# ADA Amazonia 2?



## Casty (Sep 28, 2006)

I ordered some that should arrive on the 31st or before (for a 10g), I'll let you know how it turns out.  I'm also wondering if anyone else has used it, I haven't seen much talk of it.


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## KDahlin (Mar 12, 2007)

If your pH is 8 and you have liquid rock, you should plan your tank accordingly. Maybe an african cichlid tank. Amazonia is not going to make your water soft.


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## MrJP (Sep 20, 2006)

I am not really looking into making my water soft. I just want a quality substrate while avoiding turning my tank into chocolate milk. I have a 90g with sand right now and I am thinking of doing a redo - lower maintenance crypts and hairgrass foreground.

From what i've been reading AS take longer to settle when we have hard water. The AS amazonia 2 seems to be addressing this issue. Could be interesting...


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## KDahlin (Mar 12, 2007)

Sorry. I should qualify my answer by saying I have no experience with it. My experience has always been to not try to fight your water chemistry. I looked at the ad for Amazonia and they do claim that it will lower kH and pH. I wonder how much and how that can possibly be sustained water change after water change. I hope it works well for you.


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## mrbelvedere (Nov 15, 2005)

I have hard water. I noticed no problems with regular AS Amazonia.


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## dhavoc (May 4, 2006)

i use it as well to soften my hard water. ro is a no-no in my office and home, and the tap water is good enough (Hawaii) that filtered is as far as most bottled water companies here go. cloudy water issues for the first month or so, but it settles down eventually. love the plant growth and i keep toninas and erios and crs, so i pretty much dont have many other options. it lowers my ph8 tap to 6.3-6.8, without co2. the ph lowering properties will degrade over time, though i have a crs tank going for over a year and ph still remains around 6.5 with minimal co2 and bi-monthly water changes.

havent seen the new formula yet, and i just got in an order from ADG, so i dont have personal experience with that, only the original formula.


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## ianiwane (Sep 7, 2004)

ADA amazonia type 2 has less black soil. It is not as rich of a substrate. The way I was explained about it by the folks at aquaforest is that it is a better substrate for beginners. Less start up problems. But for experienced users the amazonia 1 is better. More organic component grows plants better.


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## styxx (Jul 2, 2003)

ianiwane said:


> ADA amazonia type 2 has less black soil. It is not as rich of a substrate. The way I was explained about it by the folks at aquaforest is that it is a better substrate for beginners. Less start up problems. But for experienced users the amazonia 1 is better. More organic component grows plants better.


Agreed. Despite the attractiveness of ASII, I think I will rely upon the original AS version. Why? In the short term, the newer version may reduce the set up and cycling time but that is a trade off for long-term plant survival. The experienced hobbyist will be capable of maintaining the requisite water changes and introduction of sufficient Purigen to ameliorate the effects of the original AS's cycling issues. Moreover, I think that having the longevity that the original version provides rewards the hobbyist by providing a better return on their investment and its costs (which are admittedly not cheap). Just my $.02 worth!


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## Casty (Sep 28, 2006)

We'll see if theres a huge difference after my 10g gets going (AS II).


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## zergling (May 16, 2007)

I'm using this on my 40g. I don't know know how it affects water though, as I haven't tested my tap water yet. What I can tell you is that I'm quite surprised how clear my water was. I just put water slowly (it didn't make it murky, unless disturbed), let my eheim 2236 run, and after a few hours my water was crystal clear even without water change. The only thing I didn't like though was the film-like layer on the surface...hopefully after several weekly water changes it'll go away...


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## Casty (Sep 28, 2006)

Ya I also have a film-like layer on the top as well. I'm thinking it's due to ammonia or staghorn algae, let's hope it goes away.  It's only been a week after setup though.


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## lil_deuce (Oct 4, 2017)

Would AS ii work better than AS on shrimp tank? I am thinking of upgrading my shrimp tank next year. Currently using FSS.

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