# aqua soil question



## resowner92 (Jul 23, 2007)

well im going to be getting some soon and i was wondering if the powersand is necessary and what does the powersand do anyway


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## bgoodwins (May 3, 2007)

Ive never used it, and my tank has been fine. The purpose can be either a cosmetic preference for a smaller grain, or a supposed inclusion of extra things that may or may not be good for your tank. That being said, i love me some AS.


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## trfjason (Aug 10, 2006)

Powersand is not necessary, but it is recommended by ADA. It colonizes bacteria in the substrate, aiding plant growth. I just got a bag of Powersand Special with some Aqua Soil, going to be used on my 10G.


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## Matthew_Machine (Oct 12, 2003)

A gentleman at my lfs (Which is the wonderful AquaForest in SF) recommended that the powersand be used under thick areas of substrate, esp in larger tanks. Likely for the reason TRFjason recommended above.


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## Momotaro (Feb 21, 2003)

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/substrate/27846-ada-aqua-soil-common-misconception.html


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## resowner92 (Jul 23, 2007)

thanks for the info!


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## Homer_Simpson (May 10, 2007)

Sorry to hijack this thread, but since we are on the topic of ADA aquasoil questions, can someone tell me if there is any beneft to getting the more expensive Amazonian II aquasoil powder over just the regular Amazonian II soil. 

I may be tearing one of my 10 gallon tanks and redoing it with ADA aquasoil Amazonian II for experimental purposes. 

Thanks.


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## limnidi (May 2, 2007)

I use ADA Amazonia soild without power sand in my 15 gal and plants are growing fine.


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## styxx (Jul 2, 2003)

Homer_Simpson said:


> Sorry to hijack this thread, but since we are on the topic of ADA aquasoil questions, can someone tell me if there is any beneft to getting the more expensive Amazonian II aquasoil powder over just the regular Amazonian II soil.
> 
> I may be tearing one of my 10 gallon tanks and redoing it with ADA aquasoil Amazonian II for experimental purposes.
> 
> Thanks.


The initial set up is much less of a PITA. The duration of ammonia and other organics leeching out of the soil is much less problematic both in terms of duration (2 weeks compared to 5 weeks IME) and severity ( with the regular I literally could not see at all, whereas with "type II" it was only a slight cloudiness to the water column)...hope this helps. I would def. go with Type II...much better in terms of set up, but not substantially different over time, AS of anytime is far superior IMHO than anything out there (except at initial set up).


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## Homer_Simpson (May 10, 2007)

Thanks for the clarification styxx, much appreciated. My delivery of AquaSoil Amazonian II soil just arrived. I will be tearing down a fluorite based 10 gallon to test it. Lol, no more space in my home to put up any new tanks.


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## styxx (Jul 2, 2003)

no problem! Good luck...if you're have some patience you will be very happy with it I'm sure!


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## Chikorita (Dec 16, 2007)

Hello all 
I had the water running for like 2 weeks before my Aquasoil finally arrived .. I put the soil in the 14th and had been changing water for like once a day since then .. The water look kinda clear with just a hint of cloudiness in there and the water should be well cycled since I seeded the water with the water from the other tank. My question here is when is it ready for some crystal red shrimps ? The KH is low in the 30ish, the ph is around 6.2-6.3 and the GH is around 50ppm. I have some plants in the tank and would like to raise the ph to around 6.5. Is there a way to do this without increasing the hardness of the water ? Please advise
thanks


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## yoink (Apr 21, 2005)

What are your ammonia and nitrite readings? Don't mess with the ph, it is fine where it is.


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## Chikorita (Dec 16, 2007)

yoink said:


> What are your ammonia and nitrite readings? Don't mess with the ph, it is fine where it is.


Those have the reading of zero
I am just worry about the ph not being at 6.5 or may be I am just worry too much .. and the kh is kinda low .. or are they ok just the way they are now ?

My tap water is moderate soft but I used 1/3 RO water with 2/3 tap water anyway and those are my reading ..

Also .. is it ok for me to put in a piece of driftwood or will it even lower my ph ?? 

================
Not sure if this is a right place to ask but I have another tank use eco-complete as the gravel base and somehow the ecocomplete buffer my water to HARD while the KH and PH still in the low like the reading in the aquasoil tank .. even if I keep doing water change with 100% RO water, the water is still HARD with the same kh/ph readin .. so my question here: Is the ecocomplete raise the water to HARD ? or is it something wrong with my reading ??
Please advise
thanks a lot


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

trfjason said:


> Powersand is not necessary, but it is recommended by ADA. It colonizes bacteria in the substrate, aiding plant growth. I just got a bag of Powersand Special with some Aqua Soil, going to be used on my 10G.


Did you mail order the AS from the States? I can't find any AS in Toronto or Canada for the matter.


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## trfjason (Aug 10, 2006)

I imported it by myself from Hong Kong.


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## Homer_Simpson (May 10, 2007)

dekstr said:


> Did you mail order the AS from the States? I can't find any AS in Toronto or Canada for the matter.


Fellow Canadian here. There is no Canadian Supplier of ADA Aquasoil. You have to order it from the states. And it is a real killer(costwise) once you pay for the Aquasoil, shipping and additional delivery(import/duty costs). The extra costs double the total cost,


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

trfjason said:


> I imported it by myself from Hong Kong.


AHHH smart idea! I hope some of my relatives come visit, and bring 100 pounds of AS with them. Or the next time I go back to visit, I'll designate one suitcase to gravel and driftwood and cheap cheap equipment.



