy right away from day one and add enough CO2.

Both AS and Ps have the same relative amount of the NH4.
If you use water column fwerts, this will, extend the life of the ADA AS and PS also, since the plants will not draw from that, this also affords a backup in case you forget to dose the water column etc as well.

So you get the nutrients in the root zone and on the leaves, the best of both worlds.

Don't be fooled by the notion that excess water column ferts will lead to algae, that's not true and never was.

You do not have to use all things ADA and follow the precise method (Ahem, marketing) they suggest.

Just like 20 years prior you did not have to use all things Dupla when they came out with all sorts of things, some did work well, most really did not matter.

But few of you here today recall those discussions of days past
Same old thing all over again.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[travis simonson]

But are you sure my $100 investment in Brighty-K will go to waste Tom

 

[travis simonson]

As a serious rejoinder I'd love to hear your thoughts on what AS is really formulated from. It has a very soft feel to it. Any ideas?

 

[LindaC]

I received my bag of Aqua Soil yesterday, I haven't put it in my tank yet, it's currently in a black out, but I'm really looking forward to it. Thanks for posting about your experiences Travis, this is helping me out tremendously.

I ordered the regular gravel, should I order the Power Sand too? Will this be enough for my 10 gallon, non-CO2 injected tank, i.e, will it balance my tank without my adding ferts?

I am extremely impressed with AquariumDesignGroup and the fact that not even 10 minutes after the soil was delivered to my house, I received an email telling me that it was just dropped off at my door, now that's service!

 

[JRagg]

So which Amazonia would you recommend Travis (normal or powder)? It will be quite a while before I order any, but I'm still compiling a list of exactly what I want in the tank that is resting in my garage.

 

[travis simonson]

I'm totally impressed with the powder. I've always liked fine-grained substrates and this one is the best I've ever seen. It grabs stems and holds them better than gravel or sand and just looks really nice in a small-medium tank. If you're thinking of doing a bigger tank you should consider the gravel or maybe just use the powder in the front of the tank. Of course I'm no expert, I just started myself but so far the experience has been very positive.

 

[czcz]

Eriocaulon is simply thriving along with the R. wallichii and the R. sp. "Vietnam." Crikey!!!

I love stuff that makes "hard plants" easy. Its classic that you're increasing light, seemingly to make balancing harder. R. "Vietnam" is my new favorite indicator plant, btw. R. wallichii takes too long to revover for me to be good in this role, though it does seem to be affected first. Just my 2 pennies, 'case you're thinking about putting one in the other tank(s).

 

[Plantbrain]

Nope, you do not need the PS if you plan on dosing, if you dose the water column, may as well dose the rest of the KNO3/KH2PO4, it's not hard nor any harder than adding traces etc daily, 3x a week etc.

PS does not seem to last as long, it's just pumic with nutrients soaked in it and some osmocoat type ferts+peat. NO3's/PO4 are mainly what are in there, neither of which tend to stay bound to substrate materials, so they leach out and after perhaps a 1-2 months, likely used up if you don't add things to the water column.

The soil is still useful long after...the nutrients can be occulded in the soft clay, yet are still available to plant roots.

PS is mainly a start up material for a tank to get it grown in well, this can be done with KNO3 etc or you may use PS.



Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[travis simonson]

I've been moving plants in and out of the Aquasoil tank and have gotten a few new species as well. I am still incredibly impressed with the ease of growing some fairly difficult species in this stuff. I have recently doubled the light over this tank from 96w CF (3.2 wpg) to 192w CF (6.4 wpg) as an experiment to see how plants react to extremely high light in Aquasoil. A few pics of how things are going:

Madly pearling Rotala sp. "Vietnam":

Absolutely brilliant red new submersed growth of Rotala macrandra "Variegated."

Eriocaulon sp. "Guang Zhou," one of the nicest new plants I've had in a long time :

Some Blyxa japonica that is going totally nuts in the new Aquasoil with the bright lights:

I'm really liking this experiment so far

 

[mr funktastic]

so are your plants apparently lol. u have some amazing species in there. i love the rotala vietnam and the macranda is amazing.

 

[Glenc]

Thanks for showing us how nice our tanks can be. Truly beautiful. Something to aspire to.

 

[sherry]

how are your phosphate levels in this tank? I finally got some red in my mac, in the last few days, by mixing advice from plantbrain and from carlos ... carlos said limit no3 to 10 to avoid stunting and use phosphate to get mac red.. plantbrain said to make sure I gave some no3 and that under highlight mac tends to need MORE nutrients .. more so than some other plants and that it may redden faster under lower light.. He also said to put it in the path of your co2 mist... SO I pathed it, better! made sure I dosed nitrates but not too much, better ! and I upped my phophate (also counting on plantbrain's advice that fish and plants will be fine with higher levels) and oila.. I"m getting full sized leaves with some red. I'll post when kids go to sleep.

 

[czcz]

Awesome

 

[travis simonson]

I haven't been dosing this tank at all except for K and trace. I've got Powersand Special under the Aquasoil and it has been providing consistent levels of N and P in the water column. Every time I measure with my LaMotte kits I get about 10-12 ppm NO3 and .5-1 ppm PO4. From talking to Joe I understand that this will not last so I am continuing to measure weekly and, when I see a dropoff of N and/or P I will begin dosing them. So far so good. This Aquasoil makes you look like you really know what you're doing

 

[Wood_Dog]

WOW