# ADA amazonia vs malaya vs africana



## Nestle_ (Jul 4, 2013)

I've done a ton of looking around and reading and searching and what not....
I can't see any difference between amazonia, malaya and africana except color.

does anyone have real experience with these three? 
whats the normal buffering power of each one? 
does one buffer more acidic then others?
I've heard amazonia is more packed with nutrients for plants, but I've also seen a few people say it doesn't buffer as low as the others.
Any horror stories out there? 
How long does the soil usually last? Does it just crumble into a fine soil/wet dirt like mixture?
I also didn't see much size difference between normal size and 'fine' grade material, can anyone confirm a big size difference?


I know about the ammonia spikes and clouding issues, and I'm not worried about those.


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## OVT (Nov 29, 2011)

I have Amazonia 1, 2, and 3 (different generations) in regular, sand and multi sizes and Africana in sand size.

The size difference between 'regular' and sand is roughly 4:1 in diameter, pretty substantial, especially for smaller tanks.

Africana sand turned to mud within 18 months. Amazonia 1 started to turn into mud after 3 years.

Amazonia 1 was the most acid and organics rich of them all.

I remember reading on Amazonia vs Africana vs Malaya a while back. I would check Aqua Forest in SF web site as I think that us where I found the info. Sorry, away from my computer atm.

v3


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## Nestle_ (Jul 4, 2013)

yeah I did read all of ADA and AFA's postings on the soils and didn't get real info out of it. Besides, first hand experience is much more worthy.
3 years is pretty good in my mind, especially since I'll more then likely be moving by that point which would be an ideal switch out.
I used ecocomplete and didn't see any help from it vs using just plain river rock, and so I want to invest in some real buffering plant growing soil to help combat my terrible limestone hard water lol


Thank you for you reply!!!


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