Homer_Simpson said:


> Fellow Canadian here. There is no Canadian Supplier of ADA Aquasoil. You have to order it from the states. And it is a real killer(costwise) once you pay for the Aquasoil, shipping and additional delivery(import/duty costs). The extra costs double the total cost,



Yeah I agree! I ordered a 2x 55w kit from ahsupply, got killed on the customs/duties! The thing cost me like $60-70, and I got slapped with $20 customs. I was so pissed off when I picked it up at the post office, because they don't tell you ahead of time. On top of that, the post office slapped a $5 "handling" fee for keeping the box on a shelf.


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## Homer_Simpson (May 10, 2007)

dekstr said:


> ...Yeah I agree! I ordered a 2x 55w kit from ahsupply, got killed on the customs/duties! The thing cost me like $60-70, and I got slapped with $20 customs. I was so pissed off when I picked it up at the post office, because they don't tell you ahead of time. On top of that, the post office slapped a $5 "handling" fee for keeping the box on a shelf


I share your pain, I got hit with the same when I ordered the 2X55w Kit from AHSupply for my 40 gallon. 

That was quite the shocker :eek5:

I don't know about your city, but it seems planted aquariums and a good selection of quality plants are severley lacking where I am. Being forced to order from the US and pay extra shipping and customs and duty does really suck.

For any sponsors reading this, consider setting up an aquarium plant and supply shop in the Great White North, you may do quite well as you will not have any competition for customers and the demand is certainly there.


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

Homer_Simpson said:


> I share your pain, I got hit with the same when I ordered the 2X55w Kit from AHSupply for my 40 gallon.
> 
> That was quite the shocker :eek5:
> 
> ...


Hmm yeah Canada is a bit behind in terms of plants + planted aquarium equipment. But I live basically in the greater Toronto area, so there are still tons of fish stores around, probably about 20-30. I know a couple of great places so I'm not too stunted in terms of the plant selection.

Hope you get a store coming nearby!


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## rwong2k (Dec 24, 2004)

dekstr said:


> Hmm yeah Canada is a bit behind in terms of plants + planted aquarium equipment. But I live basically in the greater Toronto area, so there are still tons of fish stores around, probably about 20-30. I know a couple of great places so I'm not too stunted in terms of the plant selection.
> 
> Hope you get a store coming nearby!


I find this comment pretty interesting. There are tons of people in the metro vancouver area with quite a bit of rare plants (imported from overseas) and we do have a canadian distributor for ada products (all my tanks run ada substrate now)

for equipment from co2 to tek lights, it's readily and easily avaliable at LFS and some of their prices match the cheaper online dealers

Well, we do get Tropica plants, i'm not too sure if the US can get them (i've been out of the planted scene for a few years so this has probably changed since then) (then again some like tropica plants, some say they're over priced, compared to asian imports/shipments)


Raymond


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## Homer_Simpson (May 10, 2007)

rwong2k said:


> ... and we do have a canadian distributor for ada products (all my tanks run ada substrate now)


Are you talking local only to the greater Vancouver area or one that ships to different cities across Canada?



rwong2k said:


> ...for equipment from co2 to tek lights, it's readily and easily avaliable at LFS and some of their prices match the cheaper online dealers


Well I can assure you, there is no LFS store in Winnipeg that sell any c02 equipment. And believe me I have phoned all of them. None of them have a clue as to what pressurized c02 means, what c02 injection means, what a drop checker is, what a regulator is, etc.,? LFS are clueless, or will convince me that it is not needed, without even knowing differences between high tech and low tech tanks. Like I said and sadly, they are totally clueless.



rwong2k said:


> .Well, we do get Tropica plants, i'm not too sure if the US can get them (i've been out of the planted scene for a few years so this has probably changed since then) (then again some like tropica plants, some say they're over priced, compared to asian imports/shipments)


Well, I can assure you overpriced for plants where I am about sums it up. I wouldn't mind paying more if there was a greater selection and the plants were healthy and not kept like cr*p. Unfortunately, selection is limited, and what is available is in a pretty sorry state and overpriced. There are no differences between the LFS with respect to this. I find that I can get much healthier and cheaper plants, not to mention a better selection ordering on-line(cheaper even with the cost of shipping). Substrate: A bag of the "older fluorite" sells for about $38 locally. I can get the same sized bag from on on-line supplier for $28 including shippling. 

While I don't doubt that you may have access to stores that sell and know about c02 equipment and have a better and healthier selection of plants, I can assure you that this is not true across the board.


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## rwong2k (Dec 24, 2004)

Homer_Simpson said:


> Are you talking local only to the greater Vancouver area or one that ships to different cities across Canada?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Oh sorry that was written at 4:00am (not too sure been waking up at 3am for the past 2 days for no reason) , now that I'm a more awake you're right I was mainly refering to the vancouver area.

I've been on business trips throughout canada, from Winnipeg, saskatoon etc etc... their LFS selections are quite different.

While in TO this summer, I didn't get a chance to look at any fish stuff, but I'm surprised, since TO is much bigger than vancouver in terms of everything so I'm just assuming it's the same for fish stuff.

The ada distributor is listed as canada's distribitor on the ADA website last time I looked, I could be completely wrong, I'll check with him again. Although with shipping (the heavy weight of the substrate) it might be the same price as ordering from the states.

As for the plants, I was mainly reacting to the comments mentioning that 'canada' is behind in aquarium plants and plant equipment, which is untrue for the area I live in.

Big Al's doesn't really keep tropica plants too well (atleast the 2 local ones here), but other LFS keep their tropica plants in top condition. Although, sometimes mislabelled, asian import of plants are usually really healthy. As you probably know, clippings from locals are a nice source also or if you have a balanced/healthy setup, even a small unhealthy clipping may turn around in your tank.



thanks for the comments and clarification

Raymond


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