# Samurai Soil



## Beccanne (May 4, 2018)

Has anyone used a product called Samurai Soil? It's little black beads. I can't find much information on it. It was recommended by the LFS as I did not want to use dirt or sand. It says it's for planted aquariums, but I'm sure I'll have to add fertilizers. There's almost no info on this stuff.


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## babystarz (Sep 25, 2012)

Beccanne said:


> Has anyone used a product called Samurai Soil? It's little black beads. I can't find much information on it. It was recommended by the LFS as I did not want to use dirt or sand. It says it's for planted aquariums, but I'm sure I'll have to add fertilizers. There's almost no info on this stuff.


It looks like this stuff is mostly inert but it has a specific type of fungi in it called mycorrhizal fungi which is supposed to be helpful to root growth (supposedly it helps break down the substrate so the plants can access nutrients more easily) and it may or may not have live bacteria to get your cycle started. I say may or may not because depending on how it is stored/transported the bacteria may not be alive by the time you put the substrate in your aquarium. You will need to use fertilizers as you assumed, I wouldn't rely on this fungus to get everything the plants would need. This is where I found the information: 
https://www.azgardens.com/product/caribsea-samurai-soil-for-sale/


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## Beccanne (May 4, 2018)

Thanks! I was wondering what I would need to add for the plants. I have some liquids- Seachem's Aquavitro Envy. But with this substrate I would probably need to use root tabs, correct?


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## babystarz (Sep 25, 2012)

Beccanne said:


> Thanks! I was wondering what I would need to add for the plants. I have some liquids- Seachem's Aquavitro Envy. But with this substrate I would probably need to use root tabs, correct?


I just asked in my thread if both liquid fertilizers and root tabs are needed for inert substrate and they're not, you can pick either water column dosing or root tabs. I personally prefer to use water column fertilizers because you can adjust the dosing as needed (and add in anything else that might be under-represented in your main fertilizer formula), whereas with root tabs you don't have as much direct control over this. 

What size is your tank? If it's small to medium sized then the liquid fertilizer you have should be fine, but if it's large you may want to look into powder fertilizers because those are more cost effective in large amounts.


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## OVT (Nov 29, 2011)

@Beccanne, is it the same LFS that sold you your light?


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## Beccanne (May 4, 2018)

It's only 30g. What should I get besides the Envy and Propel (Fe)? 

The Activate is phosphorus, Synthesis is nitrogen, Carbonate is potassium. These would cover the macros right? Supposedly the Envy is micros.

Bump: @OVT yes. I believe they are the only fish store in town besides PetSmart and Petco. I kinda feel like I get jerked around a bit there. Like when I had my 5gallon shrimp tank I had them test the water and the pH was 7.4 and they said I need to lower it and sold me this "pH down" by API. That didn't touch the pH even after several tries. Then I'm in there the other day asking about parameters on my 30g that is cycling, which was at 7.8 pH, and they told me to lower it with seachem acid buffer. Then they said that API pH down doesn't work and they hate it....but they sold it to me just a month ago for my small tank... I feel like some of the folks there just want to drain money from me.


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## brothermichigan (Sep 5, 2017)

We tried Samurai Soil in one of our tanks and were fairly unimpressed by it. It's expensive for what it is (baked clay beads), we didn't particularly like the color (stays a light gray color in water), and I didn't really like planting in it. You're better off going with something cheaper unless you have a specific reason for wanting to use it.


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## IntotheWRX (May 13, 2016)

Beccanne said:


> Has anyone used a product called Samurai Soil? It's little black beads. I can't find much information on it. It was recommended by the LFS as I did not want to use dirt or sand. It says it's for planted aquariums, but I'm sure I'll have to add fertilizers. There's almost no info on this stuff.


go for ADA aquasoil. They look like black beads too. Some say it is the best.


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## Beccanne (May 4, 2018)

I've already purchased $60 worth of this Samurai Soil and planted the tank. I'm glad that there was a sale on the large containers, otherwise it would have cost me a lot more.
@brothermichigan I also don't like the color. I thought it would stay black. Now with my planting and replanting, I have a bunch of grey beads all over the top of the cap I used. Looks pretty unsightly to me.
@IntotheWRX I've heard good AND bad things about ADA aquasoil. I was trusting the LFS by going with the Samurai Soil, since I'm pretty inexperienced at all of this. 

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm stuck with this stuff, so I hope that my liquid ferts are enough to keep my plants going...


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## brothermichigan (Sep 5, 2017)

You'll be fine with water column ferts. You should see some of the crazy inert-substrate tanks around here...


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## OVT (Nov 29, 2011)

@Beccanne: your LFS is doing a great job of taking advantage of you.
You can buy almost anything online.


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